White House asks for mass firing plans ahead of possible government shutdown

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 to federal agencies and asked them to identify programmes, projects and activities where discretionary funding will lapse on Oct 1 if the US Congress does not pass legislation to keep the federal government open. "Programmes 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 clear whether the White House was...