Trump Vows Expiration Date for ‘Semi-Communist’ Government Programs

President Donald Trump said he would decide on Friday which “Democrat programs” to permanently end as the federal government shutdown drags on.

“The Democrats are getting killed, and we’re going to have a list of them on Friday, closing up some of the most egregious socialist, semi-communist—probably not full communist, we’re saving that for New York—but semi-communist programs,” Trump told a reporter Tuesday, “and we’re closing them up.”

Trump said the programs targeted will be those “that we wanted to close up or that we never wanted to happen.” His administration will not “let them come back,” he added.

The shutdown is now in its 14th day. The administration won’t shut down “Republican programs because we think they work,” Trump said.

“I haven’t said it probably as bluntly as I just said it,” Trump continued, “so, we’re going to be closing up Democrat programs that we disagree with. And they’re never going to open again.”

That comes after the Office of Management and Budget posted online Tuesday morning that it is “making every preparation to batten down the hatches and ride out the Democrats’ intransigence.”

“Pay the troops, pay law enforcement, continue the [reductions in force], and wait,” the OMB tweeted.

The administration started RIFs on Friday. About 4,000 federal workers have been laid off.

The initial wave led to the layoffs of 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 of Homeland Security; and 1,446 in the Treasury Department.