US nonprofit Public Citizen reported on Thursday that US President Donald Trump’s administration spent more than $11 billion on deferred resignation payouts for almost 140,000 federal employees since January 2025.

The government’s Deferred Resignation Program began with an email sent to federal workers on January 28, 2025, known as the “Fork in the Road” Directive, which stated: “If you resign under this program, you will retain all pay and benefits regardless of your daily workload and will be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until  September 30, 2025.”

According to the US Office of Personnel Management, those employees were not expected to work their government jobs during the deferred resignation period. Instead, workers who participated in the program were allowed to get a second job while still receiving “full pay and benefits during the entire period through September 30” or to “take an extended vacation while on administrative leave.” Most employees who would retire between October 1, 2025, and December 31, 2025, were also eligible for deferred resignation, and their resignation date could be extended to match their retirement date. Employees who chose to remain in their position were not fully assured that their position or agency would not be eliminated. The Fork in the Road program closed on February 12, 2025, meaning that any resignations received afterward were not covered.

As a result of the Trump administration’s “workforce reshaping initiatives, including a hiring freeze, early retirement incentives, reductions in force, and the Deferred Resignation Program,” the federal workforce lost about 278,256 total employees since January 20, 2025.

Specifically, “the Department of Defense lost more than 48,000 civilian employees last year, the Department of Treasury lost 23,000 federal employees, and the Department of Agriculture more than 14,500 employees,” based on Public Citizen’s analysis. Multiple lawsuits ensued, including one blocking the Trump administration’s buyout with a temporary restraining order (TRO). However, that TRO was eventually dissolved.

Nonetheless, Public Citizen’s report said that at least 10 agencies had to rehire workers who resigned under the program to fulfill their “[c]ongressionally mandated work,” including the Department of Labor and Internal Revenue Service.

Public Citizen is a national nonprofit that represents consumer interests. The group’s report concluded that “costs of paying federal workers not to work will continue to rise” because departments have made new Deferred Resignation Program offers since the start of 2026. The group argued that these buyouts “have been the epitome of inefficiency,” causing “billions of dollars in wasted federal funds” paid by American taxpayers.