Federal workers' tough year has seen DOGE, government shutdown. Now they face new layoffs Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, USA TODAY October 2, 2025 at 12:16 AM 12 It's been a tough year to be a federal worker. One of President Donald Trump's day one orders on Jan. 20 was the establishment of the "U.S.
- - Federal workers' tough year has seen DOGE, government shutdown. Now they face new layoffs
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, USA TODAY October 2, 2025 at 12:16 AM
12
It's been a tough year to be a federal worker.
One of President Donald Trump's day one orders on Jan. 20 was the establishment of the "U.S. Department of Government Efficiency" to reduce spending and eliminate "waste, bloat, and insularity" in the federal bureaucracy.
Within less than a month, agency heads were ordered to undertake preparations to initiate widespread layoffs. The primary targets were probationary employees across multiple federal agencies.
With the government out of money after President Donald Trump and lawmakers failed to agree on a deal to keep the lights on, many federal departments and agencies have been closed since midnight. See what remains open and what has closed.
" style=padding-bottom:56%>People wait in line to enter the Federal Building in Los Angeles, California on October 1, 2025, where services are experiencing significant disruptions due to the federal government shutdown, as essential workers continue working without pay and non-essential federal workers are furloughed. With the government out of money after President Donald Trump and lawmakers failed to agree on a deal to keep the lights on, many federal departments and agencies have been closed since midnight. See what remains open and what has closed.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/ADKWM1t class=caas-img data-headline="See the impact of the government shutdown as agencies shutter or fight to stay open" data-caption="
People wait in line to enter the Federal Building in Los Angeles, California on October 1, 2025, where services are experiencing significant disruptions due to the federal government shutdown, as essential workers continue working without pay and non-essential federal workers are furloughed. With the government out of money after President Donald Trump and lawmakers failed to agree on a deal to keep the lights on, many federal departments and agencies have been closed since midnight. See what remains open and what has closed.
">People wait in line to enter the Federal Building in Los Angeles, California on October 1, 2025, where services are experiencing significant disruptions due to the federal government shutdown, as essential workers continue working without pay and non-essential federal workers are furloughed. With the government out of money after President Donald Trump and lawmakers failed to agree on a deal to keep the lights on, many federal departments and agencies have been closed since midnight. See what remains open and what has closed.
" src=https://ift.tt/ADKWM1t class=caas-img>
Members of the National Guard patrol along the grounds of the US Capitol on the first day of the US government shutdown in Washington, DC, on October 1, 2025. Essential services, like military and law enforcement, remain working.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/my7vOwz class=caas-img data-headline="See the impact of the government shutdown as agencies shutter or fight to stay open" data-caption="
Members of the National Guard patrol along the grounds of the US Capitol on the first day of the US government shutdown in Washington, DC, on October 1, 2025. Essential services, like military and law enforcement, remain working.
">Members of the National Guard patrol along the grounds of the US Capitol on the first day of the US government shutdown in Washington, DC, on October 1, 2025. Essential services, like military and law enforcement, remain working.
" src=https://ift.tt/my7vOwz class=caas-img>
1 / 15See the impact of the government shutdown as agencies shutter or fight to stay open
People wait in line to enter the Federal Building in Los Angeles, California on October 1, 2025, where services are experiencing significant disruptions due to the federal government shutdown, as essential workers continue working without pay and non-essential federal workers are furloughed. With the government out of money after President Donald Trump and lawmakers failed to agree on a deal to keep the lights on, many federal departments and agencies have been closed since midnight. See what remains open and what has closed.
And now, with the government shut down, many of the remaining employees are furloughed without pay and facing a potential new round of layoffs.
Insults and injuries
Federal civil servants have also endured constant ridicule of their worth by the president's allies.
Billionaire Elon Musk, who was tapped by Trump to head DOGE, was asked during the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, in February 2025 about the process of finding "waste" in Washington.
"It's like being in a room and the wall, the roof, and the floor are all targets," he said. "So it's like, you're going to close your eyes and go shoot in any direction. You see, because you can't miss, you know?"
The Trump administration initiated sweeping cuts in the workforce − the federal government is the nation's largest employer, with nearly 3 million civilian employees − through layoffs, forced relocations and a deferred resignation program.
Visitors walk near the U.S. Capitol as a looming partial government shutdown is a week away if Congress fails to fund the government, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 24, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
As of Sept. 23, over 201,000 civil servants have left the workforce, according to the Partnership for Public Service. This includes the150,000 federal workers took the Trump administration's "Fork in the Road" buyout offer, resigning with pay and benefits through Sept. 30.
Across the Cabinet agencies, the departments of War, Agriculture and the Treasury have seen the largest workforce reductions. The Department of War, also known as the Department of Defense, saw a reduction of 55,582 workers, the Treasury Department lost 30,267 workers and the Department of Agriculture shrunk by 21,564 employees.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in March announced a major restructuring plan including the consolidation of divisions from 28 to 15 and elimination of 20,000 full-time employees, saying it would save taxpayers $1.8 billion per year.
In May, New York Attorney General Letitia James and 18 other Democratic state attorneys general filed a federal lawsuit challenging the move as "reckless, irrational, and dangerous" which leaves the federal government "unable to execute many of its most vital functions." It also decried the federal employees at HHS who were locked out of their work emails and computers on April 1, as well as abandoned experiments, canceled site visits and trainings and shuttered laboratories.
With the shutdown, a new set of challenges
Amid the impasse in Congress over federal spending and as the prospect of a government shutdown loomed, Trump threatened mass layoffs during an event at the Oval Office on Sept. 29.
"They're taking a risk by having a shutdown. We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them and irreversible," Trump said of Democrats. "Like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like."
At 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 1, the government shut down, resulting in the furlough of close to 750,000 federal workers and the shuttering of a slew of key programs and services. For example, the Food and Drug Administration's longer-term food safety initiatives, including policy work to help prevent foodborne illnesses, would be halted and the National Park Service will stop trash collection and road repairs.
Federal employees whose jobs involve safety of human life or the protection of property, such as law enforcement, border control, active military, and air traffic controllers cannot be furloughed.
The Office of Management and Budget directed agencies to consider extensive employee layoffs in unfunded programs that are not "administration priorities" under a government shutdown.
"A reduction in the number of federal employees would reduce the daily cost of compensation for furloughed workers," Congressional Budget Office Director Phillip Swagel wrote in a letter to Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, describing the impacts of a potential shutdown.
Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought framed the shutdown as an opportunity for the administration to achive its goal of reducing the federal workforce.
"Let it be said there are all manners of authorities to be able to keep this administration's policy agenda moving forward, and that includes reducing the size and scope of the federal government, and we will be looking for opportunities to do that," Vought told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow on Sept. 30.
Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), speaks to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC, on July 17, 2025.
The American Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees on Sept. 30 filed a lawsuit challenging the administration's threats of a mass firing saying it was designed to "inflict punishment on, and further traumatize, federal employees throughout the nation."
These actions are a "cynical use of federal employees as a pawn in Congressional deliberations" and "should be declared unlawful and enjoined by this Court," the lawsuit said.
The White House showed no signs of backing away from its plan.
During an Oct. 1 briefing with reporters, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said "layoffs are imminent."
"They are, unfortunately, a consequence of this government shutdown," she said.
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House Correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Looming layoffs: Federal workers contend with DOGE, shutdown
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