RIF watch: See which agencies are laying off federal workers 3-1-25. Updated March 1 at 9:29 p.m.
The Trump administration has given agencies a March 13 deadline to finalize their plans to slash their workforces through layoffs.
Not all agencies are waiting that long, however, and some have either already started sending out reduction-in-force notices or have explained their plans to do so. The upcoming layoffs are separate from the mass firings of probationary employees, which led to the removal of at least 25,000 workers. See our tracker of those firings here.
A President Trump executive order and subsequent guidance from the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management has to plan for the “maximum elimination” of federal agency functions not required by law. As a starting point for the cuts, OMB and OPM said, agencies should focus on employees whose jobs are not required in statute and who face furloughs in government shutdowns—typically around one-third of the federal workforce, or 700,000 employees.
Agencies
are expected to eliminate some offices wholesale and slash their regional
offices across the country.
Here are the departments and agencies where Government Executive has confirmed RIFs have taken place or about to occur. We will update as we learn more. More in-depth reporting is linked where available:
Defense Department: Defense plans to issue RIFs in the coming weeks for 5% to 8% of its civilian workforce, or as many as 61,000 employees. It will fire 5,400 probationary employees as part of those cuts.
Education Department: Education has offered buyouts of up to $25,000 to most of its employees, who have until March 3 at 11:59 p.m. to accept the offer. The department warned it may not deem eligible all of those who accept the offer. Federal agency buyout offers are capped at $25,000, a figure that has not been updated in decades. "My decision is entirely voluntary, and I have not been coerced," employees accepting the offer must attest as part of the documentation they will sign to participate. The offers came as Education is expected to issue widespread RIFs, with one employee briefed on the plans saying they could come as soon as the day after the buyout acceptance deadline. Employees laid off through a RIF typically have 60 days until they are terminated and would then be eligible for unemployment, making the buyout offer less appealing.
Environmental Protection Agency: RIFs had not yet begun at EPA as of Thursday, but President Trump said during a cabinet meeting that he expected 65% of the workforce, or nearly 11,000 employees, to be let go. An EPA spokesperson declined to verify that number, saying only that Trump and agency Administrator Lee Zeldin “in lock step” to find efficiencies in government and those efforts would include “organizational improvements to the personnel structure.” A White House spokesperson subsequently told Politico Trump meant to say EPA would slash 65% of its "wasteful spending." EPA fired 388 employees on Friday, according to an agency spokesperson. Employees there told Government Executive they learned of their dismissals verbally from their managers but had not received their official notices as of Friday afternoon. The agency fired less than half of its probationary staff and a spokesman said EPA completed a "thorough review of agency functions" before deciding whom to dismiss.
General Service Administration: GSA has sent RIF notices to some employees in its Office of Human Resources Management and Office of Customer Experience and severe cuts are expected in the Public Building Service and elsewhere. It has also eliminated 18F, and laid off virtually all employees there - at least 100.
Housing and Urban Development Department: HUD has issued RIF notices to all employees in the Office of Field Policy and Management at the General Schedule-13 level and below, according to a memo obtained by Government Executive. The employees will be terminated May 18. HUD is expected to issue more widespread RIFs in the coming weeks, according to an employee briefed on the matter. Number unconfirmed, but Government Executive has obtained termination notices sent to probationary HUD employees Feb. 14.
Office of Personnel Management: OPM, which is spearheading the workforce reduction effort across government, has sent RIF notices to at least its Office of Procurement Operations and communications staff. Dozens of employees were impacted.
Social Security Administration: SSA has shuttered two offices—its Office of Transformation and Office of Civil Rights—though for now employees there are on administrative leave and have not yet received RIF notices. SSA acting Administrator Leland Dudek is planning to lay off 7,000 employees in total, according to three employees familiar with the plans.
U.S. Agency for International Development: The Trump administration is in the process of shuttering virtually the entire agency and it has already sent RIF notices to nearly all of its 2,000 U.S.-based employees. Overseas staff are largely on administrative leave currently and are expected to receive RIF notices in the coming weeks.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation - FDIC sent out termination notices beginning Feb. 17. The agency would not confirm the number of employees impacted, but one worker who was fired said it impacted all the probationary staff on their team and had not heard of any new hires being carved out. FDIC employees were presented with an option to resign instead of being fired.
Health and Human Services Department - A spokesman confirmed the firings had taken place at the department, but declined to specify how many employees were impacted.
Homeland
Security Department - DHS has fired around more than 600 employees
scattered throughout the department. According to DHS spokespeople, that has
broken down as follows:
· Cybersecurity and
Infrastructure Security Agency: More than 130 employees
· U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services: Fewer than 50 employees
· Federal Emergency
Management Agency: More than 200 employees
· Science and Technology:
10 employees
· Transportation Security Administration: 243 employees. A spokesman said TSA fired the employees due to performance and conduct issues.
Interior Department - 2,300 employees, according to internal communications obtained by Government Executive.
Labor Department - Total number unconfirmed, but Government Executive confirmed termination notices went out to employees on Wednesday.
NASA - NASA began firing employees on Tuesday, according to multiple sources. Cheryl Warner, a NASA spokesperson, said it was "premature" to discuss the exact impact on the agency. NASA has temporarily exempted employees at some of its facilities, including the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, according to a source familiar with the matter.
National Archives and Records Administration - NARA has fired 64 probationary employees, according to a staffer briefed on the terminations. Twenty-nine of those employees worked at presidential libraries, and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum was forced to briefly close Tuesday. Facilities will be short staffed, museum programming will be limited and record retrieval—such as those for veterans—is likely to see backlogs, the employee said, noting more than 15% of the workforce has left in recent weeks due to the firings, retirements or deferred resignations.
National Science Foundation - NSF took sweeping action to dismiss its probationary employees on Tuesday, according to multiple employees and internal communications obtained by Government Executive. The agency has confirmed 168 employees were fired on Tuesday.
Small Business Administration - number unconfirmed
Transportation
Department
· Federal Transit
Administration - multiple FTA employees told Government Executive they
had been informed by their managers they would be let go Friday, though they
had yet to receive their official notices.
· Federal Aviation Administration - somewhere between 200 and 300 employees have so far been fired, according to the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union that represents some of the FAA workforce, including maintenance mechanics, aeronautical information specialists, environmental protection specialists, aviation safety assistants and management and program assistants. The termination notices arrived from a non-.gov email address on Friday evening starting at 7 p.m. PASS President David Spero called the firings "dangerous" and "especially unconscionable in the aftermath of three deadly aircraft accidents in the past month."
Treasury
Department
· Bureau of Engraving and
Printing - Total unconfirmed, but Government Executive received
a copy of a termination notice from the bureau.
· Internal Revenue Service: IRS is planning to fire 6,700 probationary employees, beginning Feb. 20. Employees were instructed to report to their offices beginning Thursday with all of their government equipment and documents.
U.S. Department of Government Efficiency Service (formerly U.S. Digital Service) - number unconfirmed
Veterans Affairs Department - 2,400
House
Passes Budget Resolution to Advance One, Big Beautiful Bill That Will Deliver
Tax Relief to Working Families. WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Republicans took the
first step to advance President Trump's pro-worker, pro-America economic and
national security agenda by passing a fiscally-sound budget resolution.
Comments
Trump is implementing his Agenda on multiple fronts and expects the Supreme Court to rule that his Agenda is Constitutional. Federal Agencies are being downsized, consolidated and automated.
Federal
agents deported just over 37,000 people in Trump's first month in office,
Deporting 10 million Illegals could take 2 years at the rate of 37000 per month. Illegal Funding is being removed and should accelerate removal.
The Deep State continues to be de-fanged as Grants are cancelled.
Federal funding for FY2026 begins in October 2025. The U.S. Congress passed a second Continuing Resolution (CR) to extend federal spending and avert a government shutdown through March 14, 2025.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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