Vice President JD Vance warned that the federal government will continue to make “deeper cuts” to its workforce amid the ongoing shutdown.

“The longer it lasts, Maria, the more important they are,” Vance told News’ Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures.” “If you remember, we spent nine days before announcing any major layoffs.”

Stating that President Donald Trump “wanted to reopen the government,” he added: “I was trying to work with Democrats to make that happen. But the longer this goes on, the deeper the cuts will be.”

“To be clear, some of these cuts are going to be painful,” he added. “This is not a situation we like. It’s not something we’re looking forward to, but the Democrats have dealt us a pretty tough set of cards.”

in a court presentationthe White House budget office said more than 4,000 employees would be laid off and noted that the funding situation was “fluid and rapidly evolving.”

Elsewhere in his Sunday interview, Vance continued to single out Democrats, falsely claiming that the shutdown, which began Oct. 1, is their fault because they were trying to “force” Republicans to “give health care benefits to illegal aliens.”

Vice President JD Vance.
Vice President JD Vance.

Alex Wong via Getty Images

The shutdown began in part because of a partisan argument over Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies set to expire at the end of the year. If Congress doesn’t make a decision soon, premiums will double on average for more than 20 million people enrolled in the health care program. It is estimated that 4 million people will lose their insurance completely.

The last government shutdown began on December 22, 2018, during Trump’s first term, and lasted until January 25, 2019.

“Wouldn’t it be great… if Democrats would just open up the government so we wouldn’t have to make these difficult decisions,” Vance added.

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Watch Vance’s appearance on “Sunday Morning Features” below.

JUST IN: Vice President Vance addresses the ongoing government shutdown, criticizes Democratic leaders for their handling of health care and assures that U.S. troops will continue to be paid.

“Wouldn’t it be great if Democrats would just open up the government so we wouldn’t have to… pic.twitter.com/B5ZrgOEoCb

– News (@NewsNews) October 12, 2025

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JUST IN: Vice President Vance addresses the ongoing government shutdown, criticizes Democratic leaders for their handling of health care and assures that U.S. troops will continue to be paid.

“Wouldn’t it be great if Democrats would just open up the government so we wouldn’t have to… pic.twitter.com/B5ZrgOEoCb

– News (@NewsNews) October 12, 2025