DOGE Initiative Resulted in Federal Employees Getting Paid Billions to Not Work, New Government Report Finds

Then-White House Senior Advisor Elon Musk walks to the White House after landing in Marine One on the South Lawn with President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., on March 9, 2025. —Samuel Corum—Getty Images The federal government spent an estimated $9.5 billion paying employees to not work last year, with most of the cost tied to a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative to shrink the federal workforce , according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

The report , published Tuesday, found that the use of paid administrative leave increased 435% from 2023 to 2025, while associated salary costs rose sixfold.

GAO estimated that $6.7 billion—around 70% of the 2025 total—was associated with the Administration’s deferred resignation program .

The congressional watchdog analyzed payroll data from 76 agencies representing around 95% of the civilian federal workforce.

In January 2025, the Trump Administration offered roughly 2 million federal workers the option to resign while continuing to receive full pay and benefits through Sept.

30.

The government-wide offer was meant to encourage voluntary departures under an arrangement known as deferred resignation.

The Office of Personnel Management directed agencies to place employees who accepted the offer on paid administrative leave until their departure.

Some agencies later conducted additional deferred resignation programs.

According to federal workforce data , 139,963 federal employees left the government through deferred resignation programs.

The initiative was part of the Trump Administration’s broader campaign under DOGE to cut what it saw as wasteful federal spending.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who became the public face of DOGE before leaving the Administration in May 2025, initially promised to save the federal government $2 trillion, before lowering the target to $1 trillion.

DOGE’s website ultimately claimed $215 billion in estimated savings.

That figure has not been independently confirmed.