Deadline looms for federal agencies to submit mass layoff plans as Trump admin guts 'bloated' workforce
Federal agencies are required to submit layoff plans to the White House and Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Thursday as the Trump administration works to slim down and streamline the federal government.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Feb. 11 that ordered federal agency leaders to "undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force." The order focused on removing employees in offices suspended or closed by the Trump administration, roles that were considered nonessential during government shutdowns and temporary employees.
The executive order stipulated that the layoff plans would not affect roles related to "public safety, immigration enforcement, or law enforcement."
On Feb. 26, the Office of Management and Budget and OPM — which works as the federal government’s human resources office — issued guidance to agency heads that they had until March 13 to submit "Agency Reorganization Plans" to comply with the large-scale reductions in force order.
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"The federal government is costly, inefficient, and deeply in debt," the OPM and OMB guidance read. "At the same time, it is not producing results for the American public. Instead, tax dollars are being siphoned off to fund unproductive and unnecessary programs that benefit radical interest groups while hurting hardworking American citizens. The American people registered their verdict on the bloated, corrupt federal bureaucracy on November 5, 2024, by voting for President Trump and his promises to sweepingly reform the federal government."
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Some agency heads have already submitted plans or announced how they plan to gut their respective departments. The Department of Education, for example, announced on Tuesday that it was rolling out its reduction in force plan that impacted nearly 50% of its staff, translating to roughly 1,300 terminations.
"Today’s reduction in force reflects the Department of Education’s commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents and teachers," Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said. "I appreciate the work of the dedicated public servants and their contributions to the Department. This is a significant step toward restoring the greatness of the United States education system."
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced Wednesday he will shutter the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, the Office of Inclusive Excellence and the Environmental Justice Division within EPA regional offices to come into compliance with the Trump order.
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NASA announced Monday it will shutter three offices — the Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy, the Office of the Chief Scientist and the Diversity Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility office — as part of a "phased reduction in force."
The Department of Veterans Affairs began firing employees earlier in March after announcing in February that it would lay off about 76,000 employees as part of its mission to return staffing levels to those under the first Trump administration in 2019.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced in March that it was laying off more than 1,000 of its employees, accounting for roughly 20% of its total staff.
The IRS is in the midst of firing roughly 12,000 employees — most of whom were hired under the Biden administration — while the CIA is firing an undisclosed number of probationary employees. The Pentagon fired roughly 5,400 probationary employees in February.
Probationary employees are individuals who have not yet secured permanent employment, including new hires and those who had recently been moved to a new role within the government.
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Cabinet secretaries and agency leaders are working alongside the Department of Government Efficiency, which is led by Elon Musk, to cut spending and reduce the overall federal workforce, though the agency leaders have final say over terminations.
The Thursday deadline comes after the administration already offered the roughly two million employees who were on the federal payroll a buyout offer, known as the "Fork in the Road" offer. Roughly 75,000 employees took the offer by the Feb. 12 deadline, which provided them with eight months of pay and benefits.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House on Thursday for additional comment on the layoff plans but did not immediately receive a reply.
The OPM and OMB directive noted that Social Security, Medicare and veterans health care will not be affected by the Thursday deadline, directing appropriate agency heads to not carry out layoffs until the two offices can review plans for such terminations.
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Trump was asked about the mass layoffs from the Oval Office on Wednesday, including bucking the notion that the terminations will weaken the labor market.
"I think the labor market's going to be fantastic," Trump told the media when asked about a potentially weakened labor market. "But it's going to have high-paying manufacturing jobs as opposed to government jobs. We had too many people in government. You can't just do that. We had many, many, too many. This is for 40 years, you know, this isn't just now. This built up and got worse and worse, and they just hire more and more people."
Trump campaigned on, and has championed, states having broader authority over policies and issues stretching from abortion access, to disaster relief preparation and response to education.
The president on Wednesday said the Department of Education, specifically, needs to shift from the federal level to allow states individual control over their respective systems, arguing that the U.S. has academically dragged behind nations such as Norway and China.
"We want the education to be given by the states," he said. "It'll be much better. It'll move us to the top of the list from the bottom of the list and actually save us money."
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