Last month, President Trump offered a “deferred resignation” to many full-time federal employees, expecting 5-10% of the workforce to quit. As of Tuesday, around 20,000 workers had taken this offer.

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From Axios:

About 20,000 federal workers have accepted the “buyout” offer put forward by the Trump administration last week, a senior administration official tells Axios.

Why it matters: It’s a significant number of people — about 1% of the federal workforce — but still substantially less than the White House’s target of 5% to 10%.

The offer is open through Thursday, meaning the total could rise, despite heavy opposition from unions and others.

This comes as the Trump administration is gutting several federal agencies. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) offered a similar “buyout” offer to its employees, according to Just the News:

The CIA on Tuesday sent its own buyout option to its entire workforce, which mimics the buyout option sent to federal employees by President Donald Trump’s administration last week, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Both buyout offers give the employees eight months of pay and benefits in exchange for their resignations. Federal employees under Trump’s buyout offers have until Feb. 6 to accept the deal, but it is not clear if the CIA workforce will have the same.

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The CIA’s deal makes it the first intelligence agency to offer a buyout, and was made to bring the agency more in line with Trump’s priorities, such as focusing on combating drug cartels and countering China.

Not every agency has been so lucky, however. As the administration ramps up its attacks on the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), many of its staff have been placed on paid administrative leave.

From POLITICO:

The Trump administration is making moves to place nearly all of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Washington-based staff on paid administrative leave, according to a USAID official and a person familiar with the situation.

The move affects thousands of people and is the latest blow the administration is striking against the agency, which is America’s primary vehicle for providing humanitarian aid. Tech mogul Elon Musk, a Trump ally running an initiative aimed at downsizing the government, has made USAID a particular target.

Other agencies, meanwhile, have not been gutted yet, though their employees have been warned that they could be “dismissed immediately.” Employees in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were notified that recently that they could be let go soon. According to NBC News:

The Trump administration has notified more than 1,000 employees at the Environmental Protection Agency that they could be dismissed immediately.

Workers who’ve been at the agency less than one year received an email last week notifying them that they had been identified as employees that were likely on a “probationary/ trial period,” according to an email reviewed by NBC News.

“As a probationary/ trial period employee, the agency has the right to immediately terminate you,” the email says. “The process for probationary removal is that you receive a notice of termination, and your employment is ended immediately.”

About 1,100 employees received the email, according to Marie Owens Powell, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, a union that represents about 8,500 EPA staffers. Powell said she had received the list of employees from the agency.

It is clear that President Trump is acting quickly and efficiently to shrink the federal government and cut down on waste. Let’s pray that God continues to give him and his administration wisdom as they seek to better our nation and its government!

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