Special education office hit in firing of federal workers
Trump views military members will be paid
By: Bart Jansen
and Kathryn Palmer
USA Today
WASHINGTON - Amid he ongoing government shutdown, top Republicans and Democrats traded blame on October 12 [2025] as President Donald Trump escalated tensions by beginning to fire federal workers, even as he pledged continue pay for military personnel.
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Democrats are continuing to call for health care concession before they vote to reopen the government's doors. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York on "Fox News Sunday" October 12, [2025] accused Republicans of viewing health care as an "extraneous issue" saying "people throughout this country should be able to afford to go see a doctor when they need one for themselves, their family, their children."
..... House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, hit back on the same program, saying "eight times now, Democrats in Congress have voted to close the government."
..... "It's real pain for real people," Johnson added. "and they seem not to care." Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, said the chamber would vote again October 14 [2025] on a bill to end the shutdown, but that he still needed a handful of Democrats to reopen the government.
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The Trump administration said about 4,000 federal workers had so far received reduction-in-force notices. The figure was detailed in a court document the Justice Department submitted in response to a lawsuit from unions representing government workers.
..... The initial wave of layoffs include 315 workers in the Commerce Department; 466 in the Education Department; 187 in
the energy Department; between 1,100 and 1,200 in the Department of Health and Human Services; 442 in the Department of Housing and Urban Development 176 in the Department Homeland Security; and 1,446 in the Treasury Department.
Special Education office erased
..... The cuts wiped out the Education Department's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitate Services.
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Without an official estimate from the agency, it wasn't immediately clear how many people in the division were fired. But based on reports from staff and their managers, most employees below the leadership level were part of the workforce reduction, said Rachel Gittleman, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.
..... An Education Department staffer told USA Today the agency laid off just about every employee who works to administer funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the primary federal law supporting students with disabilities. He was unsure how those programs will continue.
Trump vows to pay military
..... The threat that members of the military would miss their first paycheck October 15 [2025] because a potent argument for both sides to resolve the impasse.
..... But Trump announced on classic media October 11 [2025 the Pentagon found the money to pay about 1.3 million active military members, relieving pressure to end the stalemate sooner.
..... "I will not allow the Democrat to hold our Military, and the entire Security of our Nation, HOSTQAGE, with their dangerous Government Shutdown,: Trump said.
Smithsonian, National Zoo closed
..... The Smithsonian Institution;s 21 museums, plus the National Zoo, closed on October 12 [2025] due to the shutdown.
..... The Zoo's animal cams are now also off-line. Smithsonian officials cited the cuts to federal resources - primarily staff - as the reason they cannot continue to broadcast.