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Federal agencies must develop plans to reduce the size of their workforces through efficiencies and attrition, President Trump announced on Monday, spelling out in a memorandum that they must roll out those proposals before lifting the hiring freeze he has put into place.
Trump froze federal hiring on Monday in a presidential memorandum, following the practice he established when he took office in 2017. The federal workforce reduction plans also mirror those he required in order to lift the hiring moratorium he instituted in his first term. Most agencies in that instance never wound up producing definitive plans to slash their workforces and the White House later denied it ever asked for the blueprints for cuts.
Trump’s latest hiring freeze is set to last 90 days, with the exception of the Internal Revenue Service where it will remain in effect until the Treasury Department and other officials agree it is “in the national interest” to lift it. Trump made clear that contracting out to circumvent the freeze was prohibited.
“In carrying out this memorandum, the heads of executive departments and agencies shall seek efficient use of existing personnel and funds to improve public services and the delivery of these services,” Trump wrote.
As expected, the freeze will not apply to the military or positions related to immigration enforcement, national security or public safety. The freeze will otherwise take effect regardless of the source of an agency’s funding stream. Political appointments under Schedule C the non-career Senior Executive Service will continue. The Office of Personnel Management on Monday issued new guidance allowing for an unlimited number of appointees that Trump can temporarily deploy into agencies as his administration gets up and running, overriding more limited guidance the Biden administration had put forward.
The memo says the freeze should not adversely impact the distribution of Social Security, Medicare or veterans benefits, though it was not immediately clear whether some positions will still be frozen at the relevant agencies. The Veterans Affairs Department allowed the hiring of doctors and nurses to continue in 2017 when that freeze was in effect, but froze onboarding of new support and administrative staff.
Agencies can continue making reallocations “to meet the highest priority needs, maintain essential services, and protect national security, homeland security and public safety,” Trump said in the memo. Absent all of those exemptions, the president said no position vacant as of Monday at noon can be filled.
In developing their plans to trim their workforces, Trump instructed agencies to work with his non-governmental efficiency commission, the Department of Government Efficiency, and the U.S. Digital Service. DOGE team members are expected to deploy to the Office of Management and Budget, USDS and agencies throughout government, a proposition that raised questions about transparency and the chain of command.
Trump administration and DOGE officials have floated various proposals to further shrink agency workforces, including buyouts and early retirement incentives, relocating agencies, forcing employees to report to their duty stations each day instead of teleworking and even issuing mass reductions in force.
The Government Accountability Office has raised concerns about the impact of Trump’s and previous hiring freezes, saying they were not effective, do not save money and exacerbate existing workforce problems. Good governance groups and federal employee unions were quick to criticize Trump’s plans.
Max Stier, president of the Partnership for Public Service, said the freeze was “management by autopilot rather than a thoughtful choice about where we need more or perhaps fewer federal employees.”
“President Trump’s directive to freeze federal hiring will make government agencies less responsive to the needs of the public,” Stier said. “This order could leave agencies with hiring gaps in critical areas, and it will deter the talented workers needed for a well-functioning government, especially those with specialized skills.”
Everett Kelley, president of American Federation of Government Employees, said there was “no legitimate rationale” for slashing the federal rolls given the size of the workforce has barely shifted over the last 50 years, while the U.S. population has grown significantly.
“Make no mistake,” Kelley said, “this action is not about making the federal government run more efficiently but rather is about sowing chaos and targeting a group of patriotic Americans that President Trump openly calls crooked and dishonest.”
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