GAO: Federal Buyout Program Cost $6.7 Billion in Administrative Leave Pay

The figure represents a direct measure of the fiscal tradeoff between workforce reduction speed and payroll continuity, a calculation that will shape future reduction-in-force policy debates.

The federal government spent $6.7 billion paying workers to remain on administrative leave following the Department of Government Efficiency buyout program, according to a Government Accountability Office report cited by The Hill. The GAO is a nonpartisan congressional watchdog whose findings carry statutory weight in budget oversight proceedings.

The buyout program, promoted by DOGE leader Elon Musk beginning in early 2025, offered federal employees voluntary separation packages. Under the terms of those packages, employees who accepted were placed on paid administrative leave through the end of fiscal year 2025, September 30, 2025, rather than departing immediately upon acceptance.

The $6.7 billion figure reflects the cumulative payroll cost of that gap period, the time between when employees accepted the buyout offer and when their official separation took effect. The GAO report does not appear to dispute the legality of the arrangement; it quantifies the cost.

The mechanism that produced the cost is straightforward: federal separation law and agency policy generally require a notice and transition period before an employee's final departure date. When buyout acceptances were processed in bulk across agencies, the result was a large population of workers receiving salary and benefits while performing no active duties. The length of that period varied by agency and employee classification, according to the GAO findings as reported.

Lawmakers from both parties questioned the outcome. The Hill reported that members characterized the spending as wasteful, with at least one using the term "stupid" to describe the cost structure. The Congressional Times does not independently attribute specific floor or hearing statements without a congressional record citation; the precise chamber, date, and speaker of those characterizations are not confirmed in the available source material. The full hearing record or Congressional Record entry would confirm those attributions.

The DOGE initiative was framed by the administration as a cost-reduction effort targeting federal workforce size and discretionary spending. OMB and DOGE have not publicly released a net savings calculation that accounts for the $6.7 billion administrative leave cost against projected long-term payroll reductions. That calculation, if it exists, would be contained in an OMB budget submission or internal agency documentation subject to congressional request.

Federal workforce reduction programs have a documented history of upfront costs preceding longer-term savings. The 1990s federal downsizing under the Clinton administration's National Performance Review, which reduced the federal civilian workforce by approximately 377,000 positions according to the Congressional Budget Office's historical records, also involved separation incentive payments and transition period costs. Whether the current program's cost-to-savings ratio is comparable is not determinable from the GAO summary as reported.

The total federal civilian payroll for fiscal year 2024 was approximately $271 billion, according to the Office of Personnel Management's annual Federal Employment Reports. The $6.7 billion administrative leave figure represents roughly 2.5 percent of that annual total.

The number of employees who accepted buyouts, the average duration of their administrative leave periods, and the number of positions that were subsequently filled versus eliminated are not specified in the available source material. Those figures would be contained in agency-level OPM workforce reports and individual department budget justifications submitted to the relevant House and Senate appropriations subcommittees.

The GAO report, as the primary document underlying this story, has not been linked in full in the available source material. The complete report number, publication date, and requesting committee are not confirmed here. The GAO publishes all finalized reports at gao.gov, and the full document would contain agency responses, methodology, and any qualifications on the $6.7 billion estimate.

What remains unknown is whether the administration will submit a revised net-savings projection to Congress that incorporates the administrative leave cost, and whether any appropriations committee has formally requested such a reconciliation. A formal committee request would appear in the Congressional Record or in committee correspondence published on the relevant committee's website.