The US government spent an estimated $9.5 billion paying federal employees who were not working in 2025, as the Trump administration pursued plans to reduce the size of the civil service, a congressional watchdog has found.
The Government Accountability Office said the use of paid administrative leave rose by 435 per cent during the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, reaching six times its 2023 level.
About $6.7 billion of the total was linked to a deferred resignation programme run by the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge). Federal figures show that 139,963 employees accepted the offer.
The initiative was launched in January 2025 with an email sent to about two million federal workers under the subject line “Fork in the Road”. Employees were given nine days to resign in return for being paid until September, and were warned they were likely to be dismissed eventually as the administration reduced the size of government.
The Trump administration had initially promised to save $1 trillion through efforts to eliminate what it described as frivolous and wasteful spending. It has since said the programme has produced $200 billion in savings, although outside experts have not independently confirmed that figure.
The federal civilian workforce has fallen by about 12 per cent since Mr Trump returned to office, through resignations, dismissals and changes in recruitment. But the accountability office said the Office of Personnel Management had been unable to establish the long-term savings generated by the cuts.
Spending on civilian salaries and benefits accounts for only a small part of the overall federal budget, but it was among the administration’s first targets. The federal deficit has nevertheless increased since Mr Trump took office, partly because of the war in Iran and sweeping tax cuts passed by Republicans in 2025.
The largest numbers of deferred resignations came from civilian staff at the Agriculture, Defence and Treasury departments. Critics said the departures had removed generations of experience and affected people who rely on federal programmes.
Senator Patty Murray, the senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said: “Trump spent billions to push out experienced and badly needed experts across government — this was the most expensive way imaginable to make government worse.”
Some agencies later withdrew deferred resignation offers or recruited replacements after attempting to meet the administration’s downsizing targets. The Partnership for Public Service said more than 20,000 positions vacated through the programme had since been filled again.
The government has also begun recruiting lawyers and technology workers following the departures in 2025, with a greater emphasis on early-career staff.
Scott Kupor, director of the personnel office, said he wanted to see more recruits like Edward Coristine, a Doge employee who was hired at 19 to help cut the bureaucracy. Mr Coristine used the online pseudonym “Big Balls”.
“We need people who are patriotic, who say: ‘I care about this country. I’m willing to do something good,’” Mr Kupor said in an interview with right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson.
He said younger recruits could work in government for a few years rather than build an entire career there. Mr Coristine now works in a new White House office focused on improving the design of government websites.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told a congressional hearing on Tuesday that a government initiative to cut spending “is coming”. The Office of Personnel Management did not respond to a request for comment.
