The federal government shutdown began at midnight as President Trump and Democrats blamed each other for failing to reach an agreement.

“Two days, imminent, very soon,” Leavitt said in describing the timing of the RIFs. She added President Trump has directed his entire cabinet to develop layoff plans and the Office of Management and Budget is working with agencies “across the board to identify where cuts can be made.”

The federal government was thrown into a shutdown Wednesday with no easy endgame in sight, as Democrats held firm to their demands to salvage health care subsidies that President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress have dismissed as something to possibly discuss later.

The White House on Wednesday sent mixed messages about upcoming firings as a result of the ongoing government shutdown. Last week, the Trump administration threatened mass layoffs of some federal workers during the shutdown. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump threatened that "a lot" of federal workers may get fired in a shutdown.

Laying off scores of federal workers may be part of "extraordinary steps" that will be taken soon, Vance said on the first day of the shutdown

The shift from the 2018-19 furloughs that affected 800,000 workers and cost $11 billion to this era's federal mass firings and federal mass layoffs signals a permanent restructuring.

The federal government is preparing for worker layoffs within days as Senate Democrats continue to reject Republicans' spending measures.

As of Sept. 23, over 201,000 civil servants have left the workforce and the White House is threatening additional cuts.

Lawmakers spent day one of the government shutdown playing a bitter political blame game, while federal workers found their jobs thrown into limbo, yet again. Anthony Fisher, Hagar Chemali, and Ron Insana join The 11th Hour to discuss.

The government shutdown looks set to last until at least Friday, while betting markets are predicting it could even drag on toward the end of October. The Senate, which needs to pass a short-term funding measure for the government to reopen,

The Senate on Wednesday for a second day in a row rejected rival measures to fund the government, this timing voting to prolong a shutdown that began at midnight with their actions. The results