Part 2/11:
Traditionally, government shutdowns have resulted in temporary furloughs—federal employees are sent home but eventually recalled, often with pay retroactively restored. The shutdowns of the 1990s, for instance, saw federal workers treating closed government days more like snow days, enjoying leisure time without long-term consequences.
However, what is unfolding now is vastly different. The Trump administration has begun issuing mass Reduction in Force (RIF) notices—a formal notice of permanent layoffs targeting key federal departments such as Education, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Health and Human Services, Energy, and Housing and Urban Development.