As Congress remains deadlocked on a funding agreement to reopen many federal services, Wisconsin GOP Rep. Glenn Grothman says it’s time to permanently lay off thousands of government employees to reduce spending. EmailGrothman said regardless of the shutdown, the federal workforce should be reduced to cut spending. Kate Archer Kent: The White House is warning of mass layoffs of federal workers as result of the shutdown, in the thousands. I felt they changed the rule a couple of years ago where, if you are not working, say you don’t work for a month, you get paid for that month anyway. So there are a lot of federal employees (who are) going to come out ahead of the game.