Interior Department employees and their allies are bracing for the possibility of additional layoffs after Jan. 30, when a congressional freeze on what the federal government calls reductions in force expires.
Layoffs at Interior were under consideration for months last year, but exactly what will happen now is unclear, as officials and individual agency leaders play their cards close to the chest.
“I’m not going to talk about RIFs,” said Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik last week in a brief Capitol Hill hallway exchange.
House members did not ask Nesvik about possible RIFs during his hourlong appearance at a subcommittee hearing on wildlife refuges. Interior did not respond to several requests for comment about potential layoffs.
