GAO report finds $9.5bn paid leave rose 435% in 2025

The GAO report released on Tuesday shows that paid administrative leave for federal employees rose 435% from 2023 to 2025, costing $9.5bn. In 2025, agencies reported about 21.6m workdays of paid leave, up from 4.4m in 2024. Roughly 70% of the leave was tied to the deferred resignation program, with 144,312 employees across 76 agencies taking leave.

Since January 2023, the Trump administration has cut the federal workforce by about 355,000 employees, leaving many struggling to find new jobs while others have been rehired. Douglas Pasternak, research director of Public Citizen’s Trump Accountability Project, described the overhaul as “haphazard” and cited delays in social security check deliveries, longer wait times at Veterans Affairs hospitals, and cuts to federal firefighters. He also noted reductions at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which has since sought to rehire personnel.

In response to the GAO report, Patty Murray, vice-chair of the Senate appropriations committee, released a statement condemning the federal layoffs, saying that Trump spent billions to push out experienced experts across government. Murray said the administration’s cuts were the most expensive way imaginable to make government worse, and that the GAO report shows the cost and impact of these changes.

Read the full story at theguardian.com.