Trump administration paid federal employees $9.5 billion not to work in 2025 under DOGE plan
GAO said about 140,000 workers took deferred resignations, and roughly 70% of the leave costs were tied to the program, officials said.
- On Tuesday, the Government Accountability Office reported that federal agencies spent about $6.7 billion on paid administrative leave for the Deferred Resignation Program in 2025, marking a 435% surge from 2023.
- In early 2025, the Trump Administration offered roughly 2 million federal workers full pay to resign by September, aiming to drastically reduce the federal workforce and government spending.
- The Partnership for Public Service found that agencies backfilled more than 20,500 positions left vacant by departures, with many new hires often possessing less experience in the same job categories.
- Sen. Patty Murray criticized the spending as "the most expensive way imaginable to make government worse," while OPM Director Scott Kupor asserted it will ultimately save $20 billion annually.
- Addressing tracking limitations, the GAO recommended that the Office of Personnel Management disclose unresolved data-quality issues and create a separate reporting category for paid leave used in workforce reduction efforts.
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34 Articles
DOGE's 'Fork in the road' buyouts cost government nearly $7B
The Trump administration paid nearly $7 billion as part of an effort to reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy, according to a watchdog report released Tuesday. The Government Accountability Office said the government spent $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave, including $6.7 billion spent on the Department of Government Efficiency’s initiative to incentivize federal […]
DOGE torched nearly $10 billion trying to root out waste, fraud and abuse: watchdog
The Trump administration spent $9.5 billion last year on paid administrative leave for federal employees as part of its effort to shrink the government, according to a new estimate from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office.That figure marks a sixfold jump in paid-leave salary costs compa...
Trump Paid Federal Employees $9.5 Billion Not to Work
“The Trump administration last year spent $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave for federal workers as part of its plan to shrink the government and save taxpayers money, according to a new estimate by a congressional watchdog,” CNN reports.
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