Budget crisis in the US

Sources: Layoffs could come as early as this week

Donald Trump's administration will begin firing federal employees "within a day or two" as a result of the budget crisis, sources tell Axios. The words were reportedly spoken by Budget and Operations Director Russel Vought during a telephone meeting with Republican congressional politicians.

There is no information on how many people are involved or which agencies will be affected. According to the site, the meeting coincided with the Senate voting down a temporary Republican budget proposal for the third time.

Vought has reportedly promised to investigate during the rest of the week what legal possibilities the White House has to implement "significant" cuts when parts of the government have been shut down since Wednesday night. 

The US shutdown — the real issue

• The US government was shut down after the Senate failed to reach a budget deal at midnight local time on October 1.
• The Republican and Democratic budget proposals were both voted down, leading to the first shutdown in seven years.
• About 750,000 federal employees are expected to be laid off and several agencies have suspended parts of their operations.
• Both parties blamed each other for the shutdown, with health insurance being one of several key points of contention.
• The shutdown is expected to affect air traffic, government websites and could delay important jobs reports.