Senior federal officials have quietly counseled several agencies against firing employees while the government is shut down - as President Donald Trump has suggested he will - warning the strategy may violate appropriations law, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations.

The officials cautioned that firings - known as RIFs, or reductions in force - could be vulnerable to legal challenges under statutes labor unions cited this week in a lawsuit seeking to block threatened mass layoffs. For example, the Antideficiency Act prohibits the federal government from obligating or expending any money not appropriated by Congress. It also forbids incurring new expenses during a shutdown, when funding has lapse

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