US Politics
As Trump threatens mass layoffs during government shutdown, agency begins using AI lawnmowers
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As President Donald Trump threatens mass layoffs over the government shutdown, the Interior Department has announced it’s using lawnmowers powered by artificial intelligence.
The Interior Department is testing out AI-powered lawnmowers at six national parks, including on the National Mall, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum wrote Tuesday on X. The pilot program is funded by a grant from the National Park Foundation, according to Jeff Gowen, manager of the agency’s Technical Services Division.
“The premise of the entire grant is to test new technologies to see how it can help us become more efficient, allow us to get more work done with the same amount of people,” Gowen said.
The announcement came the same day Trump threatened to lay off federal employees in the event of a government shutdown, which went into effect Wednesday at midnight after the Senate failed to pass a bill averting it.
Government shutdowns typically mean thousands of employees are furloughed, but Trump has now warned some could be permanently laid off instead. As agencies prepare for this possibility, staff at the Interior Department have been instructed to bring their government phones and laptops home so they can monitor for mass firing notifications, The New York Times reports.
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“We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them and irreversible by them, like cutting vast numbers of people and cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like,” Trump said Tuesday from the Oval Office. “They’re taking a risk by having a shutdown.”
Previous government shutdowns — including during Trump’s first term in office — have not led to mass layoffs, CNN reports.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday that the layoffs are “imminent.”
“Unfortunately, because the Democrats shut down the government, the president has directed his cabinet and the Office and Management and Budget is working with agencies across the board to identify where cuts can be made and we believe that layoffs are imminent,” Leavitt said.
She added: “They are, unfortunately, a consequence of this government shutdown.”
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The layoffs are set to begin within the next two days, OBM Director Russ Vought told House Republicans on Wednesday, according to CBS News. Vought’s office warned agencies last week to consider layoffs in programs with discretionary funding that expired Tuesday, or that don’t have alternative funding sources, CBS News reports.
The Trump administration and Republican lawmakers have blamed Democratic lawmakers for the shutdown, particularly Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Meanwhile, Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said their party needs lawmakers to agree on measures that lower costs and address the “Republican healthcare crisis.”