by WorldTribune Staff, February 6, 2025 Real World News
More than 60,000 federal workers to date have said they would resign and take the Trump administration’s buyout offer, NBC News reported on Thursday.
A report by Reuters, meanwhile, cited a source at the Office of Personnel Management as saying Trump administration officials upped their demand for layoffs from 30% to 70% of all staff. The U.S. federal government has more than 2.3 million civilian employees.
A federal judge on Thursday extended the deadline for federal employees to decide whether to accept the offer and resign their jobs voluntarily as the president and his allies attempt to shrink the government workforce.
U.S. District Judge George O’Toole in Massachusetts, a Bill Clinton appointee, ordered the deadline be paused for now and scheduled a hearing for Monday on whether to grant a temporary restraining order that would block the program while the litigation challenging the offer proceeds.
Employees had previously been told they had until the end of the day on Thursday to decide whether to accept the offer.
The American Federation of Government Employees and other unions sued to block the buyout offer, which said employees would be paid for eight months if they left willingly. The unions said agencies couldn’t promise the salaries and benefits beyond what Congress has already authorized, which only extends through March.
In court filings, Trump administration lawyers called attempts to block the buyout program a “last-minute maneuver” that “would have remarkably disruptive and inequitable repercussions.”
The buyout offer, laid out in the so-called Fork Directive, purports to allow federal employees to submit a deferred resignation, in which they will no longer have to work but will be paid with benefits until the end of September.
President Donald Trump is set to fire thousands of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) employees, including those at the FDA and CDC, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The order could come as soon as next week, people familiar with the matter told the Journal.
HHS currently employs more than 80,000 people and includes the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in addition to the FDA and CDC.
Agency officials have been told to prepare lists of probationary workers who have essential roles and must be retained, and of employees who don’t, the report said.
Reuters reported that Democrats contend the buyout effort is illegal, as the U.S. Constitution gives Congress authority over spending matters.
“Everyone is stressed and frustrated. The mood is awful,” said one worker at the Department of Health and Human Services, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Republican lawmakers, who control both chambers of Congress, have cheered the effort, and Democrats have been unable to stop it.
All 47 Democrats in the U.S. Senate were expected to vote against confirming Trump’s pick for White House budget chief, Russell Vought, but he is still expected to win confirmation with support from the chamber’s 53 Republicans.
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