Trump has frozen aid programmes, while his billionaire ally Elon Musk has boasted he is putting USAID 'through the woodchipper'
The U.S. president and his tech billionaire ally didn't reach their projected goal of getting up to 10% of the federal worker to accept the Fork in the Road buyout offer. AFP

KEY POINTS

  • The Trump administration was expecting between 5% and 10% of the federal workforce to enter the program
  • A federal judge allowed the government to push through with the program Wednesday following a temporary block
  • Employees who choose to stay can't be sure their jobs and agencies will not be slashed

Around 75,000 federal workers have accepted U.S. President Donald Trump's buyout program, as unions ramp up their efforts to convince federal employees to reject the offer.

The offer, which isn't set in stone yet, gives employees who resign their salary and benefits until October without showing up at work.

The current spending laws expire on March 14. After that, there is no guarantee funding will be available for government worker salaries.

Federal Workers Who Accepted Buyout Below WH Projections

As of Wednesday, about 75,000 federal workers accepted Trump's buyout offer, a spokesperson for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management told Reuters. The offer closed to submissions Wednesday night.

The number, some 3.3% of the workforce, is only a small fraction of the federal government's 2.3 million workers and below the Trump administration's projections of between 5% and 10% of the workforce expected to accept the buyouts.

Dubbed "Fork in the Road," promoted by tech titan Elon Musk, who is also the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the buyout initiative originally had a Feb. 6 deadline for federal employees to accept.

A federal judge temporarily blocked the program last week, but the same judge lifted the temporary ban Wednesday, allowing the Trump government to pursue its controversial plan to aggressively slash the federal workforce.

Following the judge's decision, federal workers received an email from the OPM, informing them that resignations beyond 7:20 p.m. Wednesday will no longer be admitted under the buyout project.

Key Features of Fork in the Road

As part of the Trump White House and the DOGE's work in cutting the federal workforce to reduce government spending, Fork in the Road has provided the following provisions:

  • For those who stay – Employees who choose to remain in their positions are expected to serve the country under "an improved federal workforce" that focuses on enhanced conduct standards, a streamlined workforce process, and a "performance culture." They are also expected to return to the office.
  • For those who choose to leave – The buyout program promises to provide the 75,000 federal workers who chose to resign with "a dignified, fair departure."

Workers who choose to stay despite the buyout offer cannot be given reassurance that their positions or their agencies will be retained.

"Should your position be eliminated you will be treated with dignity and will be afforded the protections in place for such positions," the initiative stated.

Unions pushed back against the program. The legal group Democracy Forward filed a lawsuit on behalf of labor unions that represent over 800,000 civil servants, calling the buyout offer "arbitrary and capricious in numerous respects."

Read more