<h1>Government shutdown used to cut agency budgets and withhold funds, threatening mass federal layoffs and program suspensions.</h1> The administration is leveraging the shutdown to implement agency budget cuts and workforce changes, including threatened mass firings and use of the pocket rescission to withhold congressionally approved funds before fiscal deadlines. This strategy enables selective suspension or cancellation of projects and prioritization of certain department payrolls-via recently enacted funding mechanisms-while many agency employees await pay, concentrating discretionary control in the executive branch and risking disruption to programs and broader economic effects.