Have efforts to cut government waste resulted in more spending? In the case of the deferred resignation, a new report indicates that more than 150,000 federal employees have been getting paid not to work this year.
This February, shortly after President Donald Trump took office, Audacy reported on federal employees receiving “buyout” offers. As of Feb. 4, an estimated 20,000 had accepted them.
Two administration officials cited by The Washington Post this week said the number of people who accepted the deferred resignation offers was up to 154,000. They were identified as “Office of Personnel Management officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose details of the administration’s plans to scale down government.”
“The number, which has not been previously reported, accounts for workers at dozens of agencies who took offers from the government as of June to get paid through Sept. 30,” said the outlet. That date marks the end of the fiscal year.
While the Post noted that the deferred resignation program sped up the reduction of the federal workforce that the Trump administration aimed for, they have also been criticized for being wasteful. For example, the Post mentioned one employee with an annual salary of $130,000 who has been paid more than $65,000 not to work.
“The two officials could not say how much the government is spending on salaries for employees who are resigning,” said the Post. “The timing of buyouts has varied by agency, employees remain on their agencies’ payrolls as long as they are on leave, and some workers also got additional payments through other retirement programs. The officials also could not say how much they expect the cuts will save in payroll costs in the long term.”
Overall, it said the employees who have resigned amount to about 6.7% of the government’s civilian workforce.
“Ultimately, the deferred resignation program was not only legal, it provided over 150,000 civil servants a dignified and generous departure from the federal government,” OPM spokeswoman McLaurine Pinover said in a statement. “It also delivered incredible relief to the American taxpayer. No previous administration has gotten even close to saving American taxpayers this amount of money in such a short amount of time.”
The White House declined to comment, according to The Washington Post.
It noted that salaries actually make up a small amount of spending and that most of the almost $7 trillion annual budget goes towards expensive health care and retirement programs, with spending this year about the same as it was last year, when former President Joe Biden was in office. Trump’s efforts to reduce government waste have included establishing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), formerly headed by multibillionaire Elon Musk.
This week, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a report titled “THE $21.7 BILLION BLUNDER: Analyzing the Waste Generated by DOGE” regarding the department’s controversial actions. Per the report, DOGE created $21.7 billion in waste with its “push for mass layoffs and terminations across the federal government,” resulting in more than $21 billion of that total cost.
"This includes the costs of planning and implementing the mass firings of 68,420 employees, estimated to be $37,973,100,” said the report. “It also includes the use of involuntary administrative leave prior to the separation of at least 24,583 probationary employees – and up to 7,209 non-probationary employees at four agencies – and the severance payments for another 68,420 employees, totaling roughly $6,064,117,002.46.”
Additionally, it said “DOGE’s decision to pay 200,000 employees not to work for up to eight months resulted in an estimated cost of $14,762,224,251,” and that “buyouts paid to 2,970 employees at three agencies under a voluntary separation incentive payment program is estimated to cost around $61,865,000.”
Audacy has also reported on cases where the government scrambled to bring back employees who were let go, including laid off Internal Revenue Service employees. According to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee report, “processing reinstatements of at least 25,686 fired employees who occupied mistakenly vacated positions cost taxpayers an estimated $16,824,145.80.”
“In letters to agencies’ inspectors general Thursday, Democrats requested a review of the costs of DOGE cuts, including how much agencies spent paying workers who were sidelined or resigned,” said The Washington Post. Its canvass of agencies and internal records found 14 agencies that had shed more than 105,000 employees through early resignation offers.