Backing down from the furlough plan, Governor Paterson announced he is creating a plan that would lay off thousands of state government workers, just like the Lt. Governor warned. He will be asking agencies to pick positions that could be eliminated on January 1st—the day his no layoffs pledge expires. Paterson said, "It's the only way we're going to get $250 million in work force reductions from public employees...The reality is right now it takes a long period of time to schedule the layoffs. I want this ready to go for the next governor."