WASHINGTON (news agencies) — Thousands of federal government employees have been shown the door in the first month of President Donald Trump’s administration as the White House and its Department of Government Efficiency fire both new and career workers, tell agency leaders to plan for “large-scale reductions in force” and freeze trillions of dollars in federal grant funds.
It is affecting more than just the national capital region, home to about 20% of the 2.4 million members of the civilian federal workforce, which does not include military personnel and postal workers. More than 80% of that workforce lives outside the Washington area.
There is no official figure available of the total firings or layoffs. media tallied how agencies are being affected based on news agencies reporting and statements from lawmakers and employee unions.
Here is a look at some of the broad and specific ways federal agencies and employees are being affected by the administration’s reductions, as of Wednesday:
The White House offered a “deferred resignation” proposal in exchange for financial incentives, like months of paid leave, to almost all federal employees who opted to leave their jobs by Feb. 6.
But just before that deadline, a federal judge blocked Trump’s plan, wanting to hear arguments from the administration and the labor unions, which said the offer was illegal.
According to the Office of Personnel Management, about 75,000 federal employees had accepted the offer as of Feb. 12.
There have also been wide-ranging layoffs of probationary employees — those generally on the job for less than a year and who have yet to gain civil service protection. Potentially hundreds of thousands are affected.
On Feb. 13, the administration ordered agencies to lay off nearly all such workers. According to government data maintained by OPM, 220,000 federal employees had less than a year on the job as of March 2024.
On Feb. 13, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced the dismissal of more than 1,000 employees who had served for less than two years. According to Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., that included researchers working on cancer treatment, opioid addiction, prosthetics and burn pit exposure.
At least 39 people have been fired from the Education Department, including special education specialists and student aid officials, according to a union that represents agency workers.
There have also been nearly $900 million in cuts to the department’s Institute of Education Services, which tracks the progress of America’s students. It is unclear to what degree the institute would continue to exist. Industry experts said at least 169 contracts were terminated Feb. 10.
Hundreds of federal employees tasked with working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs were laid off Feb. 13, but that move was largely rescinded hours later, according to a memo obtained by the news agencies. Three U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation said as many as 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration were ousted, with some losing access to email before they had learned they were fired.
The jobs of more than 5,000 probationary employees are on the line at the Department of Health and Human Services.
On Feb. 14, officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were told they were losing nearly 1,300 probationary employees — about one-tenth of the agency’s workforce — but the final number was closer to 700, according to two CDC officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the cuts.
Probationary employees were also fired at public health agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, but HHS has not released a final number.
The probationary cuts included more than 130 employees at the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which oversees the nation’s critical infrastructure, including the federal efforts to secure election systems. It is not clear whether those included 17 employees who had worked on election security and had already been placed on leave.
Four employees at the Federal Emergency Management Agency — its chief financial officer, two program analysts and a grant specialist — were fired Feb. 11 over payments to reimburse New York City for hotel costs for migrants.
The IRS will lay off thousands of probationary workers in the middle of tax season, according to two people familiar with the agency’s plans who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
It is unclear how many IRS workers will be affected or when the cuts will happen.
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