Copyright ABC News
Despite President Donald Trump says Democrats are "not getting much" in the government funding deal the House is set to vote on Wednesday, it does include a provision that would reverse the firings of thousands federal workers that he carried out during the shutdown. Nevertheless, Trump has said he'll "abide" by the deal the Senate passed Monday night. “Well, the country loses a lot of money when they do this, and they're not getting much, but nobody gets a lot, but it's terrible,” Trump said during an interview with Fox News on Monday. To put pressure on Democrats, who support federal workers, the White House had threatened the mass firings would be implemented as part of a shutdown. Then, on Oct. 2, just two days into the shutdown, Trump posted on his social media platform that it was "unprecedented opportunity" to make even more cuts to the government. Trump even referred to Office and Management and Budget Director Russ Vought as the "Grim Reaper," posting an AI-generated video showing the top bureaucrat in a reaper's outfit and wielding a scythe. “Russ Vought is the Reaper. He wields the pen, the funds, and the brain. Here comes the Reaper,” the voice in the AI-generated video sings as Vought walks through the city amid rows of workers. On Oct. 10, Vought announced mass firings of federal workers, many of whom were furloughed at that point, were underway. More than 4,000 federal workers lost their jobs at agencies across the government, including the Departments of Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Homeland Security and Treasury. However, included in the measure that would reopen the government, is language that would reverse firings that have happened since the shutdown began and prevent any more layoffs until at least the end of January. "I think the White House was involved in all of the discussions around that subject," Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on Monday when asked by ABC News whether the president had agreed to that provision. Trump himself said that he would go along when asked whether he's agreed to reverse the mass firings he had approved. "Mr. President, that deal does reverse the mass firings your administration put through during the shutdown. Did you sign off on that and will you abide by that if this passes?" ABC News White House Correspondent Karen Travers asked him in the Oval Office on Monday. "Well, I will be. I’ll abide by the deal. The deal is very good," Trump responded. The Trump administration has used mass firings of federal layoffs as a key tool in its efforts to reshape the federal workforce. From the time he took office in January until the end of February, more than 200,000 federal workers at dozens of government agencies were fired. Trump and his top allies, including Vought, have used the firings to pull resources from agencies with missions they disagree with, ousting workers they say are "not aligned" with the president political agenda. The bill that reopens the government also specifies that Trump's administration would have to give back pay to all federal workers who went without pay during the record funding lapse. The White House had previously threatened not to give back pay to some furloughed employees, using a novel interpretation of a law that Trump himself signed during his first term in office saying the workers must get back pay. When asked whether furloughed workers deserve that back pay, Trump said that it "depends," adding that his administration would "take care of our people." "I would say it depends on who we're talking about. I can tell you this. The Democrats have put a lot of people in great risk and jeopardy, but it really depends on who you're talking about. But for the most part, we're going to take care of our people. There are some people that really don't deserve to be taken care of, and we'll take care of them in a different way," Trump said when asked by a reporter on Oct 7. ABC News' Karen Travers and Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.
