The facts
The US government paid federal workers $9.5 billion in 2025 not to work, a move linked to the Trump administration's efforts to shrink the federal workforce. According to a report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), federal agencies' use of paid administrative leave increased by 435% between 2023 and 2025. This surge in paid leave cost six times more than in 2023. Of the $9.5 billion paid, $6.7 billion was associated with a deferred resignation program. The GAO stated that paid administrative leave is an excused absence without loss of pay, representing a cost to taxpayers as employees are paid without performing job duties. The number of workdays on paid administrative leave rose from approximately 4 million in 2023 and 4.4 million in 2024 to about 21.6 million in 2025. Roughly 70% of this leave in 2025 was tied to the deferred resignation program, with 144,312 employees across 76 agencies reporting its use. Douglas Pasternak of Public Citizen's Trump Accountability Project described these federal overhaul efforts as "haphazard" and lacking forethought, citing ripple effects such as delays in social security checks and longer wait times at Veterans Affairs hospitals. Senator Patty Murray condemned the federal layoffs, stating that billions were spent to push out experienced government experts.
Our take
So let's get this straight. The Trump administration's brilliant plan to make the government smaller and more efficient was to pay people not to work. Not to fire them. Not to restructure. To just keep them on the payroll and tell them to stay the fuck home. For $9.5 billion. That's not a workforce reduction strategy; that's what a toddler does when they hide a toy behind their back and think you can't see it. The only thing that shrank was the amount of actual work getting done.
The numbers are a masterpiece of bureaucratic bullshit. Paid administrative leave - which is just a fancy term for 'excused absence without loss of pay for doing fuck-all' - shot up by 435% in two years. We went from 4 million days of paid vacation in 2023 to 21.6 million days in 2025. That's like the entire population of Florida calling in sick for a week, on the taxpayer's dime. And the real kick in the ass? Roughly 70% of this, costing $6.7 billion, was tied to something called a 'deferred resignation program.' Sounds fancy. It's not. It's just writing a giant check to 144,312 people across 76 agencies and hoping they eventually quit so you can claim you 'reduced the workforce.' It's government by wishful thinking.
And what did this $9.5 billion investment in national laziness buy us? According to Public Citizen's Trump Accountability Project, it bought 'haphazard' chaos and 'ripple effects.' You know, small things like delays in Social Security checks for old people and longer wait times at Veterans Affairs hospitals for people who actually fought for this country. Senator Patty Murray nailed it: they spent billions to push out experienced government experts. So we paid a fortune to lose institutional knowledge and cripple basic services. That's not efficiency; that's arson. You don't make a car lighter by setting the engine on fire.
This is the conservative fiscal responsibility they're always screaming about? Blowing ten billion dollars on a scheme that amounts to putting the federal workforce in a paid timeout? It's the most expensive nap in human history. They didn't drain the swamp; they put it on a retainer. The whole operation reeks of a plan concocted by someone who thinks running a country is like firing someone on a reality TV show - dramatic, simple, and with zero fucking thought for what happens after the camera cuts. The bill came due, and it's $9.5 billion, plus pissed-off veterans and anxious seniors. What a legacy. What a bunch of assholes.
