US government paid $9.5bn to federal workers not to work as DOGE cuts backfire, watchdog finds

From the Newshound archive · first published 19 September 2026.

A congressional watchdog has found the Trump administration spent $9.5bn keeping federal employees on paid leave without duties in 2025, with paid administrative leave jumping 435% from 2023 levels. The Government Accountability Office examined payroll data across 76 agencies, covering roughly 95% of the federal workforce. Senator Patty Murray called it 'the most expensive way imaginable to make government worse.'

The deferred resignation programme, a core DOGE tool, offered full pay and benefits through September 2025 to approximately 2 million federal workers who agreed to voluntarily step down.

The Office of Personnel Management hit back, claiming the one-time $9.5bn cost delivers a '$40bn-a-year saving' — a '400% return on investment.'