Economy
The government paid $4.5 billion to feds who took the DRP, one estimate shows

A new data analysis from the Partnership for Public Service reported various cost estimates of the Trump administration’s federal workforce overhauls.

Drew Friedman@dfriedmanWFED
April 9, 2026 6:07 pm
4 min read

Federal employees who took the Trump administration’s deferred resignation offer cost the government approximately $4.5 billion in salary and benefits expenses while not working, a new calculation shows.

A data analysis from the Partnership for Public Service estimated financial impacts of various federal workforce policies from the Trump administration. The report calculated costs stemming not only from the deferred resignation program (DRP), but also from the probationary firings, re-hirings and reductions in force (RIFs) that have taken place over the last 15 months.

The nonprofit organization collected and analyzed data from a combination of government resources, congressional reports, think tanks, news articles and internal research. All told, the new report projected nearly $71 billion in total costs related to federal workforce actions.

“This is a conservative estimate — there are lots of additional costs that just simply aren’t quantifiable,” said Brandon Lardy, the Partnership’s data director. “This is the first step. We are planning to add additional costs to this over time.”

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Drew Friedman
Drew Friedman is a workforce, pay and benefits reporter for Federal News Network. Follow @dfriedmanWFED