Vice President Vance blamed the rescinded layoffs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and “far left” Senate Democrats, as the government shutdown approaches two weeks.
The Trump administration initially laid off over 1,000 CDC employees on Friday, before reportedly reversing course.
“The government shutdown inevitably leads to some chaos,” Vance told CBS News on Sunday. “We are figuring out how to take money from some areas and give it to other areas. That chaos is because Schumer and the far left Democrats shut down the government.”
The shutdown began on Oct. 1 due to the Senate’s inability to reach an agreement on funding the government.
A Republican-backed proposal, which would have funded the government through Nov. 21, has been consistently voted down by all but three members of the Senate Democratic Caucus — John Fetterman (Pa.), Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.) and Angus King (Maine), an independent who caucuses with Democrats. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has also voted against the proposal.
All Senate Republicans, on the other hand, voted against a Democratic-backed spending bill that would fund the government through October, permanently extend subsidies offered under the Affordable Care Act, and restore nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts.
The CDC employees who received layoff notices on Friday included those in charge of the center’s response to ongoing measles outbreaks across the country. According to the latest CDC data, there have been 44 outbreaks in the U.S. so far this year.
The Washington Post reported on Saturday, however, that some layoff notices will be reversed, including those sent to employees working on the measles response, those responding to an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, global health leaders, and disease detectives.
Amid the shutdown, the Trump administration has laid off over 4,100 federal workers, according to a Justice Department court filing on Friday. That did not stop Vance from blaming Democrats for the confusion at the CDC.
“If Chuck Schumer and the far left Senate Democrats are going to shut down the government, that is going to lead to some chaos,” Vance added.
