DOGE Initiative Leaves Trail of Billions Paid to Federal Employees

The US government's DOGE initiative, aimed at cutting wasteful spending, resulted in a staggering $9.5 billion being paid to federal employees to not work last year, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The report found that paid administrative leave increased by 435% between 2023 and 2025, with associated salary costs rising sixfold.

The majority of this cost, $6.7 billion or around 70%, was tied to the Administration's deferred resignation program, which allowed employees to resign while continuing to receive full pay and benefits until September 30, 2025. The program resulted in 139,963 federal employees leaving their positions.

The initiative was part of a broader campaign under DOGE to cut wasteful spending, with tech billionaire Elon Musk initially promising to save the federal government $2 trillion, later lowered to $1 trillion, and ultimately claiming $215 billion in estimated savings. However, an independent review found that some estimates were incorrect or unsupported.

Not all agencies saw significant workforce reductions, with the Department of Homeland Security reducing its workforce by less than 1%. Some agencies had to replace workers they paid to leave, with 20,557 hires made by June 2026 in the same types of roles as employees who left through deferred resignation.