More than 20,000 federal employees have agreed to quit their jobs in a Trump administration deal that allows them to continue earning paychecks through the end of September, with the numbers increasing daily, according to a report Tuesday.
The numbers represent about 1% of the federal workforce who have agreed to a plan presented by President Donald Trump and Department of Government Efficiency leader Elon Musk that they hope could cut up to 10% of the federal workforce, reports Bloomberg.
Workers have until Thursday to decide, and the administration expects resignations to grow as the deadline nears.
The administration offered the buyout offer last week. In addition, the Office of Personnel Management, the human resources agency for the government, sent out an email outlining the proposal along with outlining plans to subject all federal employees to "enhanced standards of suitability and conduct" and warned there will be future downsizing.
The 10% target that has been set to cull employees may be difficult, as about half of the 2.3 million civilian employees are ineligible to take the offer. These include defense and intelligence workers, postal employees, law enforcement personnel, and people working in other sensitive job positions.
Federal employees unions are also urging the workers to be skeptical about the buyout offer, saying the deal is not guaranteed.
The National Treasury Employees Union has warned that the buyout is "designed to entice or scare you into resigning, and the American Federation of Government Employees said the offer intends to "turn the federal government into a toxic environment where workers cannot stay even if they want to."
Meanwhile, a coalition of 11 Democrat attorneys general are warning federal workers in their states about the buyout offers, saying the plans are "misleading," reports The Hill Tuesday.
The group, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, cautioned that the benefits being promised are not guaranteed.
"President Trump's so-called buyout offers are nothing more than the latest attack on federal workers and the services they provide," James said.
The coalition also urged federal workers to follow their unions' guidance on the matter.
The offer is "completely unreliable," Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes commented, while Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said workers should "read the fine print before signing."
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin also took aim at Musk.
"President Trump has allowed an unelected billionaire with no constitutional authority to intimidate the civil servants who keep our government running in an attempt to push them out of their jobs," he said, adding that protections for federal workers don't change when a new president comes into office.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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