WASHINGTON — The White House has sent guidance to departments and agencies, telling them that if a shutdown begins Wednesday, they’re expected to institute mass firings and layoffs.

The two-page memo, shared with States Newsroom by a Trump administration official, says any programs that received funding in the “big, beautiful” law will “continue uninterrupted.”

But the vast majority of federal departments and agencies need Congress to approve an annual funding bill or a stopgap spending bill before the start of the new fiscal year to keep running.

The memo says the employees who run those programs may receive a Reduction in Force notice if lawmakers don’t broker an agreement before the Oct. 1 deadline.

Those reductions will apply to programs, projects, or activities that are “not consi

See Full Page