White House staff instructed not to discuss RIF plans with agencies following court order
White House counsel have instructed staff in the Office of Management and Budget to stop reviewing federal reduction-in-force and reorganization plans or discussing them with agencies in light of a recent court ruling.
The move comes as agencies across the federal government have proposed or already started carrying out plans to restructure and eliminate staff in line with President Donald Trump’s January executive order establishing the Department of Government Efficiency — and as Congress begins to review the White House’s budget request.
According to the Tuesday email obtained by FedScoop, staff were informed that a court injunction bars OMB and other components of the executive branch from implementing guidance on agency RIF and reorganization plans that Trump requested in his DOGE order.
Halting the review and discussion of the plans with agencies came via Department of Justice advisement, Shraddha A. Upadhyaya, OMB associate general counsel, said in the email to staff.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the instruction or how it would impact the budget process by publication time.
The direction follows a temporary restraining order issued by Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California that prohibits the administration from broad federal workforce reductions.
That May 9 ruling came in a case brought by a coalition of unions, nonprofits and local governments that alleges the executive branch can’t proceed with the ordered RIFs and reorganizations without help from Congress. In her order, Illston said she found that the plaintiffs were “likely to succeed on the merits of at least some of their claims.”
“The irreparable harm that plaintiffs will suffer in the absence of injunctive relief outweighs any burden placed on the government by this two-week pause,” Illston said in the order. The pause will last until at least May 23.
The Trump administration has already appealed that decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Still, that order has already paused RIF plans at some agencies, including the National Science Foundation. That agency halted its planned abolishment and staff reduction at its Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM earlier this week.
In addition to blocking implementation of Trump’s order and corresponding guidance from OMB and the Office of Personnel Management, Illston specifically instructed the budget office and personnel arm from approving any submitted agency RIF and reorganization plans, known collectively as ARRPs, or waivers of RIF notice periods that are required by statute.
Illston also barred DOGE from ordering program cuts and requested copies of ARRPs that agencies have submitted to OMB and OPM, as well as which ones were approved, applications for waiving the RIF notice period, and responses from OMB and OPM. The deadline for those was Tuesday.
While the administration told the court it was complying with the order, government lawyers pushed back on the request for the staff reduction and reorganization plans themselves and has asked Illston to reconsider.
In a declaration submitted by the government, OMB senior advisor Stephen Billy argued that disclosing the plans would “irreparably harm” the budget office, OPM and other defendants, and that ARRPs are “distinct from actual RIFs” in that they include future plans, too. Billy also argued those plans are sensitive and deliberative.
