Trump Approaching Bill Clinton’s Record For Federal Job Cuts
President Donald Trump’s administration is taking bold steps to significantly shrink the federal workforce—an effort that’s nearing the scale of cuts previously seen under former President Bill Clinton.
During his presidency, Clinton brought down the number of federal employees from 2.2 million to about 1.8 million, marking the largest reduction in federal jobs since World War II, Just the News reported.
According to the outlet, “Civilian workforce figures exclude military personnel and United States Postal Service (USPS) and most totals refer to executive branch employees, who make up the lion’s share of the federal payroll.” These employees have become the prime focus for cuts, with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), now led by Elon Musk, spearheading an initiative to slash trillions from federal expenditures.
“Early in this second Trump administration, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) coordinated a large-scale federal buyout, offering employees the option of resigning to secure pay through Sept. 30,” the report also noted.
The approach mirrors the strategy used by Clinton, who relied heavily on buyouts to reduce the federal headcount during his two terms.
Trump’s team said that roughly 3 percent of the 2.3 million civilian federal employees accepted the voluntary offer—less than the desired 5 to 10 percent. However, the administration is gearing up for a second wave of buyouts and expects higher participation, especially as ongoing firings continue to send a message to the workforce.
Even the Department of Defense is seeing cuts. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated, “My intent is to maximize participation so that we can minimize the number of involuntary actions that may be required to achieve the strategic objectives.”
Clinton’s workforce reductions are estimated between 377,000 and 426,200. For Trump to surpass that benchmark, his administration would need to eliminate about 200,000 more positions.
Back in February, Fox News anchor Kayleigh McEnany cited a 2017 Washington Post article that described bureaucratic pushback against Trump during his first term. This was in response to former Obama administration official Marie Harf’s criticism of recent federal worker dismissals.
Trump launched the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) by renaming the U.S. Digital Service through an executive order on January 20. He also expanded the agency’s mandate to include cutting government jobs.
During a segment of Outnumbered, McEnany referred to reports of federal employees deliberately remaining in their roles “out of spite,” hoping to outlast Trump’s presidency.
“I do think that federal employees fall into three buckets,” she said. “You have the political appointees, some of whom are thrilled that this is happening; they see this as a revolution in government. Then you have this other pot of hardworking federal government employees. I think they don’t care who the president is. I think they care deeply about their job and that pot does exist, but that is not all federal workers.”
McEnany also cited an anonymous message from a federal worker at the Department of Veterans Affairs, as shared by NBC: “‘A lot of us are going to stay out of spite,’ they said. ‘We’re here for however long we want to be here. I could be here until retirement in 30 years, the Trump Administration is only here for four.’ What’s wrong with trying to root out and employees staying out of spite?” she asked.
In response, Harf argued that the dismissals were unlawful and slammed DOGE for what she described as “attacks on public servants.” She criticized the move for nearly two minutes, particularly in light of a federal judge allowing layoffs at the U.S. Agency for International Development, despite union-led legal challenges.
“DOGE isn’t managing these people and at the same time, people across the country can’t pay their mortgages or put food on the table for their kids because they got fired from a job they thought had job security. That is not electorally or morally a good plan, I think, for Republicans,” Harf said.
McEnany later returned to the Post article, emphasizing that even left-leaning outlets had documented internal resistance within the federal ranks. “It’s easy to oversimplify and point to some stories of individuals who got termination notices, but the background is this: This is not a Republican newspaper, conservative newspaper, this is ‘the Washington Post’… years ago: ‘Resistance From Within The Federal Government,’” she said.