The Government Paid $4.5 Billion to Feds Who Took the DRP

Last Updated: April 12, 2026 Reading Time: 9 min

In late January 2025, the Office of Personnel Management sent a memo to approximately two million federal employees with a simple proposition: resign now, keep your pay and benefits through September 30, and never come back to the office. The offer was called the Deferred Resignation Program, or DRP.

One year later, a new estimate from the Partnership for Public Service puts the price tag on that proposition at $4.5 billion in salary and benefits paid to employees who were not working.

The figure comes from the Partnership's Federal Harms Tracker, a data tool that drew on OPM records, congressional reports, and independent research to build the most detailed accounting yet of what the administration's workforce reductions actually cost. The $4.5 billion is not the program's total impact. It is a component of nearly $71 billion in estimated total costs tied to all workforce reduction actions taken in 2025.

If you are a federal employee trying to understand what happened, or if you are still weighing a separation offer, the numbers below give you the most complete picture available.

Key Takeaways

• The DRP cost an estimated $4.5 billion in salary and benefits paid to employees not working, according to Partnership for Public Service analysis using OPM data
• 138,541 to 143,904 employees accepted the DRP through mid-2025, with some estimates reaching above 200,000 when agency-specific rounds are included
• DoD led all agencies with 48,002 DRP participants; Treasury had 17,640; Agriculture had 16,414
• DRP participants gave up severance rights because the offer was classified as a voluntary resignation, not an involuntary separation
• The Senate PSI called the DRP wasteful, estimating it generated $14.8 billion in costs, not savings, by paying employees for months of no work
• Second-generation DRP offers are still being made in 2026, but with shorter durations and less generous terms
• Use our free Severance Pay Calculator to compare what you would have received in severance against any current DRP offer

What the Deferred Resignation Program Was

The DRP launched on January 28, 2025, through an OPM memo headlined "Fork in the Road." It offered every eligible permanent federal civilian employee the same basic deal:

• Accept by the deadline (initially February 6, then extended)
• Receive full pay and all benefits through September 30, 2025
• Be placed on administrative leave immediately with no work duties
• Resign effective at the end of the administrative leave period

The framing was borrowed from a similar tactic Elon Musk used at Twitter in 2022. Employees who did not respond were characterized as choosing to stay and "accept the new normal."

Union leaders, legal experts, and employee advocacy groups immediately raised concerns. The American Federation of Government Employees warned members not to sign. Just Security called the offer "legally dubious," noting that OPM had no clear statutory authority to make government-wide deferred resignation offers that bound agencies to pay employees for months of no work. Courts later found that the administration had overstepped in some areas, though most DRP agreements were honored.

For employees who accepted, administrative leave began almost immediately. For employees who held out through multiple follow-up rounds, the deal terms changed.

The $4.5 Billion Price Tag

The Partnership for Public Service built its cost estimate from the ground up, using OPM data on the distribution of leave durations across the DRP population.

Close to 86,000 employees were paid for approximately 8.7 weeks, representing the most common leave duration for the first-wave DRP cohort. Others received more or less time depending on their agency, when they signed, and whether their position was deemed mission-critical enough to require a delayed separation.

The time employees were paid without working ranged from less than one week to more than 30 weeks.

The Partnership applied an average weekly federal salary of $2,055 and added 38% to account for the cost of benefits including FEHB premiums, TSP matching contributions, FEGLI, and the employer share of FERS retirement accrual. That methodology produced the $4.5 billion figure.

The partnership acknowledged the estimate is conservative. Some costs remain unmeasurable, including the institutional knowledge that left with departing employees, the downstream effects on agency service delivery, and the cost to recruit and train replacements.

The $4.5 billion sits inside a larger $71 billion total cost estimate that includes:

Category	Estimated Cost
Deferred Resignation Program (138,000+ employees, no work)	$4.5 billion
Probationary employees on paid administrative leave during legal challenges	$443.9 million
RIF-related severance payments (Jan 2025 to Jan 2026)	$763.9 million
Rehiring costs for previously terminated employees	$12.1 million
Other workforce disruption costs	Remainder of $71B total

The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations reached a different but related number. In its July 2025 "21.7 Billion Blunder" report, the PSI found that the DRP alone accounted for $14.8 billion in identifiable waste, using a broader accounting that included all DRP iterations through mid-2025 and estimated participation above 200,000 employees. The PSI counted only the June 2025 stopping point, while the Partnership used confirmed OPM data on actual payments made.

The gap between the two figures reflects different methodologies and data access, not a fundamental disagreement on the direction of the finding. Both analyses concluded the DRP generated a net cost, not a net savings.

Who Took It: Agency Breakdown

The GAO published a detailed accounting of DRP participation across 23 major agencies for the January through June 2025 period. The numbers show that participation was not evenly distributed.

Agency	DRP Participants
Department of Defense	48,002
Department of the Treasury	17,640
Department of Agriculture	16,414
Department of Health and Human Services	Significant (exact figure pending full GAO release)
Department of the Interior	High rate (some regional offices 75%+)
All 23 agencies combined	143,904

DoD's participation rate is partly explained by its sheer size (the department employs roughly 750,000 civilians) and by the active communication from some DoD components that further involuntary reductions were coming. When employees believe RIFs are imminent, voluntary offers become more attractive.

At the U.S. Forest Service, more than 3,500 employees accepted deferred resignation in the second DRP window alone, representing a significant fraction of the agency's roughly 30,000-person workforce. Interior Department regional teams reported participation rates of 75% or more in offices expected to be consolidated or reduced.

Treasury's 17,640 participants included a large number of IRS employees. The agency ultimately issued a "second and final" DRP opportunity after the initial round, framing it as the last chance before involuntary action.

The pattern across agencies was consistent: DRP acceptance accelerated when agency leadership implied that those who stayed would face worse terms later. In some cases that implied threat was accurate. In others, the RIFs it forecasted either did not materialize or were far smaller than suggested.

Was It Worth It for Employees?

For most employees who accepted, the DRP provided a cushion that traditional severance could not have matched in one key way: it started paying immediately, without requiring an agency to formally initiate a RIF.

But the DRP had a structural disadvantage that most employees did not fully understand at the time: it was classified as a voluntary resignation, not an involuntary separation. That distinction matters for three reasons.

First, DRP participants are not eligible for federal severance pay. The federal severance formula is one week of base pay per year of service for the first 10 years, and two weeks per year for years 11 and above, plus an age adjustment of 2.5% per quarter over age 40. An employee with 20 years of service at a GS-13 Step 5 salary (roughly $117,000 in 2025) would have been entitled to approximately $45,000 in severance under a RIF. That employee received no severance after accepting the DRP.

Second, DRP participants gave up appeal rights. Employees who were fired through a RIF or improper separation had legal remedies at the Merit Systems Protection Board and in federal court. Employees who voluntarily resigned under the DRP waived those rights. Courts later explored whether DRP agreements were truly voluntary given the context in which they were made, but most agreements stood.

Third, the DRP did not credit toward retirement in any special way. Employees on administrative leave during the DRP continued to accrue FERS creditable service, which was one genuine benefit of the arrangement. However, the resignation date was still their separation from federal service, and that date determined their FERS annuity calculation.

For employees who were close to retirement eligibility and wanted a few months to reach a milestone (say, a minimum retirement age with enough service to unlock an immediate annuity), the DRP could have been genuinely useful if the timing worked. For employees who were far from retirement eligibility and had significant years of service, the math often favored waiting for an involuntary action with severance attached.

The Federal News Network summarized it directly: some employees with 15 years of service calculated that their severance if laid off would have been roughly equivalent to what they received through the DRP, but without having to resign voluntarily or forfeit appeal rights.

The Boomerang Effect

One of the more striking findings in the post-DRP accounting is how quickly some agencies moved to bring people back.

According to the Partnership for Public Service's tracking, approximately $12.1 million was spent on rehiring previously terminated employees. That figure covers direct rehiring costs and does not capture the full cost of knowledge replacement at agencies where DRP departures created operational gaps.

The DOGE boomerang documented in agency after agency showed that many of the functions vacated through the DRP could not simply be left unfilled. The U.S. Forest Service lost fire management personnel. The IRS lost revenue agents. Interior lost land management and environmental review specialists. Unlike probationary employees who were fired and then rapidly court-ordered back, DRP employees had resigned voluntarily and could only return through a new competitive appointment, which takes months.

The GSA rehired approximately 285 of the 600 to 700 Public Building Service employees it had cut. The National Weather Service received authorization for 450 new hires to replace departed meteorologists and hydrologists, but was still onboarding those replacements through late 2025.

What the boomerang reveals is that DRP departures were not, in fact, a clean elimination of expendable positions. Many of them were positions the government needed, paid for twice: once through the DRP while the employee was not working, and again to recruit and train a replacement.

DOGE Math vs. Reality

DOGE's official position was that the DRP generated savings by reducing the long-term federal payroll. The logic: paying someone for eight months of no work is expensive in the short term, but cheaper over a multi-year horizon than retaining that employee indefinitely.

That logic depends on the assumption that all departing employees would otherwise have stayed for years and that their positions would not need to be filled. Neither assumption held for a large portion of the DRP population.

The Senate PSI's $14.8 billion waste figure for the DRP was the largest single line item in its $21.7 billion total. The PSI categorized the DRP as waste rather than savings because the government received no work output in exchange for those payroll dollars. In the PSI's framing, a buyout that eliminates a position generates savings. Paying employees to resign while receiving no services in return does not.

DOGE's broader accounting problems extended beyond the DRP. A POLITICO investigation found that of $145 billion DOGE claimed to have saved through cancelled contracts by the end of June 2025, only $1.4 billion was verifiable. The methodology DOGE used for contracts, counting maximum theoretical contract value rather than actual obligated spending, made every claimed number larger than reality.

By November 2025, DOGE had ceased to operate as a centralized entity. Individual agencies took over its functions. Elon Musk told an interviewer that DOGE had been only "somewhat successful."

What This Means for Employees Facing Offers Today

Second and third-generation DRP offers are still circulating. Interior, Transportation, and HHS made new offers in late 2025 and early 2026. These offers differ from the original DRP in several ways.

The paid leave duration is shorter. The original DRP extended through September 30, 2025, giving some early acceptors more than 30 weeks of paid leave. Second-generation offers are agency-specific and cover a significantly shorter window.

Employees over 40 now receive 45 days to consider the offer rather than roughly one week. This change reflects compliance with the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, which requires extended consideration periods before employees can waive age discrimination claims.

The pressure tactics have continued. Agencies have communicated, explicitly or implicitly, that those who do not take the voluntary offer may face involuntary action on worse terms. Whether that pressure materializes into actual RIFs varies by agency and mission area.

Before accepting any separation offer, whether a DRP, a VERA, a VSIP, or a standard buyout, you should calculate what you are giving up.

Calculate Your Severance Before You Decide

The federal severance formula is more generous than most employees realize, especially for longer-serving workers. It is also the amount you forfeit if you voluntarily resign under a DRP instead of waiting for an involuntary separation.

Use the free Severance Pay Calculator to estimate your federal severance based on your years of service, salary, and age. Compare that figure to the duration of paid leave in any current DRP offer before you sign anything.

If you are retirement-eligible or close to it, use the FERS Retirement Calculator to see how leaving on a voluntary resignation date versus a RIF date affects your annuity calculation. The difference in timing can change your pension outcome.

If your agency has offered a VERA alongside a DRP, use the VERA/VSIP Decision Calculator to model both paths side by side.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much did the federal deferred resignation program cost taxpayers?

The Partnership for Public Service estimated the deferred resignation program cost approximately $4.5 billion in salary and benefits paid to employees who were not working. That figure accounts for the range of weeks different employees spent on administrative leave, multiplied by an average weekly salary of $2,055 plus 38% for benefits costs. The DRP is one component of a broader $71 billion total estimated cost of the administration's workforce reduction actions.

How many federal employees accepted the deferred resignation offer?

According to GAO data, 143,904 employees across 23 agencies were approved for a government-wide or agency DRP offer from January through June 2025. OPM's own figures put final acceptance at 138,541. Some estimates that include later agency-specific rounds put total participation above 200,000.

Which agency had the most DRP participants?

The Defense Department led all agencies with 48,002 employees accepting deferred resignation. Treasury was second with 17,640, followed by Agriculture with 16,414. At some Interior Department regional offices, participation rates reached 75% or higher.

Was the deferred resignation program better than severance pay?

It depends on your situation. Employees who took the DRP gave up their right to severance pay because the DRP was classified as a voluntary resignation, not an involuntary separation. Federal severance uses a formula of one week of base pay per year of service for the first 10 years, then two weeks per year after that, plus an age adjustment. For employees with fewer than 10-12 years of service, the DRP often provided more time paid than severance would have. For longer-serving employees, severance could have been comparable or more valuable, and it would not have required giving up appeal rights.

Are there new DRP offers in 2026?

Yes. Several agencies including Interior, Transportation, and HHS offered new deferred resignation rounds in late 2025 and into 2026. These second-generation offers are narrower in scope, shorter in duration, and agency-specific rather than government-wide. Employees over age 40 now receive 45 days to consider the offer under the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act.

Did DOGE actually save money through the deferred resignation program?

No. The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations found the DRP generated $14.8 billion in waste by paying approximately 200,000 employees not to work for up to eight months. Independent analysts found that DOGE's total claimed savings across all programs were a fraction of actual costs incurred.

Related Resources

• DOGE Contract Cuts: Costs Exceeded Actual Savings: The broader picture of DOGE's claimed versus verified savings across all program types
• Federal Agencies Re-Hiring After DOGE Cuts: Which agencies are bringing workers back, what it costs, and what it means for your FERS and FEHB
• VERA/VSIP Guide 2026: How to evaluate any buyout offer before accepting, including the reemployment repayment risk
• RIF Survival Guide 2026: Retention standing, bump and retreat rights, and what to expect if your agency runs a formal reduction in force
• Severance Pay Guide: How federal severance is calculated and what affects the amount you receive

Sources

• Federal News Network: The government paid $4.5 billion to feds who took the DRP, one estimate shows
• MeriTalk: Federal Workforce Cuts Have Cost $71B, New Data Tool Estimates
• Partnership for Public Service: Federal Harms Tracker — Cost to Your Government
• GAO: Federal Agency Workforce Changes: Update for January to June 2025 (GAO-26-108719)
• GovExec: GAO report offers new details on the workers agencies lost last year
• Wikipedia: 2025 U.S. federal deferred resignation program
• Sen. Blumenthal / Senate PSI: The $21.7 Billion Blunder
• POLITICO Pro: DOGE-flation: DOGE's actual savings are a fraction of what it claims
• GovExec: At least one agency is making a renewed, less generous deferred resignation offer to staff
• OPM: Deferred Resignation Program FAQ
• Federal News Network: What federal workers should consider before accepting deferred resignation