Thursday marked the final day for federal employees to accept the Trump administration's offer of eight months of pay and benefits in exchange for voluntarily stepping down. According to the latest figures from Bloomberg, at least 40,000 government workers—about 2% of the federal civilian workforce—have opted into the resignation program.
An official from the Office of Personnel Management told Bloomberg that deferred retirement applications have been steadily increasing and are expected to surge by the end of Thursday, the deadline to apply. Employees can submit their resignations by sending the word "resign" to their government email accounts.
"While a few agencies and even branches of the military are likely to see increases in the size of their workforce, the majority of federal agencies are likely to be downsized through restructurings, realignments, and reductions in force," OPM recently told federal workers in an email.
OPM added: "These actions are likely to include the use of furloughs and the reclassification to at-will status for a substantial number of federal employees."
The agency also told workers that "consolidation and divestitures" could lead to changes in "physical office" locations.
Reuters noted that federal worker unions have told members not to take the deal. The unions sued to block the offer, with a court hearing scheduled for 1300 ET. Also, Redditors on the "fednews" forum on the Reddit social media platform told other fed workers to "hold the line."
President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, a special government employee leading the Department of Government Efficiency, have been on a crusade to provide the American people with transparency regarding out-of-control spending by federal agencies. One major win for Trump has been unleashing DOGE to neuter the Deep State's unlimited piggybank, also known as USAID. The agency has since been rolled into the State Department.
Latest USAID headlines:
DOGE headlines:
The Trump administration estimated that between 5% and 10% of the federal workforce could accept the offer, which would save taxpayers close to $100 billion. This is what swamp draining looks like—a mandate the American people gave Trump.