Federal Employees Were Paid $9.5 Billion Not to Work in 2025 Under DOGE Effort
As part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s program to shrink the federal work force, paid administrative leave costs rose by 435 percent.
The Trump administration paid federal employees $9.5 billion not to work during 2025, part of the president’s plan to reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy and government spending, according to a new estimate from a congressional watchdog.
Drastically reducing the size of the federal work force was part of a broader Trump administration plan to rein in what it called frivolous and wasteful federal spending, with an initial promise of $1 trillion in savings.
The administration has said its efforts have led to more than $200 billion in savings, a figure that outside experts have not independently confirmed . In addition, the federal deficit has increased since Mr. Trump returned to office, in part because of the war in Iran and the sweeping tax cuts that Republicans enacted in 2025.
During a congressional hearing on Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said a government initiative to cut spending “is coming.”
