Paying to Fire and Rehire
- Promised
- Trump promised to cut trillions of dollars in wasteful federal spending with Elon Musk's help.Open cited record · 1 source
- The record
- OPM offered eligible federal employees deferred resignation, with pay and benefits through September 30, 2025 and generally no expected work requirement during the deferral period.Open cited record · 1 sourceCBS reported the Partnership for Public Service's rough estimate that DOGE-related paid leave, lost productivity, and firing and rehiring would cost about $135 billion in fiscal 2025.Open cited record · 3 sources
- Who paid
- Associated Press reported that GSA asked hundreds of employees to return after months on paid leave, an agency-specific example of reversal and paid nonwork time.Open cited record
- Federal agencies implementing workforce reductions
- Federal employees separated, placed on leave, or later rehired
- U.S. taxpayers
- Audit finding
- contradicted
Paid leave, back pay, rehiring, and lost productivity are documented cost mechanisms that contradict a pure-savings account of the workforce campaign; the $135 billion estimate is useful for scale only with its modeling limits attached.
Causal strength: modeled