The potential scale of President Donald Trump's efforts to shrink the U.S. federal government could become clearer on Thursday, the deadline for government agencies to submit plans for a second wave of mass layoffs and to slash their budgets.

The Trump administration is expected on Friday to move ahead with a second wave of mass firings and budget cuts across the U.S. federal government after agencies were told to submit large-scale downsizing plans.

Thursday is the deadline for federal agencies to provide their plans for mass federal employee layoffs to President Donald Trump.

The U.S. Department of Education's workforce will be cut in half through layoffs rolled out Tuesday and buyouts over the past month.

The sweeping cuts may bring an end to data collection the federal government has conducted for decades, denying Americans the ability to know how their schools are doing.

Under Trump’s directive the Department of Education laid off half its staff. The lawsuit argues Trump has no authority to make such drastic changes.