Thousands More Federal Workers Take Buyouts, and D.C. Prepares for Cuts of Its Own

As the Trump administration re-engages with federal workforce cuts, the local government running Washington, D.C., is having to make some difficult budget decisions of its own. 

Tens of thousands of employees across a number of federal agencies have offered to resign in the wake of a second buyout offer proposed by the White House and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency earlier this month, according to Bloomberg. But, reminiscent of Musk’s now infamous “fork in the road” initiative earlier this year to cull the federal workforce, the new buyout would pay those workers full salaries and benefits until September.

The D.C.-based Internal Revenue Service is taking the brunt of the buyouts. Some 20,000 workers at the IRS are reportedly accepting the offer, per Bloomberg, more than quadruple the 4,700 that took Musk’s offer earlier this year. Roughly 4,000 workers at the Department of Transportation and some 2,700 at the Energy Department have also asked for the buyout. 

About 75,000 federal employees ultimately decided to leave their jobs during the first “fork” initiative, about 3 percent of the 2.4 million civilian federal workers. That figure fell short of the administration’s goal of a 5 to 10 percent cut. The scope of the second attempt is not yet clear, however, because it is being handled on an agency-by-agency basis, rather than government-wide via the Office of Personnel Management.

D.C., meanwhile, is also experiencing municipal program pauses and potential cuts on the horizon — though not by choice.

The U.S. House of Representatives has not yet fixed March’s federal spending bill that would’ve relegated the District’s annual budget to FY 2024 levels rather than FY 2025, a difference of $1.1 billion. The House is currently in recess until April 28. While D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Monday announced that the District would use a little-known budget law to allow for emergency spending, the District is still facing a deficit of $410 million, according to Axios.

To account for the discrepancy, Bowser on Tuesday ordered a freeze on government hiring and pay raises, including overtime, along with other program pauses. She also directed City Administrator Kevin Donahue to present a plan by April 25 to furlough city employees and close certain government facilities — actions that would require D.C. City Council approval to take effect. 

“These are unprecedented actions given that the District itself adopted and is able to implement a fully balanced budget, but they are necessary due to the congressional cut to the District’s budget and its inaction in timely fixing its legislative error,” Bowser’s order said.

Despite support from Donald Trump and the U.S. Senate, it’s unclear when or if the House will pass the updated spending bill approving D.C.’s 2025 budget, which would eliminate the need for its budget cuts. The delay, however, contradicts what the president said in late March, calling on social media for the House to “get it done IMMEDIATELY.”. 

Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.