US President Donald Trump said Thursday evening that if the government shutdown, which began on Wednesday, continues, federal employees may be laid off and several projects canceled.

At the same time, the president proposed issuing rebate checks to citizens funded by revenues from customs duties.

In response to a question in an interview with OAN network about a recent memo from the Office of Management and Budget raising the possibility of layoffs, Trump replied: “There may be layoffs… and that’s their fault,” referring to the Democrats.

He added: “We can cancel the projects they want, their favorite projects, and we will cancel them permanently… I have the power to cancel things that should never have been approved in the first place, maybe I will do that.”

The federal government closed some of its activities on Wednesday after Congress failed to reach a funding agreement, with only essential services continuing.

Trump said that revenues from the new customs duties have just started to appear, adding they could eventually reach one trillion dollars annually.

He pointed out that some of the funds would help pay down government debt, which he said could reach 38 trillion dollars.

Trump’s estimates of tariff revenues far exceed those of Treasury Secretary Scott Beisner, who said last month that Trump’s tariff revenues might reach 500 billion dollars annually.

Treasury Department data shows that federal government debt stands at 37.64 trillion dollars.

The Republican president revealed that his administration is considering using tariff revenues to issue rebate checks to Americans.

He added in the interview: “We might distribute it to the people, like distributing profits to the American people… We are thinking of an amount between 1000 and 2000 dollars. That would be great.”