Federal Funding and Employee Cuts

AGENCY, DEPT, or PROGRAM	PROGRAM CUTS, FIRINGS, AND RIFs (dates refer to CY 2025)
Explanatory Notes: “Probationary employees” are those who are simply in their first year, first two years, or first three years of employment who do not yet have full civil service protections. The word “probationary” does not indicate poor performance; it is simply an automatic designation for newer employees. Importantly, these include employees transferring from other agencies who may have many years of senior level federal experience. The firings of probationary employees has nothing to do with the importance of their work; rather, it is because they are easier to dismiss. “Reductions in Force (RIFs)”: When an agency executes a RIF action, it must comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and formal agency policies and the terms of any applicable collective bargaining agreement. Under current law and regulations, agencies are generally required to provide written notice to employees affected by a RIF 60 full days in advance of the date of release.Under the regulations, agencies are required to establish competitive areas in which employees compete for retention (5 C.F.R.§351.402). Source – CRS RIFs and Essential Employees: The Trump Administration has directed agency heads, in designing RIFs, to target employees who would not be considered “essential” during a government shutdown when funding lapses. This is a complete misunderstanding of the law. During a shutdown, all employers are furloughed except for a small number of employees considered essential for the protection of life and property. The designation of employees as “essential” during a shutdown has nothing to do with the importance of employee positions to fulfilling agencies’ congressionally mandated missions. See our page on shutdowns.
Appropriations Committee (Democrats) Database Tracking Nearly a Half Trillion Dollars in Funds Frozen, Blocked, or Delayed by the Trump Administration–in many cases illegally Federal Harms Tracker: The Cost to Your Government
AGENCY, DEPT, or PROGRAM	PROGRAM CUTS, FIRINGS, AND RIFs (dates refer to CY 2025)
Government-wide Developments	7/8/2025: The Supreme Court, in a July 8, 2025 ruling, allowed agencies to proceed with major reductions-in-force (RIFs), reversing a lower court order that had blocked mass layoffs. 6/6/2025: Trump administration races to fix a big mistake: DOGE fired too many people. Across the government, officials are rehiring federal workers who were forced out or encouraged to resign. – WP 5/7/2025: States, Cities Face Funding Collapse Threat With Trump Cuts; Officials are confronting deep uncertainty about funding for programs that undergird their economies — just as Trump’s trade war has raised fears of a recession. – Bloomberg 4/2/2025: 77,000 workers have accepted “incentivized buyouts” under the so-called “Deferred Resignation Program.” Under the program,employees are encouraged to resign effective September 30^th in order to avoid involuntary separation and keep pay and benefits through September.
U.S. GOVERNMENT OVERALL	As of 8/1/25 (source: Govt Executive): 148,000 employees have left government OMB Director Vought stated his ambition to put career civil servants “in trauma” so they won’t want to do their jobs. “When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains. We want their funding to be shut down….We want to put them in trauma.”
Inspectors General (IGs)	1/25: The Trump administration has fired about 17 independent inspectors general at government agencies, a sweeping action to remove oversight of his new administration that some members of Congress are suggesting violated federal oversight laws. – AP
Agency for Global Media (includes VoA)	7/18: Judge Orders Trump Officials to Restore Funding for Radio Free Europe. In a stern ruling, the judge rebuked the Trump administration for refusing to disburse funding that Congress had already approved. 7/14: Agency for Global Media (parent agency for Voice of America) has fired 85%—about 1,400—employees. 3/14: Trump orders cuts to US Agency for Global Media, Radio Free Europe and Asia, and Radio Marti to minimum required by law
Agriculture Department	3/5: 5,600 probationary employees were fired but temporarily reinstated by the Merit Systems Protection Board. 4/7: USDA said mass layoffs are coming along with closure of the Department’s headquarters in DC, with employees relocated to regional hubs.
AmeriCorps	7/14: AmeriCorpshas fired 84%–650 employees. 5/27: A big Trump administration cutback went nearly unnoticed. About 32,000 low-paid AmeriCorps service workers lost their jobs over a few days in April, imperiling a swath of industries from health care to nutrition. – WP 4/18: AP reports that 85% of AmeriCorps’ 500 workers placed on leave 4/25: DOGE terminates nearly $400 million in grants that account for about 41 percent of total grant funding.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)	7/14: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has fired 13%–1,622 employees. 3/27: HHS cuts include 2,400 employees at CDC
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)	7/14: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)has fired 5%–300 employees. 3/24: HHS cuts include 300 employees at CMS
Central Intelligence Agency	7/14: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has fired 5%–about 1,200 employees.
Commerce Dept.	7/23: Commerce Dept.is aiming to cut its workforce by 20%, nearly 10,000 employees (through attrition and Deferred Resignation).
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau	7/23: Consumer Financial Protection Bureautried to fire 88%—about 1,500 employees—but the firings were temporarily blocked by a federal court. In addition to the pending firings, OMB Director Russell Vought, serving as CFPB’s Acting Director, has rolled back much of CFPB’s consumer protection work—terminating lawsuits, settlement agreements, and rulemakings that had been under way. 7/4: OBBBA cuts Federal Reserve funding of CFPB in half 4/18: Federal judge temporarily blocks mass firings at consumer bureau 2/9: Trump administration orders CFPB workers to cease all bank supervision and consumer engagement activities 2/12: With attack on consumer bureau, Musk removes obstacle to his “X money” vision – NYT
CPB (PBS/NPR)	8/1: CPB announces shutdown 7/19: Here’s where public broadcasting cuts hit the hardest 7/17: Senate passes $9B in cuts to global aid, public broadcasting in win for Trump – The Hill
Defense Dept.	7/23: Defense Dept. is aiming to cut its civilian workforce by 5% to 8%, as many as 61,000 employees, with 5,400 fired thus far. 3/3: Began placing probationary employees on admin. leave 2/21: Pentagon to fire up to 61,000 of the DOD’s 760,000 civilian workforce, beginning with 5,400 probationary employees.
Education Department	7/14: Education Dept. (DoEd) has thus far fired 33%–1,378 employees, with total elimination of the Department a stated Administration objective. 7/14: Supreme Court Clears the Way for Trump’s Cuts to the Education Department. The move by the justices represents an expansion of executive power, allowing President Trump to dismantle the inner workings of a government department. 7/1: Trump Withholds Nearly $7 Billion for Schools, With Little Explanation. The money, which was allocated by Congress, helps pay for after-school programs, support for students learning English and other services. 6/3: Pressed by Murray, McMahon Says “No” Analysis Was Conducted Before Firing Half of the Department of Education’s Staff 3/24: The administration has already terminated hundreds of grants and contracts supporting teacher preparation and education research; frozen funding doled out by the Biden administration for electric school buses and other clean-energy improvements; and canceled approvals for districts and states to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in pandemic relief funds on projects and programs they’ve already committed to carry out. – EdWeek 3/11: The Education Department plans to lay off more than 1,300 of its employees as part of an effort to cut DoEd’s staff in half — a prelude to President Donald Trump’s plan to dismantle the agency. The department is also terminating leases on buildings in cities including New York, Boston, Chicago and Cleveland, officials said.Even before the layoffs, the Education Department was among the smallest Cabinet-level agencies. Its workforce included 3,100 people in Washington and an additional 1,100 at regional offices across the country. – AP
Energy Department	7/14: Energy Dept. (DOE) has fired 6%, about 1,000 employees. 2/19: Trump’s energy secretary admits to ‘mistakes’ after nuclear safety employee layoffs 2/14: DOE laid off about 1,200 to 2,000 workers at the Department of Energy, including employees at an electric power grid office, the nuclear security administration and the loans office. Democrats said the layoffs include workers at national labs and hydroelectric plants, and nuclear sites that pose safety risks.
Environmental Protection Agency	7/23: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reduced its workforce by 23%, 3,707 employees (including elimination of the Office of Research and Development). 7/17: EPA moves ahead with reorganization, new buyouts 2/21: EPA reversed some of the layoffs in the Chicago region 2/14: 388 terminated–including staff tasked with enforcing Clear Air and Water Acts.
Federal Aviation Administration	8/8: FAA to hire 8,900 controllers but shortages still expected 7/14: Federal Aviation Administrationhas fired about 400 employees. 2/19: DOT Secretary Duffy fired 400 FAA employees, primarily those in probationary period. 2/21: Politico: “More than 130 of the eliminated workers held jobs that directly or indirectly support the air traffic controllers, facilities and technologies that the FAA uses to keep planes and their passengers safe.”
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)	2/17: 670 terminated at the key bank regulator including 500 who took a buyout and 170 terminated. (Bank failures exposed shorthanded FDIC examiner force.)
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA at DHS)	8/5: Dozens of FEMA staffers involuntarily reassigned to support deportations. 7/14: Federal Emergency Management Agencyhas fired over 200 employees. 7/11: Trump administration moves away from abolishing FEMA – WP 7/10: FEMA officials said search and rescue efforts in the Texas floods were slowed by budget rules imposed by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. – WP 5/23: FEMA faces backlog of emergency aid requests as hurricane season nears. Eleven requests from states for federal aid are still pending, and governors and lawmakers have been pushing the agency to move faster…. “It’s quite clear for us that the lack of interest in approving federal emergency declarations is [because] they’re trying to force states to handle it,” said a FEMA analyst, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they fear retaliation from the agency. – WP 2/16: more than 200 personnel were fired from FEMA, the nation’s disaster relief agency, including senior members of the policy team.
Food & Drug Admin. (HHS)	7/14: Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has fired 17%–about 3,500 employees. 2/24: 180 physicians and cyber experts in the medical devices division laid off 2/24: Administration then back-tracked and tried to rehire. 3/27: HHS cuts include 3,500 FDA employees
Forest Service (USDA)	7/14: Forest Service (USFS) has fired 9%–3,475 employees. 2/17: Admin. has cut about 10% of the Forest Service raising fears about wildfire prevention, response, and recovery and potentially driving up homeowner insurance costs in vulnerable areas; 3,400 probationary workers fired
General Service Administration (GSA)	7/14: General Services Administration (GSA) has fired 9%–nearly 1,000 employees (including elimination of the entire tech team aimed at improving digital efficiency throughout government). 2/2: laid off roughly 90 people—all federal technologists whose role was to modernize and make the government more efficient with better software.
Health & Human Services Department	7/15: HHS finalizes thousands of layoffs after Supreme Court decision, 7/14: Health and Human Services (HHS) is aiming for an overall reduction in force of 24%–about 20,000 employees, which includes RIFs of 10,000 and attrition for the remaining 10,000. (This total includes the reductions at CDC, FDA, and NIH noted elsewhere in this list.) 7/1: Judge Halts Mass Firings and Organizational Changes at H.H.S. In an order on Tuesday, a judge found the Trump administration’s plans to drastically change the structure and mission of the Department of Health and Human Services was probably unlawful. 3/27: HHS cuts 10,000 employees, on top of 10,000 who left voluntarily, shrinking the workforce from 82,000 to 62,000; in addition 5,200 probationary workers are on leave while their fate winds through the courts
Homeland Security Department (DHS)	2/16: Trump administration fires over 400 DHS employees as mass firings continue…within the nation’s top cybersecurity agency, known as CISA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which administers the nation’s legal immigration system….Cuts at USCIS baffled some within the leadership ranks of the agency, who noted the agency is largely funded by immigration application fees.
Housing and Urban Development Dept. (HUD)	7/14: HUD Community Planning and Development Officehas fired 83%–780 employees. 2/21: The Trump administration’s proposal to cut half of federal workers at the nation’s housing agency is targeting employees who support disaster recovery, rental subsidies, discrimination investigations and first-time homebuyers…More than a dozen programs…would be affected by the loss of 4,000 positions.
Institute of Museum and Library Services	5/18: Libraries across the United States are cutting back on e-books, audiobooks and loan programs after the Trump administration suspended millions of dollars in federal grants as it tries to dissolve the Institute of Museum and Library Services. 3/14: President Trump issued an executive order March 14 to dismantle the IMLS before firing nearly all of its employees.
Interior Department	2/18: More than 2000 probationary workers fired including workers managing water resources in western states, and 240 people at the U.S. Geological Survey which monitors volcanoes and earthquakes but is also one of the leading agencies for climate research.
Internal Revenue Service (Treasury)	7/18: Internal Revenue Service (IRS) workforce has decreased by at least 25% with 25,386 taking deferred resignation and 7,315 fired. (Rather than saving money, these cuts will cost the American people tens or hundreds of billions in lost revenues from uncollected taxes.) 3/5: Why DOGE’s cuts to IRS threaten to cost more than DOGE will ever save. 2/19: After receiving $80 billion in one-time mandatory funding in 2022, IRS beefed up customer service and was recently focused on improving enforcement. Between 2021 and 2024, the workforce increased by one quarter, to more than 100,000. Cutting newer probationary employees makes little sense for an agency where nearly 2/3 of employees are eligible to retire in the next 6 years. Former IRS Commissioner Rettig who served during Trump-45 said, “An underfunded IRS significantly benefits unidentified, noncompliant taxpayers at the direct expense of compliant taxpayers.” 2/19: The IRS will lay off roughly 7,000 workers in Washington and around the country. Disproportionately hitting workers in enforcement which will hurt tax collections. Trump also plans to transfer some IRS employees to DHS for immigration enforcement.
Justice Dept. Grants	4/24: DOJ axes hundreds of grants that help crime victims and fight opioid abuse
Labor Dept.	7/23: Labor Dept. (DOL) has fired most of the employees in its Office of Federal Contract Compliance.
Low Income Home Energy Assistance	4/2: HHS fires entire staff of program that helps low-income people afford heat and air conditioning
Millenium Challenge Corp.	4/23: MCC staff were told all of the agency’s programs to reduce poverty and promote economic growth around the world will be shutdown
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)	8/2: NASA has reduced its workforce by 20%–4,000 employees–through the Deferred Resignation Program. 5/21: Brain drain at NASA 3/10: NASA closes offices, lays off staff as it prepares for larger workforce reductions including Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy, and Office of the Chief Scientist
National Archives	6/16: Trump administration resumes layoffs, targeting National Archives staff
National Institute of Standards and Technology (COMMERCE)	2/19: Trump Team Plans Mass Firings at Key Agency for AI and Chips
National Institutes of Health (HHS)	7/14: National Institutes of Health (NIH) has fired 6%–about 1,200 employees. 6/9: Murray, DeLauro, Baldwin Blast Director Bhattacharya for Terminating Thousands of Active NIH Grants, Upending Research, Threatening Patient Treatment 3/24: HHS cuts include 1,200 employees at NIH, the nation’s premier medical research agency
National Nuclear Security Admin. (DOE)	2/16: Trump administration tries to bring back fired nuclear weapons workers in DOGE reversal 2/14: Trump officials fired nuclear staff not realizing they oversee the country’s weapons stockpile
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)	7/2: New NOAA document spells out further deep Trump cuts 5/14: NOAA scrambles to fill forecasting jobs as hurricane season looms The agency acknowledged “urgent action is needed to sustain mission-critical operations,” as peak severe weather and hurricane season approach. 2/27: 880 probationary employees fired at NOAA, agency that oversees hurricane center and weather service
National Park Service	7/14: National Park Service (NPS) has fired 5%–about 1,000 employees. 2/24: Administration then tried to rehire at least 50 and is now hiring 7700 seasonal workers. 2/19: 1000 Park Service workers fired including scientists and maintenance workers
National Science Foundation	7/30: NSF slashes most career executive roles after shedding one-third of staff 2/18: More than 10% of the employees at NSF, an independent agency supporting cutting-edge scientific research, were laid off, and a total reduction of 25 to 50 percent is planned. NSF focuses on quantum computing, AI, and creation of new advanced materials. 4/22: NSF terminates hundreds of active research awards
Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA)	2/13: NRCS fired about 1,200 employees in Oklahoma, Idaho, and Kansas impacting conservation planners and natural resources scientists supporting soil and water conservation projects. 2/20: USDA layoff of scientists has derailed projects benefitting farmers across the country
NIOSH	4/25: NIOSH’s congressionally mandated Health Hazard Evaluation program is one of many health and safety services on which firefighters depend that’s been shrunk or eliminated by HHS in Kennedy’s RIF of 10,000 employees
NOAA (including National Weather Service)	8/5: Weather Service is now hiring back hundreds of positions that got cut in the DOGE chaos 7/14: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (including the National Weather Service) has fired 5%–about 675 employees.
Office of Personnel Management (OPM)	7/21: Office of Personnel Management (OPM)has lost one-third of its staff, with 750 taking deferred resignation, 150 resigning without pay, and 129 fired. 2/14: 70 employees terminated at the chronically underfunded and backlogged agency.
Social Security Admin. (SSA)	4/9: backs away from cuts to phone service 2/27: cuts at least 7,000 staff (12% of the workforce); dozens of offices
Small Business Administration	7/14: Small Business Administration (SBA) has fired 41%—about 2,700 employees (including employees in its customer service center for disaster victims). At the same time, President Trump says he will move the processing of student loans from the Education Department to the vastly diminished SBA.
State Department	7/14: Small Business Administration (SBA)has fired 41%—about 2,700 employees (including employees in its customer service center for disaster victims). At the same time, President Trump says he will move the processing of student loans from the Education Department to the vastly diminished SBA. 7/11: Slashing the State Dept. – The Economist 7/11: State Dept fires by email more than 1,300 employees in downsizing plan. The layoffs have drawn criticism from current and former diplomats who say cuts will degrade America’s standing in the world and curb U.S. soft power. – WP 4/22: Secretary of State Marco Rubio unveiled a massive overhaul of the State Department on Tuesday, with plans to reduce staff in the U.S. by 15% while closing and consolidating more than 100 bureaus worldwide. The restructuring was driven in part by the need to find a new home for the remaining functions of the U.S. Agency for International Development, an agency that Trump administration officials and billionaire ally Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have dismantled. – AP
Transportation Department	4/1: DOT sent thousands of employees a buyout offer but spared employees who provide support for Musk’s Starlink and SpaceX launches
TSA	7/14: TSA (Transportation Security Administration) has fired 243 employees. 2/20: More than 200 TSA employees fired in Trump’s push to cut federal workforce
USAID	7/17: Senate passes $9B in cuts to global aid, public broadcasting in win for Trump 7/14: U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has been entirely shut down with 10,000 employees fired (a few hundred may be rehired at the State Department to administer a vastly diminished aid program). 3/28: Trump administration moves to formally abolish USAID 2/4: USAID employees placed on administrative leave cutting workforce from 10,000 1/24: Trump ordered a near total freeze on distribution of foreign aid to 294–disrupting humanitarian aid programs
USGS	7/14: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)has fired 10%–about 1,000 employees.
US Institute of Peace	5/19: Federal judge rules Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle US Institute of Peace are ‘unlawful’ The decision comes following a dramatic standoff between USIP employees and DOGE official, who covertly entered the building with police assistance.
Veterans Affairs (VA) Department	7/7: Veterans Affairs is now aiming for a reduction of 30,000 jobs by the end of September to be achieved by offering early retirement or severance payments. As of this month, 17,000 employees have left. 7/1: ‘Sense of doom’: Morale plunges as some VA health workers fear worsening shortages, staffing cuts 2/14: VA cut 1,000 employees. The senior Senate Democratic appropriator said the layoffs have affected VA researchers working on mental health, cancer treatments, alcohol and opioid addiction, prosthetics and burn pit exposure.
Other Agencies	Other agencies in various stages of elimination include: the Institute of Museum and Library Services; Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service; National Endowment for the Humanities; Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency; the Wilson Center; the Interagency Council on Homelessness; and the Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund.