GAO: US Paid Federal Workers $9.5B Not to Work Under DOGE

A new GAO report estimates the government spent $9.5 billion on paid leave in 2025, mostly for DOGE's deferred resignation program.

A Government Accountability Office report released Tuesday estimates the federal government spent $9.5 billion in salary costs on paid administrative leave in 2025 — a sixfold increase over 2023 — with usage up 435% from 2023 to 2025. About $6.7 billion, roughly 70% of the total, was tied to the deferred resignation program pushed by the Department of Government Efficiency, under which employees were placed on paid leave for months before resigning. GAO reviewed payroll data from 76 agencies representing around 95% of the civilian federal workforce, according to Time.

The scale of paid leave is the striking part: the program launched days into Trump's second term through the "Fork in the Road" email, modeled on Elon Musk's approach at Twitter. The Sinclair National Desk reports GAO found reported paid-leave workdays jumped from about 4 million in 2023 to roughly 21.6 million in 2025, and the number of employees on leave for more than 90 workdays rose from fewer than 600 to almost 100,000. Senator Patty Murray called it "the most expensive way imaginable to make government worse."

Under the program, roughly 2 million federal workers were offered the chance to resign while receiving full pay and benefits through September 30, 2025, with OPM directing agencies to place participants on administrative leave in the interim. Union warnings and lawsuits failed to stop it, and later rounds proved more popular as workforce cuts loomed. OPM data shows 139,963 employees left through deferred resignation programs, while CNN reports GAO put the number on leave at more than 144,000.

OPM Director Scott Kupor pushed back, telling CNN the report "fails to highlight the difference" between a one-time $9.5 billion expense to shrink government by 270,000 employees and what he cited as $40 billion per year in savings — calling it a 400% return on investment. In an August statement, Kupor had defended the program as "a practical, humane, and voluntary option." CNN notes GAO's figures could be overstated due to agency data limitations, and that OPM does not know the actual costs of the leave used.

The federal workforce has declined by more than 271,000 civilian employees — about 12% — since Trump's inauguration, per OPM data cited by Time and NBC News. The cuts were uneven: Time reports a separate GAO analysis found USAID staffing fell 95%, with the Education Department down 46%. The Partnership for Public Service identified 20,557 hires by June 2026 in the same roles as deferred-resignation departures, raising questions about whether the paid-leave outlay achieved lasting efficiency.

DOGE, which officially shut down in July after OPM absorbed most of its functions, had claimed $215 billion in estimated savings — a figure Time notes has not been independently confirmed, and an earlier GAO review found some estimates incorrect or unsupported. With litigation over agency layoff plans continuing, Congress is likely to press OPM on the data gaps.