USDA says SNAP benefits won't be issued on Nov. 1

The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents over 800,000 federal employees, blasted the Trump administration over its federal firings, calling them "disgraceful" and "illegal."

"Federal workers are tired of being used as pawns for the political and personal gains of the elected and un-elected leaders. It's time for Congress to do their jobs and negotiate an end to this shutdown immediately," AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement.

"In AFGE's 93 years of existence under several presidential administrations – including during Trump's first term – no president has ever decided to fire thousands of furloughed workers during a government shutdown," he added.

The AFGE filed a lawsuit against the Office of Management and Budget last month over mass firings.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the White House is "going to have to do some things" to pay troops amid the ongoing government shutdown but did not specify details.

"I suspect that they're probably going to be, yeah, pretty soon they're going to have to do some things. I think to their credit, the White House has, now for 10 days, laid off doing anything in hopes that enough Senate Democrats would come to their senses and do the right thing and fund the government," Thune said when asked if President Trump should move money around to pay troops.

Thune signaled he was not open to getting rid of the filibuster to allow the Republicans' funding bill to pass with a simple majority, rather than the current required 60 votes, saying it's "something that makes the Senate the Senate."

-ABC News' Fritz Farrow

Employees at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services were among the layoffs issued Friday, a spokesperson for the agency said.

HHS employees across multiple divisions have received reduction-in-force notices as a direct consequence of the Democrat-led government shutdown," HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said.

Nixon blamed "bloated bureaucracy" by the Biden administration for "growing its budget by 38% and its workforce by 17%." The world was still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic when Biden took office in 2021.

"All HHS employees receiving reduction-in-force notices were designated non-essential by their respective divisions. HHS continues to close wasteful and duplicative entities, including those that are at odds with the Trump administration's Make America Healthy Again agenda," Nixon added.

-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett

White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought said in a social media post that the administration is making good on its threat of mass firings of the federal workforce amid the government shutdown.

"The RIFs have begun," Vought wrote on X on Friday.

A spokesperson from the Office of Management and Budget confirmed that the reductions in force have begun and added that they are "substantial." OMB has not immediately responded to further inquiries about details on the mass firings. 

It is not yet clear which agencies or federal workers have received the "Reduction in Force" notices.

-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart