White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Friday that layoffs are necessary amid the Democrat-forced government shutdown because of the United States’ exorbitant debt and absence of money flowing into federal coffers. During her second press briefing of the week, Leavitt matter-of-factly answered a reporter who asked why layoffs were necessary. “We are $37 trillion in debt, and the federal government is currently shut down; there is no more money coming into the federal government’s coffers. And as you’ve also seen since the beginning, in January, this administration is focusing on waste, fraud, and abuse,” she added. Leavitt said that Democrats have saddled the administration with the “unenviable choice” of selecting where to make cuts to keep essential government services running.