President Donald Trump has offered federal employees who don’t want to return to work a deal too good to refuse, and it may also weed out some of the deep state activists who otherwise would have planned to oppose Trump’s agenda from within the federal government.
A new White House memo offers a hefty paycheck to federal workers who are disinclined to acquiesce to Trump’s request that they work in the office.
The Office of Personnel Management memo allows federal employees to accept “deferred resignation.” As long as they resign by Feb. 6, bureaucrats can remain on administrative leave with pay and benefits through Sept. 30, the last day of the 2025 fiscal year.
At first blush, this offer seems incredible. How many American workers wouldn’t leap at the opportunity to receive more than seven months of paid leave, during which time they can pursue another job?
On the flip side, how can the Trump administration justify giving so generous an offer to federal employees? Doesn’t this put the taxpayer on the hook to pay federal employees not to work?
Why It May Be Cost Effective
First, the White House claims that the deferred resignation offer will save Americans money in the long run. According to Axios, the administration projects the buyouts could ultimately save up to $100 billion per year—because the administration won’t be filling all the jobs of employees who resign.
The Office of Personnel Management memo phrases the changes as a “fork in the road.” It lays out four pillars of the new administration’s policy regarding federal government employment: a mandatory return to in-person work in the office; a performance culture focused on “excellence at every level”; a “more streamlined and flexible workforce” as federal agencies are restructured or closed; and “enhanced standards of conduct.” Given these changes, federal bureaucrats should expect that working in the new administration will not resemble the previous administration.
“The government-wide email being sent today is to make sure that all federal workers are on board with the new administration’s plan to have federal employees in office and adhering to higher standards,” an official told Axios. “We’re five years past COVID and just 6% of federal employees work full-time in office. That is unacceptable.”
The White House projects that 5% to 10% of federal employees will accept the offer.
While the offer is unlikely to placate federal unions like the American Federation for Government Employees—which oppose reforms like Schedule F that would enable Trump to fire bureaucrats who oppose his agenda—it may expose these unions’ true goals. If unions vehemently oppose this offer of honey, perhaps the administration has no choice but to use less sweet methods to oust Trump’s opponents.
A Deep State Buyout
The offer may also defuse some of the deep state effort to oppose Trump from within.
According to a recent RMG Research survey commissioned by the Napolitan Institute, nearly half of federal bureaucrats in the Washington, D.C., area plan to oppose the new administration politically. Worse, 64% of D.C.-based bureaucrats who voted for Kamala Harris in the last election say they would refuse to follow a lawful Trump order if they consider it bad policy. This opposition from within the federal government represents a classic deep state threat.
Trump has already issued an executive order to resurrect his Schedule F reform, which will enable him to root out nefarious actors who would prevent the administration from carrying out its public mandate. As he gears up to aggressively implement this order, it certainly won’t hurt to offer these would-be deep staters a gracious exit.
Bureaucrats who plan to oppose Trump from within may be tempted by seven months of paid administrative leave. Why stick around and entrench when you could leave early, have time to find a new job, and keep your pay and benefits?
As I expose in my book, “The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government,” a vast network of nonprofits I call the Woketopus infiltrates and brainwashes the federal government, getting its policies enshrined in regulations. Many of the bureaucrats who might otherwise oppose Trump from within may choose instead to go work at these nonprofits, which form a kind of government-in-exile.
Those who do decide to stay will have to work in the office again, and the administration may ferret them out, anyway. Two of the groups I expose in The Woketopus have already sued to block Trump’s Schedule F order.
The Trump White House announced that the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, will become part of the federal government. The U.S. Digital Service, an agency established under Barack Obama, will become the U.S. DOGE Service, and this service will have mini DOGEs, what I call “DOGE-lets,” inside all other federal agencies. These DOGE-lets will keep an eye out for deep state activity against the people’s elected president.
If the deep staters don’t take the deal now, they may face DOGE accountability later. Then, when Trump fires them for opposing his administration from within, they will rue the day they refused to accept this gracious Office of Personnel Management offer.
Now’s their chance. Let’s hope they take it.
This article was originally published at www.dailysignal.com
