Spokesman says US is ‘heading towards’ a prolonged lockdown with growing ripple effects

House Speaker Mike Johnson said today that the United States is “heading toward one of the longest lockdowns” in history. The stern warning comes on the 13th day of the shutdown as the effects begin to spread across the country, with federal workers facing their first week without pay. White House correspondent Liz Landers reports.

Jeff Bennett:

The United States is headed toward one of the longest lockdowns in history, the Speaker of the House of Representatives said today. The stern warning comes on the 13th day of the government shutdown as the effects have already begun to spread across the country, with federal employees facing their first week without pay.

Here’s the latest news with our White House correspondent, Liz Landers.

Okay, Liz, day 13, has there been any movement?

Liz Landers:

The short answer is no, Jeff.

The president announced over the weekend that he is directing the Pentagon to use — quote — “all available funds” to pay U.S. troops. This appears to come from leftover R&D funds left over from last fiscal year.

The President spoke about this last night on Air Force One.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We care. We got our full army pay. We do a lot of things. We terminate some programs that we don’t want. They happen to be Democratic-sponsored programs. But we finish some shows we never wanted to. Maybe we won’t let them back.

I think they made a mistake. I think they made a big mistake.

Liz Landers:

You hear the president there blaming the Democrats. This was the Republican position.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson takes the same position today, continuing to blame Democrats for this shutdown, saying that Leader Schumer is now using misleading information to the public, and as I mentioned in the introduction, Speaker Johnson said we are headed toward the longest government shutdown in history. If this is the case, it means we will be waiting several more weeks in this government shutdown.

It’s been 13 days since this. The longest period we have ever seen in US history is 35 days. But I would add though, Jeff, that the Speaker has taken the House out of session. They’re not in session now. The Senate keeps coming back. They continue to vote on these bills. The majority of Democrats remain committed to health care.

They say they don’t even want to negotiate — they don’t want to reopen the government until there are these negotiations about health care. We heard from Leader Jeffries yesterday saying that Democrats will meet with anyone, anytime, anywhere to conduct these negotiations. As far as we know, this does not happen.

Jeff Bennett:

Yes, the sticking point remains.

Liz Landers:

Yes.

Jeff Bennett:

So let’s talk about impact. What is the impact of all this and when will more Americans feel it?

Liz Landers:

Well, hundreds of thousands of federal employees will start losing pay starting this week. We also hear that the Smithsonian, America’s museums, is now closed. All 21 were closed as of yesterday.

And so one of the biggest impacts that we’ve seen so far is this reduction in force memos that have been issued, which are essentially mass layoffs. Management was teasing that this would happen. It was distributed last Friday to more than 4,000 federal employees. Our colleague Ali Rogin reported over the weekend that more than 1,300 CDC employees received some of these notices.

Of these 1,300, after a few days, the RIF notices for 700 of them were cancelled. I think that gives you a sense of some of the uncertainty that these federal workers are facing right now.

Jeff Bennett:

Chaos and confusion.

While we listen, let’s talk about a new personnel announcement from the President, naming Dan Scavino to lead the White House Office of Personnel Management. We reminded us who he is and why this matters.

Liz Landers:

The president posted this on TRUTH Social yesterday. He announced that Dan Scavino – quote – “will be responsible for the selection and appointment of almost all government positions, which is a very large and important position.”

Scavino began in President Trump’s orbit as a golf caddy years ago at his golf club. He remained a trusted advisor to the president. He was handling his social media account during the first Trump administration. I’m sure you remember that.

But Scavino – someone told me today, a former White House official in the first Trump administration, kind of described it by saying that announcing Scavino in this role makes official something that he’s already been doing in his unofficial capacity, who has been advising the president on personal decisions now for years.

Jeff Bennett:

Liz Landers, thank you, as always.