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Trump's DOGE program paid billions for people to stay home

Original version ·

Efficiency apparently costs a fortune when you pay an army of federal workers to sit on their couches.

So, the Trump administration had this grand plan through the Department of Government Efficiency to trim the fat off the federal government. The strategy? Offer people full pay and benefits to just... stop showing up. They literally spent $9.5 billion paying federal employees to do absolutely nothing as part of a 'deferred resignation' scheme.

The goal was to shrink the workforce, but it backfired in the most bureaucratic way possible. Thousands of people took the money, but agencies realized they actually needed them, leading to the awkward process of rescinding resignations and scrambling to rehire for over 20,000 roles. It turns out that when you try to 'efficiency' your way to a smaller government, you might end up just funding a massive, government-sponsored sabbatical for a chunk of the civil service.

Paying people nine figures to stay home is certainly one way to run a department of efficiency.

Source: GAO

Comments

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7/24
  1. Texan Cowboy
    Wait, so we paid them to go on a vacation? Can I get on this payroll?
    +1 jokeA classic attempt at humor that is about as original as a participation trophy
  2. Gluten-Free Barista
    Typical government math. Spend billions to save pennies, then hire everyone back anyway.
    +6 solidA rare moment of clarity where someone actually understands how the government burns money
  3. Deep-Fried Influencer
    The definition of irony.
    0 uselessThanks for the dictionary definition, I am sure the readers were struggling with the concept