The federal government spent an estimated $9.5 billion paying employees to not work last year, with the majority of that cost tied to a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative to reduce the federal workforce, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The GAO report, published Tuesday, found that the use of paid administrative leave increased 435% from 2023 to 2025, while associated salary costs rose sixfold. The watchdog estimated that $6.7 billion—around 70% of the 2025 total—was associated with the Administration’s deferred resignation program. The GAO analyzed payroll data from 76 agencies representing approximately 95% of the civilian federal workforce.
In January 2025, the Trump Administration offered roughly 2 million federal workers the option to resign while continuing to receive full pay and benefits through Sept. 30. This government-wide offer was intended to encourage voluntary departures through an arrangement known as deferred resignation. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) directed agencies to place employees who accepted the offer on paid administrative leave until their departure date. Some agencies later conducted additional deferred resignation programs.
According to federal workforce data, 139,963 federal employees left the government through these deferred resignation programs.
The initiative was part of the Trump Administration’s broader campaign under DOGE to cut what it perceived as wasteful federal spending. Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who was the public face of DOGE before leaving the Administration in May 2025, initially promised to save the federal government $2 trillion, later lowering the target to $1 trillion. DOGE’s website ultimately claimed $215 billion in estimated savings, a figure that has not been independently confirmed. In a separate review, the GAO found that some claimed savings were incorrect or unsupported. DOGE officially shut down in July, after OPM absorbed most of its functions in November.
The workforce reductions varied across agencies. Between December 2024 and January 2026, the largest decline was at USAID, where the workforce fell 95%, according to a separate GAO analysis. Staffing declined 46% at the Education Department, 37% at the General Services Administration, 34% at OPM, 33% at the National Science Foundation, and 31% at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In contrast, the Department of Homeland Security reduced its workforce by less than 1%.
Some agencies later needed to replace workers they had paid to leave. The Partnership for Public Service identified 20,557 hires by June 2026 in roles similar to those of employees who departed through deferred resignation.
OPM Director Scott Kupor defended the program’s economics in a letter responding to the GAO report. Kupor stated that OPM expects the workforce reductions to yield $20 billion in annual savings, while the $6.7 billion was a one-time cost. "This distinction is crucial: the savings recur every year, while the administrative leave costs with the DRP were incurred once," Kupor said.
The Trump Administration pursued other measures to reduce the federal government. Upon taking office, Trump imposed a government-wide civilian hiring freeze and subsequently directed agencies to hire no more than one person for every four departures, with exceptions for national security, immigration enforcement, and other priority positions. Agencies were also instructed to review the retention of probationary employees, prepare plans for large-scale layoffs, and consider eliminating non-essential positions and functions.
The government has encountered significant litigation regarding its workforce reductions. In September 2025, a federal judge ruled that OPM had exceeded its authority by directing agencies to dismiss thousands of probationary workers, though the judge did not order their reinstatement. Separately, the Supreme Court stayed a lower court injunction in July 2025, allowing agencies to proceed with layoffs while litigation continued. Challenges have since shifted to individual agency layoff plans.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ruled that a DHS plan to cut staffing at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) by 50% was unlawful.
During the October 2025 government shutdown, the Trump Administration took the unprecedented step of threatening permanent cuts, using the funding lapse to accelerate its government downsizing campaign. Federal agencies issued layoff notices to approximately 4,100 employees, and the Administration warned that more than 10,000 jobs could be eliminated. Congress ultimately nullified those layoffs by statute when the shutdown concluded in November, requiring agencies to reinstate employees and provide back pay.
On Tuesday, Sen. Patty Murray (D, Wash.), the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, accused the Administration of wasting taxpayer money while diminishing public services. "Trump spent billions to push out experienced and badly needed experts across government," Murray said. "This was the most expensive way imaginable to make government worse."