President Trump is determined to reduce the size, scope, and cost of the federal government. He plans to bring it more in line with its limited constitutional duties and to get out of the business of governing in areas where the overarching federal jurisdiction has no business being. He also wants to return to the state and local level representatives those governmental responsibilities that are more appropriately theirs.
Promises made; promises kept.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced that, as of March 31 this year, there were 2,289,472 civilian employees, a reduction of more than 23,000 positions (just 1%) since the start of FY-2025 on October 1, 2024.
According to CNN, nearly 30,000 (1.3%) more have received reduction-in-force notices that were previously held in abeyance due to pending court cases. Most of those cases are cleared up, and terminations should resume. On January 25, most federal civilian staff were offered a deferred resignation opportunity. The employee would stay on the payroll through September 25, 2025 (almost the end of the fiscal year) and not be subject to the return-to-office mandate.
As of early February, reports indicated that approximately 77,000 (or 3.3%) had submitted deferred resignations. Now (July), OPM says that hundreds of thousands (4.3% per 100,000) have submitted deferred resignation. Other means of leaving federal service are also available.
Image by ChatGPT.
Those who are eligible for immediate retirement have the option to leave federal service and receive retirement payments immediately. They can also opt for postponed retirement; leave now, collect pensions later.
Employees who are not eligible for immediate retirement can choose to resign and collect a deferred retirement benefit once they meet the age eligibility requirements, provided they have at least five years of creditable service. Agencies may also offer Voluntary Early Retirement Authority as an incentive to retire.
Earlier, President Trump implemented a federal hiring freeze. From April 2024 through January 2025, federal agencies added an average of 23,000 employees a month. That number has dropped about 70%, lightening the anticipated pressure on the federal budget.
So far, USAID and the Institute of Museum and Library Services have been eliminated. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Agency for Global Media, AmeriCorps, and HUD Community Planning and Development are mostly eliminated. Many DEI and climate change-based programs and operations have been discarded.
We witnessed a sad last day spectacle for more than 1,300 employees at the Department of State who lost their jobs. I sympathize with their grief, as it is an honor to work at State. This does not affect the continuing necessity to reduce the size of government.
Grants and contracts have been canceled. Research at various institutions and development programs abroad has been abolished. Grant management staff can be expected to shrink. Waste and fraud have been tackled throughout the benefits programs. Federal automation is coming up-to-date, and IT operations are already more efficient and effective. This should reduce staffing needs across many agencies.
By now, everyone in the federal workforce should have an inkling of what is yet to come. If they don’t, it’s clearly laid out in the May 2, 2025, 46-page letter from OPM Director Russell Vought to Representative Susan Collins, the Chair of the Senate’s Appropriations Committee.
This letter outlines the differences between the FY-2025 budget and President Trump’s proposed FY-2026 budget. While the total amount of the proposed FY-26 budget is about the same as the FY-26 enacted budget, the funding allocations are significantly different. The reductions in discretionary spending are offset by increases for border security, removals of illegals, and national security. Reviewing this letter would alert most employees as to whether they’ll remain in federal service.
Non-military federal employees who wish to check on their offices’ re-sizing can go to the actual 1,124-page budget proposal. For example, the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (page 77) shows a proposed decrease in staffing from 5,816 in FY-25 to 4,588 in FY-26, a 21% reduction. These are smart people; they can figure it out. The Department of Defense military budget can be found here.
Over the past six months, the federal workforce learned that offers made are time-limited, certain programs and priorities of previous administrations are being abolished, and that new emphasis is being placed on other areas now. There are three actions I believe the Administration should take to continue to accelerate the shrinking of the federal staff level.
1 – Instead of hiring from the outside, use lateral hiring. That is, give priority for federal hiring into vacant positions to current federal employees. This will force agencies to thoughtfully determine whether a vacant position should be filled or a new one created.
2 – Open up voluntary early retirement through the end of this fiscal year, or even into the next FY. Now that D.O.G.E. has brought OPM’s retirement processes into the 21st century, it will not necessarily overburden the retirement staff.
3 – Provide another window for eligible employees to submit their resignations now, with the same departure date of September 25.
Now that the budget is out there, it would be a kindness to allow people to choose to step out of their current career path with a couple of months of payroll and benefits, along with time to get their lives rearranged. This would be the gracious way to handle the continuing reduction-in-force, and in the best interest of the executive branch and the White House. We the People would appreciate it.
Anony Mee is the nom de blog of a retired public servant who X-tweets at oh_yeahMee.