Every federal employee will have the opportunity to accept a “deferred resignation” with a severance package consisting of around eight months’ worth of pay and benefits under President Donald Trump’s administration.
According to a senior administration official who spoke to NBC News, they anticipate that 5–10% of the federal workforce will leave, which may result in savings of about $100 billion.
According to a statement from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, “American taxpayers pay the salaries of federal government employees, so they deserve employees working on their behalf who actually show up to work in our wonderful federal buildings, which are also paid for by taxpayers.” “If they don t want to work in the office and contribute to making America great again, then they are free to choose a different line of work, and the Trump Administration will provide a very generous payout of 8 months.”
The buyout bid was first reported by Axios.
The offer will be distributed to federal employees via a new mechanism implemented by the Trump administration that allows officials to send a single email to all federal employees.
A draft resignation letter will be included in the email for their perusal. If someone wants to leave, they can respond with the term “resign.”
The period for resignations will start on Tuesday and end on February 6.
“If you choose to remain in your current position, we thank you for your renewed focus on serving the American people to the best of your abilities and look forward to working together as part of an improved federal workforce,” according to the email that will be addressed to federal employees. “At this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency but should your position be eliminated you will be treated with dignity and will be afforded the protections in place for such positions.”
Shortly after taking over Twitter, tech mogul Elon Musk, who is currently leading Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, famously wrote a similar email to staff members, urging them to opt in to continue working for the company. Musk renamed the platform X.
Whether he was involved in the current endeavor was not disclosed by White House officials. However, the email addressed to federal employees has the subject line, “A fork in the road.”
On X, Musk now has a post featuring a commissioned artwork titled “A Fork in the Road.”
Elon Musk’s status: 1865457111783637448 https://x.com/elonmusk