NTIA Reportedly Among Federal Agencies Targeted by OMB's Firings Friday
NTIA appeared to be among the Commerce Department agencies that the White House OMB targeted Friday with staff firings as part of the Trump administration’s previously threatened reduction-in-force plans during the federal government shutdown, communications industry officials and lobbyists told us. It was unclear how many NTIA employees OMB fired or whether anybody at the FCC was affected. Spokespeople for both agencies didn’t immediately comment.
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OMB Director Russell Vought said Friday on X that “the RIFs have begun” but didn’t detail what agencies were hit or how many employees the administration dismissed. An OMB spokesperson confirmed the RIFs are “not furloughs [and] they are substantial.”
A Trump administration official told reporters that the firings in part affected Commerce. NTIA planned for more than 77% of its 600 staff to remain at work when the appropriations lapse began Oct. 1, in part to implement spectrum language included in Republicans’ reconciliation package, previously known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (see 2509300060). The FCC, meanwhile, largely suspended its operations when the appropriations lapse began and furloughed 81% of its staff (see 2510010065).
The government shutdown appeared set to stretch at least until Tuesday after the Senate gaveled out for the long Columbus Day weekend Thursday night. The chamber that day failed to clear the 60-vote cloture threshold on either of two dueling continuing resolutions to temporarily reopen the government. It voted 54-45 on Republicans’ House-passed CR (HR-5371) to reopen the government through Nov. 21, with only three Democrats in support, and 47-50 on Democrats’ CR (S-2882), which would restore federal appropriations through Oct. 31 and bring back CPB’s rescinded $535 million funding for FY 2026. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., teed up another vote for Tuesday night on HR-5371 but didn’t make immediate plans to also reconsider S-2882.