The White House asked federal agencies on Wednesday to prepare plans for mass firings during a possible government shutdown next week, marking a sharp departure from the temporary furloughs of workers typically seen during past shutdowns.

The White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sent the memo on Wednesday to federal agencies and asked them to identify programs, projects and activities where discretionary funding will lapse on October 1 if the U.S. Congress does not pass legislation to keep the federal government open.

“Programs that did not benefit from an infusion of mandatory appropriations will bear the brunt of a shutdown,” the OMB said in the memo, which the White House provided.

It was not immediately clear whether the White House was trying to take advantage of the

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