Trump administration paid $9.5 billion in leave for federal employees in 2025, due to DOGE-era buyout program
Updated on: September 16, 2026 / 6:37 PM EDT / CBS News
TL;DR
- The Trump administration spent $9.5 billion on employee administrative leave in 2025, a sixfold increase from 2023.
- This increase was primarily due to the Deferred Resignation Program (DRP), a buyout offer to federal employees to reduce the federal workforce.
- The DRP incentivized employees to resign while still receiving pay through September 30, 2025.
- The GAO reported that 144,312 employees accepted the buyout offer.
- Paid administrative leave peaked in July 2025, with 2.5 million out of 3 million leave workdays attributed to the DRP.
- The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) director argued that the $9.5 billion expense was a one-time cost to achieve significant long-term taxpayer savings.
- Concerns were raised about the transparency of cost-saving claims made by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
- The GAO recommended that OPM improve the transparency of administrative leave data and create a specific category for leave used in workforce reduction efforts.
- Since President Trump began his term in January 2025, 271,000 employees have left the federal government.