Trump administration paid federal employees $9.5 billion not to work in 2025 under DOGE plan

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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.

The move represented a sixfold increase in paid leave salary costs compared to 2023, the Government Accountability Office said in a report.

Federal agencies’ use of paid administrative leave skyrocketed by 435% last year, driven largely by the controversial deferred resignation program pushed by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which was spearheaded by the billionaire Elon Musk. Administration officials had said the effort would save taxpayers billions of dollars.

Under the program, which was primarily offered early in President Donald Trump’s second term, federal staffers were allowed to resign but first be placed on paid leave for several months without having to work as an incentive to sign up. Some agencies offered more than one round of the program, which proved far more popular in later months as the extent of the Trump administration’s overhaul of the federal workforce became clearer and more employees feared for their jobs.

GAO estimated that about $6.7 billion was spent on the deferred resignation program, through which more than 144,000 employees were put on leave.

The US Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, does not know the actual costs of paid administrative leave used to shrink the federal workforce, GAO said, which noted that its figures could be overstated because of limitations with the data reported by agencies. OPM may also be unable to determine if long-term savings goals are being met because of the data issues, GAO added.

CNN has reached out to the White House and OPM for comment.

OPM’s data shows that just under 140,000 workers participated in the deferred resignation program, which was launched days after Trump took office in January 2025 through an email with the subject line “Fork in the Road.” Unions had warned workers at the time not to take the offer, questioning whether the government would actually pay them through September, and unsuccessfully sued to halt it.

OPM defended the deferred resignation program in August 2025 in response to Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s report that criticized the effort as squandering taxpayer money.

“We designed the DRP as a practical, humane, and voluntary option to accelerate workforce transitions in a system that desperately needed movement,” Scott Kupor, OPM’s director, said in a statement at the time. “Employees were given the option to retire early and receive eight months of paid leave; in return, the government will save $20+ billion in costs, annually.”

Citing the new GAO report, Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, slammed the Trump administration for putting so many experienced federal employees on paid administrative leave.

“After promising to cut waste, Trump instead set billions upon billions in taxpayer dollars on fire to quite literally pay people not to do jobs they loved—from researching cancer cures to taking care of our National Parks, and so much else,” she said in a statement, adding, “This was the most expensive way imaginable to make government worse.”

格雷姆·斯隆/彭博社/盖蒂图片社

据国会监督机构最新估计，特朗普政府去年花费 95 亿美元用于联邦雇员带薪行政休假，这是其缩减政府规模、节省纳税人资金计划的一部分。

美国政府问责局在一份报告中指出，此举将使带薪休假工资成本比 2023 年增加六倍。

去年，联邦机构带薪行政休假的使用率飙升了435%，这主要是由于备受争议的延期辞职计划所致。该计划由政府效率部（DOGE）推动，而DOGE是由亿万富翁埃隆·马斯克牵头的。政府官员曾表示，这项举措将为纳税人节省数十亿美元。

该计划主要在唐纳德·特朗普总统第二任期初期推出，允许联邦雇员辞职，但首先可以享受几个月的带薪休假，无需工作，以此鼓励他们加入。一些机构提供了不止一轮该计划，随着特朗普政府对联邦雇员队伍的改革力度逐渐明朗，越来越多的雇员开始担心自己的工作，该计划在后期变得更加受欢迎。

美国政府问责局估计，延期辞职计划花费了约 67 亿美元，通过该计划，超过 14.4 万名员工被安排休假。

美国政府问责局（GAO）表示，美国人事管理办公室（OPM）并不掌握用于缩减联邦政府雇员队伍的带薪行政休假的实际成本。GAO指出，由于各机构上报的数据存在局限性，OPM公布的数据可能被高估。GAO还补充说，由于数据问题，OPM可能也无法确定长期节约目标是否已经实现。

CNN已联系白宫和人事管理局寻求置评。

美国人事管理局（OPM）的数据显示，近14万名工人参与了这项延期辞职计划。该计划于2025年1月特朗普就职几天后启动，启动邮件的主题是“岔路口”。当时工会曾警告工人不要接受这项提议，质疑政府是否真的会支付他们到9月份的工资，并提起诉讼试图阻止该计划，但最终败诉。

2025 年 8 月，针对民主党参议员理查德·布卢门撒尔的报告，人事管理办公室 (OPM) 为延期辞职计划进行了辩护。该报告批评该计划浪费纳税人的钱。

“我们设计的退休计划旨在提供一个切实可行、人性化且自愿的选择，以加速亟需变革的人力资源体系的转型，”美国人事管理办公室主任斯科特·库珀当时在一份声明中表示。“员工可以选择提前退休并获得八个月的带薪假期；作为回报，政府每年将节省超过200亿美元的开支。”

民主党参议员、参议院拨款委员会副主席帕蒂·默里援引美国政府问责局（GAO）的最新报告，抨击特朗普政府让众多经验丰富的联邦雇员带薪行政休假。

“特朗普承诺削减浪费，结果却挥霍了数十亿美元的纳税人资金，实际上是花钱雇人不去做他们热爱的工作——从研究癌症疗法到保护国家公园，以及其他许多工作，”她在声明中说，“这是你能想象到的最昂贵的让政府变得更糟的方式。”