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Federal Workers Paid $9.5 Billion to Not Work in 2025 Under Trump’s DOGE Effort
Confirmed
In Short: The Trump administration spent an estimated $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave for federal workers as part of its DOGE initiative to cut costs and shrink the government, according to a Government Accountability Office report.
The Trump administration spent an estimated $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave for federal workers in 2025 as part of its DOGE initiative to cut costs and reduce the size of the government, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Tuesday.
The use of paid administrative leave increased by 435% from 2023 to 2025, with salary costs rising sixfold, according to the report.
Much of the increased leave cost, about $6.7 billion, came from the deferred resignation program, which allowed federal workers to resign while still receiving full pay and benefits through the end of the fiscal year.
Approximately 144,312 federal workers accepted the deferred resignation, and nearly 140,000 opted into the program, which was unveiled just days into Trump’s second term.
The Office of Personnel Management directed federal agencies to use paid administrative leave for the deferred resignation program, allowing employees to be placed on leave until they resigned or retired by September.
What's confirmed
- The Trump administration spent an estimated $9.5 billion last year on paid administrative leave for federal workers as it pushed to cut costs by shrinking the government, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Tuesday.
What's still developing
- “To calculate long-term savings, OPM needs to know short-term costs of paid administrative leave used for these efforts,” the report explained.
- “However, OPM cannot easily and accurately do this because the paid administrative leave used for workforce reduction efforts is reported with other types of general paid administrative leave.” The deferred resignation program was unveiled just days into Trump’s second term, and federal workers received a “Fork in the Road” email laying out their options.
- The report analyzed payroll data from 76 agencies, covering about 95% of the civilian federal workforce.
- The program was modeled after the plan that former DOGE head Elon Musk followed when he purchased Twitter, which he renamed X, The Hill reported.
- According to the report, "108 of the 264 leases identified for termination on the Wall of Receipts, about $15.3 million of the total $53.5 million in savings, were already in process for termination when DOGE was established."
- Federal workers were informed that they could accept the deferred resignation and receive pay for several months while they looked for other jobs or continue to work until they were potentially laid off.
- Under President Trump, the federal workforce decreased by 12% as of January.