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GAO: Federal Agencies Spent $9.5B on Paid Leave in 2025

By Drooid · Sep 17, 2026, 3:25 PM UTC · How we work

Center

GAO Participation Gap

The Government Accountability Office released a report on Tuesday showing federal agencies spent $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave in fiscal year 2025.
Paid administrative-leave workdays jumped from about 4 million in 2023-24 to 21.6 million in 2025, a 435 % increase.
The Office of Personnel Management directed agencies to use paid leave for Deferred Resignation Program.
GAO estimated 144,312 participants, far below the administration’s 200,000 projection.

Left

Murray Condemns Program

The Government Accountability Office reported that federal agencies spent $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave in fiscal year 2025.
The deferred-resignation program pushed out experienced workers, weakening services, and Senator Patty Murray condemned it as paying people not to do jobs they love.
The GAO estimated $6.7 billion of the cost was linked to the deferred-resignation program.
Around 140,000 workers accepted, allowing them to resign with full pay and benefits through September 2025.

Blindspot

Senator Patty Murray said the Deferred-Resignation Program forced out experienced federal workers, undermining essential public services, according to her criticism of the GAO report.
Within this story's sources, this consequence appears mainly in Left-leaning coverage and receives less attention in Center-leaning coverage.

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GAO Participation Gap

The Government Accountability Office released a report on Tuesday showing federal agencies spent $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave in fiscal year 2025.
Paid administrative-leave workdays jumped from about 4 million in 2023-24 to 21.6 million in 2025, a 435 % increase.
The Office of Personnel Management directed agencies to use paid leave for Deferred Resignation Program.
GAO estimated 144,312 participants, far below the administration’s 200,000 projection.

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