The White House shutdown plan also highlights a pattern of shifting definitions of essential and non-essential workers under President Donald Trump, who has furloughed 514 fewer White House staffers than he did during the last government shutdown under his watch in 2018. Despite keeping more of the White House staff on-the-job during the shutdown, Trump has said he is looking to lay off federal workers, instead of just furloughing them. But the shutdown plan reveals that 45 DOGE staffers still work in the US DOGE Service, a component within the Executive Office of the President. The memo from Joshua Fisher, the director of the White House Office of Administration, did not explain why the DOGE staffers were exempt from furloughs. The White House Office itself — the president’s immediate staff — holds on to 175 aides, slightly more than the 156 in the last shutdown.