Taxpayer Outrage: Paid To Quit?

Hands exchanging a stack of US dollar bills — Photo: Billion Photos / Shutterstock

A federal watchdog says agencies spent an estimated $9.5 billion paying employees on leave in 2025, a sixfold jump tied largely to a workforce-cut program.

Story Snapshot

Government Accountability Office estimated $9.5 billion in paid administrative leave in 2025.
Use of paid leave rose about 435% from 2023 to 2025, reaching 21.6 million workdays.
About $6.7 billion was linked to the Deferred Resignation Program under workforce cuts.
Office of Personnel Management defended costs as one-time, claiming future savings.

What GAO Found About Paid Leave in 2025

The Government Accountability Office reported that federal agencies spent an estimated $9.5 billion on salary costs for paid administrative leave in 2025, a sixfold rise from 2023 levels. The number of paid leave workdays grew from about 4 million in 2023 and 4.4 million in 2024 to about 21.6 million in 2025. GAO’s estimate reflects agencies it reviewed, not every office across government, but the jump is large enough to signal a broad shift in how leave was used that year.

GAO and news summaries say the increase was driven mainly by a workforce reduction push linked to the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, during President Trump’s current term. Reporters tie roughly 70% of the 2025 paid leave to a single tool in that push, the Deferred Resignation Program. This framing places the rise within a clear policy choice: cut headcount fast, allow people to stop working, and set later resignation dates while pay continued.

How the Deferred Resignation Program Worked

Coverage of the GAO findings says about $6.7 billion of the 2025 total came from the Deferred Resignation Program, which let employees submit a future resignation date and step away from duties meanwhile. Office of Personnel Management guidance described broad agency discretion to grant administrative leave, and program materials envisioned leave use until the set resignation date. One broadcast summary said about 144,000 employees accepted buyouts under the program, suggesting large-scale participation that magnified leave costs.

The Office of Personnel Management director, Scott Kupper, defended the $9.5 billion as a one-time price to reach a smaller, cheaper government. He said the change would save about $40 billion per year going forward as agencies carry fewer staff. That claim sets up a classic budget tradeoff: near-term cash outlays for long-term payroll savings. GAO, however, flagged that officials did not know actual costs with precision, underscoring that the $9.5 billion figure is an estimate.

Why This Matters Beyond Partisan Lines

Taxpayers on the right and left see a pattern they dislike: big promises to fix Washington that deliver large, messy transition bills. In 2025, agencies used administrative leave as a management tool on a historic scale, shifting costs into payroll lines rather than a single budget item. That makes tracking harder and fuels anger that elites in government play by different rules. The basic tension is simple: pay now to shrink later, while the true savings arrive slowly and can be hard to confirm.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently published a report detailing how the Trump administration’s efforts to downsize the government led to $9.5 billion being spent on salary costs for administrative leave in 2025. This is six times the amount spent on… pic.twitter.com/xTXDAb4A1L

— Straight Arrow (@StraightArrow__) September 18, 2026

For conservatives who want a leaner government, the estimate raises fears of waste in how cuts were done. For liberals focused on worker protections and fair process, it raises alarms about hurried downsizing that paid people to sit idle rather than retrain or reassign. For everyone, the number is striking and concrete. GAO reports a 435% jump in paid leave days and ties most of it to one program, even as it cautions that the accounting is not exact.

What To Watch For Next

Congress can seek the full GAO methodology, agency-by-agency ledgers, and Office of Personnel Management records to verify who went on leave, for how long, and why. Clearer data could show how much money 2025 leave actually cost and how much the government has saved in 2026. If promised savings do not materialize, the $9.5 billion will look like simple waste. If savings do appear, the spending will look like a rough but effective reset of a bloated system.