The Trump administration is gearing up for sweeping cuts of federal employees, putting those who don’t take its buyout deal at risk of being laid off, according to reports.
The culls are being referred to internally as “Reductions in Force,” administration sources told CNN Tuesday. Some 20,000 federal employees have already taken the deferred resignation offer that was sent to approximately 2 million government workers last month, according to the network.
The deal allows workers to resign but receive a salary through the end of September without working. Federal employees have until Thursday to take the offer—layoffs are expected to begin soon after that deadline passes, the officials told CNN.
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The buyout offer, which was sent in an email from the Office of Personnel Management to workers on Jan. 28, comes as President Trump seeks to drastically slash the size of the federal workforce, curtail operations, and cut spending in the name of efficiency.
The White House has said it anticipates between 5 and 10 percent of the federal workforce to take a buyout, with a spike in resignations expected in the next 48 hours.
The number of federal employees taking the deal is “rapidly growing,” one Trump administration official told CNN.
“The reality is clear: A large-scale reduction, in response to the President’s workforce executive orders, is already happening,” the official said. “The government is restructuring, and unfortunately, many employees will later realize they missed a valuable, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
Some of the nation’s federal workers say they fear for their future career prospects if they opt out of taking the Trump administration’s buyout.
“My fear is that if I pass on this offer, we could very well be the next on the chopping block—the next round or the round after that—and then I’ve got nothing,” a veteran employee with the U.S. State Department told the Washington Post on Tuesday.
Another federal worker with the U.S. Justice Department told the newspaper she doesn’t trust Trump or his billionaire sidekick Elon Musk, who heads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team.
“I don’t trust Trump or Musk in any way if you look at their history. But then again, if I’m going to get fired, this is still better than leaving with nothing,” she told the Post.
Another State Department worker told Politico they would “love to leave” but: “I don’t know where I’d go, and I am terrified of not being able to pay rent and not having healthcare.”
