Congress Can Fight Back Against Partisan Bureaucrats and Shrink the Federal Workforce
Key Findings
- More than 220,000 employees were added to the federal government workforce in just five years, and inefficiency and waste have surged.
- President Trump has taken historic steps to shrink the federal bureaucracy, which has resulted in tens of thousands of resignations or terminations.
- Partisan public sector unions and other leftist activists are working to prevent President Trump from using his authority to lead the executive branch.
- Bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. are overwhelmingly Democrats and are working to subvert the priorities of the Trump administration.
Background
The federal government is the nation’s single largest employer.1 In the last 25 years, the federal workforce has steadily grown from 1.85 million in 2000 to 2.4 million in 2024—a 30 percent increase.2 In the last five years alone, 220,000 new employees were added.3 The cost of compensation for federal employees grew by 90 percent in the same time period, ballooning to $384 billion.4 Despite the constant growth of the federal government, public trust has continued to plummet.5
It comes as no surprise that trust in government is low. The federal government is plagued by waste, fraud, abuse, and inefficiency. In 2024, improper payments by just a small subset of federal agencies reached $162 billion.6 Since 2003, more than $2.8 trillion has been spent in error.7 In some programs, like Medicaid, as much as one in every five dollars spent is improper.8 The Medicaid program is on track to surpass $2 trillion in improper payments over the next decade alone.9
During the Biden administration, billions were spent on more than 650 different government diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices and initiatives.10 New positions and entire departments were created in the pursuit of radical and discriminatory equity policies in federal agencies.11 The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has brought to light similar examples of billions of dollars of wasteful spending. For instance, nearly $7 billion was given to the Climate United Fund, a non-profit linked to Stacey Abrams and other Democratic Party figures in a last-ditch effort by the Environmental Protection Agency to shovel taxpayer dollars out the door in the waning days of the Biden administration.12 Given the countless examples of waste and abuse in federal spending, it is all the more outrageous that federal employees tasked with administering taxpayer dollars are rarely held accountable.
Federal employees are shielded from accountability
The failures of federal agencies are numerous, yet federal employees are highly paid and, until President Trump took office, nearly impossible to terminate or take adverse action against.13 Federal employees’ average compensation package is $160,220, compared to an average of $94,390 in the private sector.14-15
In the private sector, the involuntary separation rate is 1.1 percent.16 For federal employees, it is 0.2 percent, meaning that a private sector employee is five times more likely to face a layoff or be fired for cause than a federal employee.17 Even when the federal government separation rate was at its peak in early 2025, it was still the lowest rate among any occupational classification.18 Civil service protection laws outline arduous and lengthy processes to take even the most basic adverse action against an employee, and managers believe that it is not worth the effort to try.19 Poor performers are often shunted to different agencies and departments, instead of being disciplined.20 Only 26 percent of federal managers are confident that they will be able to remove an employee for poor performance.21
Union involvement further shields employees from oversight. One of every four federal employees is in a labor union, compared to just six percent in the private sector.22 Adverse actions against unionized employees that use the arbitration process take an average of 17 months to complete, and the typical result is reinstatement of a terminated employee or a lesser adverse action, as opposed to finalized termination or demotion.23
Collective bargaining agreements often provide taxpayer-funded time off for union officials to work on union business instead of their jobs, which is known as “official time.”24 The last year that the Office of Personnel Management published data related to the use of taxpayer-funded union time was in 2019, and since then, the size and compensation of the federal workforce have seen a massive expansion.25 As of the 2019 report, taxpayers were footing the bill of more than $135 million annually for union leaders to overturn disciplinary actions against employees, attend union meetings, and negotiate against taxpayer interests for more spending.26 In addition, unions are reimbursed by taxpayers for expenses such as travel to union meetings and receive free or discounted use of government office space and materials.27
However, despite the roadblocks from entrenched partisan unions and antiquated bureaucracy, President Trump has worked to reduce the bloated federal workforce.
President Trump has taken action to slash the bureaucracy
From Day One, President Trump has worked to reduce the size of the federal government and improve accountability among federal employees.
Schedule Policy/Career
Through executive order, President Trump moved to establish a new schedule of federal employees who are involved in policy creation and implementation, called Schedule Policy/Career.28 This new category of federal employees is part of the expected service, which means that there will be fewer bureaucratic hurdles when making employment decisions.29 Crucially, this executive order makes clear that while employees in these positions are not required to personally agree with the policies that they work on, they must faithfully implement the policies of the administration, and failure to do so is grounds for dismissal.30
Reductions in force
President Trump has also taken steps to reduce the size of the federal workforce through reductions in force and voluntary resignations. Reductions in force are used by agencies to eliminate positions, and the procedures to carry out these actions are outlined in Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations.31 These plans are now in the process of implementation.32 The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has sent reduction-in-force notices to 89 percent of its staff, though this action is facing legal challenges.33 The Department of Defense has plans to reduce the civilian workforce by five to eight percent, which is equal to roughly 60,000 employees.34 The State Department laid off more than 1,300 employees as part of its reduction-in-force plan.35
Additionally, the White House developed a voluntary separation agreement that gave employees the opportunity to resign and receive full pay and benefits through September 30.36 Approximately 76,000 employees accepted this offer or another voluntary separation agreement.37
Consolidation of agencies and departments
The Trump administration is working to streamline the government by shutting down and consolidating agencies. The United States Agency for International Development is set to be incorporated into the State Department, and at least 1,600 employees were laid off.38 On March 30, President Trump signed an executive order moving toward the elimination of the Department of Education, resulting in the termination of nearly 1,400 employees.39-40 This executive order directs the Department of Education to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy and return power to the states and local government without stopping lawful funding for essential programs.41
Strengthening the probationary employment system
President Trump issued an executive order that ensures that the probationary period for federal employees—typically the first year or two years of employment—is used to ensure that the employee is highly capable and effective.42 The order requires that an agency actively certify that a probationary employee has achieved non-probationary status, and requires that probationary employees undergo a review of their performance in the final 60 days of probation.43 The Government Accountability Office has found that probationary periods are not effectively used to weed out poor performers, and this executive order fulfills a longstanding recommendation from the Merit System Protection Board.44
Limiting collective bargaining
President Trump issued an executive order that excludes certain agencies from the federal laws that allow collective bargaining for federal employees due to national security requirements.45 Two-thirds of federal employees work at agencies listed in the executive order, and would no longer be able to collectively bargain under the changes.46 As a result, some agencies have stopped the automatic collection of union dues.47 While government unions have encouraged members to sign up to pay dues, they are preparing for a significant reduction in revenue now that employees actually have to proactively and intentionally pay union dues.48
Schedule G
Another executive order creates a new classification of non-career employees who are appointed by the president and expected to leave the government at the end of a presidential administration.49 This new classification is for employees who advocate and implement policy.50 This will help to streamline hiring in key roles and improve efficiency at agencies.
These efforts have made historic progress towards reducing the size of the federal government. Since January, more than 84,000 federal jobs have been cut.51 More than 76,000 employees have accepted buyouts, and an additional 149,000 positions are planned to be cut.52
However, government unions, along with leftist organizations, are using legal challenges to try to stop the progress of the Trump administration.
Activist government unions, organizations, and judges are working hard to keep government inefficient and unaccountable
President Trump’s success thus far in reducing the federal government has not gone unnoticed by those who have long benefited from a lack of accountability and oversight. Government unions and activist organizations immediately took to the courts to try to slow down and stop the efforts of the Trump administration. So far, more than 330 legal challenges have been filed against the White House and executive agencies.53 In one case, two unnamed federal employees filed a lawsuit arguing that it was illegal for the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to send an email to federal employees in the executive branch.54
Government employee unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), are leading lawsuits against the Trump administration for pursuing reductions in force and terminating probationary employees.55 Despite these lawsuits, AFGE recently announced that it was laying off half of its own staff in a reduction in force.56
The National Treasury Employee Union (NTEU), the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AMSCME) have also joined AFGE in filing suits against the creation of the new schedule of policy/career employees, the designation of DOGE as an entity within the White House, voluntary resignation offers, and reductions in force.57
In addition to lawsuits, partisan employee unions have worked to undermine the policy directives of the Trump administration at every turn. Chapters of unions at the Department of Veterans Affairs filed more than 70 grievances against policy directives from the Trump administration in just the first two months.58
Other special-interest groups have joined federal employee unions in their effort to prevent the Trump administration from enacting the policies that the American people resoundingly voted to support. These organizations are highly partisan and have donated tens of millions of dollars to Democrats and leftist causes.
State governments have also joined leftist groups to stop the Trump administration from streamlining government and saving taxpayer dollars. The state of Maryland was joined by 20 other states in a suit against OPM seeking to stop layoffs of probationary employees.59 As part of initial efforts to reduce the federal workforce, approximately 25,000 probationary employees were laid off, though some subsequently received notice to return.60 An Obama-appointed judge in the District Court for the District of Maryland ordered the federal government to rehire probationary employees.61 This decision was overturned by the Fourth Circuit of Appeals, clearing the way for layoffs to continue.62
In another challenge to the firing of probationary employees led by government unions, a Clinton-appointed federal judge in the U.S District Court for the Northern District of California, who is known for being friendly to leftist causes, ordered probationary employees to be reinstated.63 This order was later overturned by the Supreme Court.64 In another challenge, agency reduction-in-force plans were initially blocked from being implemented by a district court judge.65 The Supreme Court lifted the injunction, and these plans at 22 agencies have now been implemented.66
Lawsuits have also been filed to prevent White House employees from accessing computer systems to determine where payments are going, shuttering newly created DEI initiatives.67 At every turn, employees of executive agencies have worked to slow down President Trump’s efforts to bring accountability and efficiency to government.
Bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. are partisan and have vowed to work against President Trump
Bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., are overwhelmingly Democrats, especially those who are most senior and highly paid.68 While career civil servants are, in theory, non-partisan, Democrats outnumber Republicans by a two-to-one margin.69 At some agencies, the partisan divide is even more stark, especially among the Senior Executive Service—the most highly paid employees who serve in roles critical to policy implementation.70
At the Department of Housing and Urban Development, 72 percent of the Senior Executive Service are Democrats, and at the State Department, three of every four senior executives are Democrats compared to just 18 percent who are Republicans.71
During the first Trump administration, some federal employees worked to stop the implementation of new policies from within.72 These employees intentionally provided incorrect information to political appointees to slow them down, produced unusable legal products, and leaked to the media.73 At the Department of Health and Human Services, employees retroactively altered paperwork to falsify hire dates of new employees.74
The same pattern of politically motivated subversion has already started in the current administration. Nearly half of federal employees reported in a survey that they would work against the Trump administration.75 Employees from multiple agencies have already been placed on leave for refusing directives from their agency heads.76
Executive agencies and the employees that work there are supposed to work under the authority of the president, who, with the vice president, is the only member of the executive branch directly accountable to the public through elections. When career civil servants allow their ideological differences to undermine the administration, they are subverting the policies that the American people voted for and are being paid by taxpayers to do so.
Congress must act to lock in the changes to the federal workforce
President Trump has implemented dozens of actions to reduce the size of the federal workforce and cut down on wasteful bureaucracy. However, all this progress can be reversed by a future administration. Congress should work to cement these changes and ensure that a smaller, more accountable, and more efficient federal government is here to stay. Congress should codify the hiring freeze and the president’s authority to direct that agencies not fill open positions. In addition, Congress should pass legislation to automatically stop vacant positions from being funded if they have been unfilled for six months. Congress should also simplify the authority to conduct reductions in force and offer voluntary separation agreements to employees and lay off employees in non-essential functions.
Other policies that Congress can pursue to reduce bureaucracy and improve accountability include include moving agency or department headquarters outside of the Washington, D.C. area and banning the funding of taxpayer-funded union time and moving agency or department headquarters outside of the Washington, D.C. Congress should also codify the new schedule of policy/career employees so that civil servants cannot use their positions to undermine the democratically elected president. Through a combination of executive and legislative action, Congress and the president should work together to reduce the federal workforce by 25 percent.
The Bottom Line: Congress should fight back against partisan bureaucrats and activist judges and shrink the federal workforce by 25 percent.
Poorly performing federal employees have long benefited from a complicated web of laws, union involvement, and regulations that shielded them from accountability and allowed waste and misconduct at federal agencies to continue unchecked. President Trump acted quickly to cut waste and bring a culture of accountability and performance to executive branch agencies. Leftist organizations and federal employee unions are acting swiftly as well, not to improve performance and efficiency, but to block the Trump administration’s efforts at every turn. Congress should fight back by codifying the president’s authority to manage the executive branch and reduce the bloated bureaucracy.
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