GAO Audit Uncovers $9.5B in Administrative Leave Under DOGE Restructuring

 

GAO Audit Uncovers $9.5B in Administrative Leave Under DOGE Restructuring

A comprehensive audit published by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) disclosed that the federal government disbursed approximately $9.5 billion to civil service personnel placed on paid administrative leave during calendar year 2025. The spike in paid absences was directly connected to the workforce reduction initiatives spearheaded by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

According to the watchdog, federal agency utilization of paid administrative leave surged by 435% between 2023 and 2025, climbing from roughly 4 million workdays to 21.6 million workdays. Approximately $6.7 billion of the overall expenditure was attributed directly to the administration’s "Deferred Resignation Program" (DRP). Under this initiative—launched via an agency-wide directive dubbed the "Fork in the Road"—around 140,000 to 144,000 federal workers agreed to depart civil service while remaining on paid administrative leave through September 30, 2025, without being required to perform official duties. The Departments of Agriculture, Defense, and the Treasury saw the heaviest concentration of program participants.

The report fueled sharp debate regarding government efficiency. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Scott Kupor vigorously defended the expenditure as an upfront investment, stating that downsizing the federal footprint by hundreds of thousands of positions yields an estimated $20 billion to $40 billion in recurring annual savings—representing a 400% return on investment. Conversely, Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray and public interest groups criticized the strategy as an expensive, haphazard purge of skilled personnel that generated severe institutional knowledge deficits, highlighting that agencies have subsequently had to re-hire for over 20,000 vacated positions.