BREAKING: Senator Patty Murray goes scorched earth on Donald Trump and his pet "grim reaper" for their heinous plan to exploit the government shutdown to mass fire hardworking federal employees. This is EXACTLY what the American people need to hear right now... “Once again, when President Trump and his self-described ‘grim reaper’ decide to ignore the pleas of congressional Republicans and conduct more mass firings, they are choosing to inflict more pain on the American people," Murray stated. “No one is making Trump and Vought hurt American workers—they just want to." “A shutdown does not give Trump or Vought new, special powers to cause more chaos or permanently weaken more basic services for the American people, and the simple fact is this administration has been recklessly firing—and rehiring—essential workers all year," she added. "This is nothing new, and no one should be intimidated by these crooks." The "grim reaper" in question is White House budget director Russ Vought, the MAGA hatchet man who announced earlier today that the "RIFs have begun," referring to "reductions in force" that the administration promised will be "substantial." This underhanded scheme represents Trumpism in a nutshell. First, the White House causes a disastrous government shutdown by refusing to extend crucial Affordable Care Act subsidies. Then, they exploit that shutdown to stomp all over the American people by gutting crucial federal agencies. The mass layoffs are expected to affect the departments of Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing, Treasury, Urban Development, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Americans who rely on services provided by these agencies will see their quality of life drastically decrease. The administration's firing scheme is also being opposed by Republican Senator Susan Collins, the Chair of the Appropriations Committee which oversees government funding. "I've made very clear that I do not believe there should be firings of furloughed workers," said Collins. While the full details have not yet been released, it's clear that these layoffs will accomplish nothing beyond injecting even more chaos into our lives. Republicans ultimately want to shrink the federal government down to nothing so that corporations can run roughshod over U.S. citizens and rule over us in a neo-feudalist system. This is another step towards that goal. Please retweet and ❤️ if you oppose federal layoffs!