The Trump administration secured a significant legal victory on Thursday as a federal judge ruled that its federal workforce buyout program, aimed at downsizing government employment, can proceed. The ruling marks a critical moment for President Donald Trump’s efforts to reduce the size of the federal government, a priority of his administration since returning to the White House.
The initiative, known as the “Fork in the Road” program, offers federal employees a severance package amounting to roughly eight months of salary and benefits if they voluntarily resign by a specified deadline. So far, approximately 75,000 federal employees—roughly 3% of the civilian workforce—have accepted the offer, signaling the largest voluntary workforce reduction in recent history.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the federal bureaucracy as inefficient and biased against him. His administration has also ordered government agencies to prepare for sweeping job cuts, and some departments have already begun laying off recent hires who lack full job security.
The program, developed with input from billionaire entrepreneur and DOGE leader Elon Musk, who advises on government spending reductions, aims to streamline operations and cut federal expenditures.
“75,000 people accepted the buyout program. That’s going to save millions of dollars for the American taxpayers and that’s exactly what we wanted,” Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday. “We put a deadline on it, and the deadline was reached. 75,000 people accepted the offer.”
