Another wave of buyouts and firings has hit the federal workforce. The alphabet soup agencies told to let workers go this time include the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and even the ever-mysterious Central Intelligence Agency.
USDA Out to Pasture
A spokesperson for the USDA told The Hill that, as of May 1, 15,182 employees had taken advantage of the Deferred Retirement Program, or DRP. This accounts for about 15% of the total department workforce. The agency source called the DRP “completely voluntary” and added that it’s used to “empower employees to decide what is best for them,” the outlet reported Sunday.
According to a readout from the USDA, 555 employees at the Food Safety and Inspection Services took the offer, as did more than 1,000 from the Farm Service Agency and county office employees. Another 2,408 are leaving the National Resources Conservation Service.
This is the second time the DRP was offered – the first came shortly after Trump’s inauguration. Additionally, the administration fired 6,000 probationary staffers earlier in the year, but a federal board ordered many of them reinstated. In total, the USDA is made up of 29 agencies and offices, employing almost 100,000 people across 4,500 locations.
No Job Security for Occupational Safety and EPA Workers
Employees of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), received “reduction-in-force” notices late Friday, May 2. The layoffs were described by the Trump administration as necessary to reshape the Department of Health and Human Services workforce, Reuters reported Saturday.
As of January 17, 2024, NIOSH reportedly had more than 1,300 employees. In February of this year, almost all of whoever remained were placed on administrative leave. About 40 people who worked on coalmining and firefighter safety were asked to temporarily return several days ago, according to the union for the agency’s employees, but some of them have now been notified of termination.
The US Environmental Protection Agency, more commonly known simply as the EPA, announced on Friday plans to cut its budget by $300 million in fiscal year 2026, reduce staffing to 1980s levels, and shutter its research and development office.
“With these organizational improvements, we can assure the American people that we are dedicated to EPA’s core mission of protecting human health and the environment,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a video message, adding that the agency will be better positioned to match Trump’s goals to “unleash American energy, revitalize domestic manufacturing, cut costs for families and pursue permitting reform.”
While no hard number has been given, Zeldin said the staffing levels would drop to levels last seen during the Reagan administration. In 1984, the EPA had about 11,400 employees. By 2024, that had grown to more than 15,100.
National Security – The Fewer There Are to Keep a Secret …
The Trump administration is also planning to cut more than 1,000 workers from various intelligence agencies, including the CIA and the National Security Agency, a prominent DC news outlet reported on Friday. A spokesperson for the CIA explained to The Hill in an email that Director John Ratcliffe is “moving swiftly to ensure the CIA workforce is responsive to the Administration’s national security priorities.” That doesn’t confirm the number of job cuts – or even that there will be any at all – but one would be hard pressed to imagine a more CIA answer than that.
There have been staff reductions in the past months, however. Buyouts were offered in February, dozens of junior officers were laid off in March, and National Security Agency Director General Timothy Haugh and his civilian deputy, Wendy Noble, were fired in April. The total workforce of the CIA is about as clear as the proposed cuts. That is, the number isn’t publicly disclosed, and any guess is just that. The general belief, however, is that the agency employs about 22,000 people.
The Sky Is Falling!
With the seemingly nonstop headlines portending doom after each wave of federal workers fired or retired, one might be forgiven for experiencing just a little fear. After all, how can the government work if all the agencies are stripped of their staffs and left with just skeleton crews – if that – to steer the ship? The sky is falling, the Chicken Littles lament. But no, it’s not the sky; it’s just the cost of running the country.
The Republic won’t shrivel up and blow away on the wind once Trump and Elon Musk manage to cut some vague – but frighteningly small – number of additional workers. Recall that the US functioned just as well (some might even say better) under previous administrations in past years with considerably fewer paychecks to fund. The government wasn’t always the behemoth it has become, but how quickly we forget. In fact, Trump isn’t even the top cutter of federal jobs in recent history – not yet, anyway.
As Liberty Nation News previously reported, Democrat Harry S. Truman still holds the record for net total jobs cut at 566,000. Fellow Democrat Bill Clinton came in second, cutting 399,000 total positions over his eight-year tenure. If Trump sticks to his plan, he’ll leave the federal workforce around the same size as Clinton when he left office in 2001. If, on the other hand, the current president manages to meet or beat Truman’s numbers (which would require keeping up his current impressive pace for the whole four years), the government would be smaller than it has been since 1947. And either way – whether at Clinton’s level or Truman’s or somewhere in between, America’s wheels will keep turning.
