President Trump’s administration has intensified its efforts to pressure federal employees to resign before the Thursday deadline. This aggressive move has left many civil servants grappling with the decision to leave their posts. Federal workers must decide whether to accept the resignation offer, which includes an incentive to continue being paid through the end of September.
The push is part of a broader effort by President Trump and Elon Musk to significantly reduce the size of the federal government. Tens of thousands of US government workers have reportedly accepted the offer to resign in exchange for continued pay until September 30. Last week, about two million federal employees were advised they could opt into this deferred resignation program.
So far, more than 1% of that workforce has chosen to take part ahead of the deadline, making up between 20,000 to 40,000 federal workers, according to US media. The White House previously expected as many as 200,000 people to accept and anticipates a spike in participation in the next 24 hours. The resignation scheme’s announcement, delivered via a late-night email, is part of an ongoing effort by the Trump administration to slash the size of the federal bureaucracy and cut spending.
Unions representing US government workers have sued to block the plan for mass resignations. We won’t stand by and let our members become the victims of this con,” said American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) president Everett Kelley in a statement on Tuesday afternoon. On Tuesday, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) became the first national security arm to extend the offer to its staff, telling its entire workforce they could quit and receive about eight months of pay and benefits.
Trump administration’s federal resignation push
But it was not immediately clear who could accept the offer. Some of the offers are likely to be rescinded if the applicants do not suit the administration’s new priorities, an aide reportedly said.
An analysis of the federal workforce by the non-profit Partnership for Public Service found that about 6% of those who accept a buyout offer may have been planning to leave government anyway. The AFGE also pointed out that the budget currently funding the federal government will expire in March, raising further questions about if eight months of pay could be guaranteed. Federal employees described an atmosphere of confusion and anxiety, as they weighed what comes next.
One woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said she had been a federal employee for more than two decades. “It appears rude and appalling,” she said, adding the offer itself seemed “threatening.”
Even workers who said they would take the offer expressed similar concerns: that they may not get the pay they have been promised. Another federal worker said while he planned on taking the offer, he was not confident.
“I hope that it will be exactly what’s promised, and not a scam,” he said. Trump’s efforts to cut down on the size of the federal government have been applauded by many leading Republicans. House Speaker Mike Johnson said during a press conference on Wednesday that the “stewardship of precious American taxpayer dollars” was being well-handled.
But Trump’s efforts to overhaul the federal government, coupled with a number of other major moves, including a crackdown on immigration, have also inspired the first nationwide protests against the president this term. Thousands protested against the reforms across the country on Wednesday.
April Isaacs is a news contributor for DevX.com She is long-term, self-proclaimed nerd. She loves all things tech and computers and still has her first Dreamcast system. It is lovingly named Joni, after Joni Mitchell.
