PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — After burning bridges built with Democrats over the last month, President Donald Trump and U.S. House and Senate Republicans face a spending bill showdown, putting the government, once again, at risk of shutdown, says CBS News congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane. It's too early to know the potential effect on federal workers' pay or services to constituents.
To discuss this, plus the wave of nearly 100 lawsuits challenging the Trump administration's federal employee layoffs, and the criminal case against New York Mayor Eric Adams and its potential impact on federal prosecutions, MacFarlane joined KYW's Michelle Durham from New York City.
Michelle Durham: I wanted to start with this big wave of lawsuits, all aiming to stop the mass federal government layoffs that the Trump administration wants.
Scott MacFarlane: With huge impact throughout Southeast Pennsylvania. Hundreds if not thousands of local federal workers could be impacted. We're now up to nearly 100 lawsuits, legal challenges against the Trump administration, against some of their first month policies, which includes cutbacks at those federal agencies, from the National Archives to the U.S. Agency for International Development and, pending, to the Veterans Affairs Department—even the military in the coming days and weeks.
These lawsuits have succeeded in slowing down some of the employment moves, but not stopping them. There has been a purge of thousands of federal employees so far, with more to come, with untold impact on you know the services we consume, but a definite impact on the workforce itself.
I know you're in New York today, covering the criminal case against Mayor Eric Adams. Can you explain the impact of this and how it could potentially affect federal prosecutions across the country, including in Philadelphia?
And this story is now so much bigger than just New York City's mayor. It has metastasized to something quite different.
For about an hour and a half this afternoon, the Department of Justice, now led by allies of President Trump, tried to convince the judge to drop this criminal corruption case against New York's mayor, accused of trading official government favors for gifts and travel perks. And part of the argument they gave the judge was that, if the mayor is still facing criminal charges, the mayor is distracted from helping to execute his job, which includes helping the president enact immigration reforms.
That is untraditional. Haven't seen this before, both parties arguing for a dismissal, arguing that it would help the president.
A judge will consider over the coming days whether to accept that request. Probably will. Very few other options, but there's concern that this could cascade and make other prosecutors, from Pennsylvania through California, less interested in taking up a case against anybody who's aligned with the president.
Congress is nearing that big deadline to avert a government shutdown as millions prepare to file their tax returns. There's so many implications for so many people.
And speaking about federal workers, they would not get paid if the government shuts down March 14. We've talked about these deadlines before, but this one's different. This one's far more serious.
The U.S. House and Senate both have to pass spending bills to avert a shutdown right now in the U.S. House, the majority, the Republicans, have just one vote to spare to pass anything. And what's been noted over the past month is that Republicans and the president have napalmed some of the bridges that were built with Democrats. To get Democratic votes, to get this thing passed is a very heavy lift, and there is a real concern. The prospect of a government shutdown is rising quickly.