The federal workforce will continue to face turmoil this year, though efforts to reduce their ranks are expected to roll out in more surgical fashion.
The Trump administration in 2025 shuttered whole agencies, terminated government employees and encouraged others to leave voluntarily, which, eventually, drove out tens of thousands. Now, new regulations governing federal hiring and firing and targeted cost cutting loom for those who remain.
“It seems like the initial shock and awe of last year is somewhat over,” Justin Chen, president of American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, EPA’s largest union, told POLITICO’s E&E News. “The rate for which they’re aggressively pursuing people to resign from agencies or trying to RIF [reduction in force] people seems to a certain extent calmed down, but the damage has already been done.”
Further, Capitol Hill is making progress on appropriations legislation for the rest of this fiscal year. Several of those spending bills reject deep spending cuts proposed by President Donald Trump’s first budget request of his second term.
