The Department of the Interior spent more than $150 million on administrative leave for employees working in the secretary’s office last year.
New records obtained by POLITICO shed light on the cost of the “deferred resignation” program and other initiatives by President Donald Trump to downsize the federal workforce at the department. When Trump swept into office in 2025, his so-called Department of Government Efficiency, led by tech mogul Elon Musk, sought to use Silicon Valley-style tactics to make quick cuts to the federal workforce.
Close to 1,500 staffers, most of them senior level, who left the Office of the Secretary in 2025 were paid not to work for days — even months — after agreeing to resign later.
Between Trump’s second inauguration and the end of last year, the paid-leave price tag just for employees in secretary’s office within the Interior Department totaled $156.5 million, a department document shows. That sum includes over $113.4 million in pay and almost $43.1 million in benefits for those staffers.
The figures only capture a small slice of spending on administrative leave at the Interior Department last year. The records, which were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, are for staff in the secretary’s office and do not include employees in the department’s multiple other agencies and bureaus.
Overall, 1,764 employees in the secretary’s office were on administrative leave at some point during that period. The vast majority, 1,468 staffers, opted into the resignation program and have left the department.
Aaron Weiss, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities, a conservation watchdog group, called the situation a “massive waste of taxpayer dollars.”
“That’s money that should have been going to the people who manage America’s parks and public lands,” Weiss said. “That’s all the expertise that we’re paying to sit at home and do nothing.”
Interior’s press office said in a statement the department’s efforts aimed to “right-size the federal workforce, cut bureaucratic waste, and ensure taxpayer dollars are spent efficiently.”
“By streamlining operations and reducing unnecessary positions, we are strengthening our ability to serve the public while making government more effective and accountable,” the press office said.
Who at the secretary’s office went on paid leave last year is detailed in a spreadsheet included in the records.
Eighteen employees were placed on administrative leave because of “DEIA,” referring to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. Those staffers likely worked in those programs, which Trump has sought to end across the federal government via an executive order.
Seven employees were listed as “FCG” as their reason why they were on administrative leave. In March last year, DOGE boasted on social media about “dissolving” the Federal Consulting Group, or FCG, at Interior.
Most, however, participated in the resignation program, which walloped the senior ranks in the secretary’s office, the data shows.
Over a thousand employees who chose to leave were high on the civil service pay scale, from GS-12 through GS-15. Many held titles such as contract specialist, grants management specialist and accountant.
The voluntarily resigned employees included 125 who worked in Washington and 222 who worked in Lakewood, Colorado, a hub for Interior employees out West.
The median salary of the secretary’s office staffer who chose the resignation program was $121,684.
Thousands more have left Interior. In total, 6,374 employees across the department opted into the resignation program since Trump’s inauguration, according to data compiled from June by the Office of Personnel Management.
The administration started the program soon after Trump’s return to office when federal workers across the government received an email, offering them a choice to take paid leave and resign later. The email’s subject line read “Fork in the Road,” copying a campaign by Musk to clear out Twitter staff.
Estimates found the resignation program resulted in exorbitant costs. One analysis by Public Citizen determined the government spent at least $11 billion on administrative leave for employees who opted into the program.
Yet it’s not clear how much the resignation program cost in administrative leave departmentwide at Interior, outside of the secretary’s office. The Interior press office’s statement did not address a question seeking those figures.
The program has remained active at the department this year, too. In April, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum offered another round to staff to choose to leave public service.
Agencies were discouraged to use paid leave for prolonged periods before this Trump administration. Yet in June, OPM proposed new regulations “to provide extended periods of administrative leave” to support “workforce restructuring and realignment initiatives,” such as the resignation program.
That rule is slated for completion this coming November, the latest regulatory agenda has indicated.
Interior’s press office said the department will continue working with OPM and other agencies “to implement cost-saving measures that put taxpayers first while ensuring the responsible stewardship of America’s natural and cultural resources.”
Weiss, of the Center for Western Priorities, argued that the cost of paid leave for the staff in the secretary’s office was excessive. He compared it to the struggling renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which has been managed by Interior and cost more than $16 million.
“This is roughly 10 botched Reflecting Pools here that Doug Burgum has thrown away by telling qualified public servants to not work on behalf of the American people,” Weiss said.
Contact Kevin Bogardus on the encrypted messaging app Signal at Kevin Bogardus and Ian M. Stevenson at ianstevenson.77.
