Local federal workers remain in limbo after receiving offers of resignation with pay.

Agata Popęda here, strongly recommending a story by our staff writer Pam Marino that you can find in the Weekly’s news section this week. The article localizes the problem faced these days under the new administration in Washington, D.C. by more than 3 million federal employees across the nation. 

Trump’s government supposedly fights the bureaucracy and so-called deep state by attempting to make huge federal cuts and get rid of people perceived as sympathetic to the previous administration. Yet, the depth of the planning cuts worries even some old-fashioned Republicans, who traditionally are supporters of a small, lean government.

The context of the story is a potential choice of resignation—with full pay until September—available to federal employees, offered by the Department of Government Efficiency, aka DOGE, via agencies. This offer is now on hold and the future is uncertain.

Marino tells the story of Defense Language Institute employees who decided to go with the offer, but are right now in limbo, while the courts try to determine if the Elon Musk-led DOGE’s actions are legal in the first place. 

For example, it might turn out that the offer of full salary for many months after the resignation is just a promise to be broken. In fact, it’s Congress that would have to appropriate money for this purpose—not President Trump and his unelected foreign-born right-hand, billionaire Musk. The Naval Postgraduate School’s employees are facing a similar situation. In the meantime, unions are mobilizing to help and protect those people from being kicked out of their jobs with no compensation whatsoever.

I asked Marino why so many federal employees agreed to resign. She told me one of her anonymous sources from DLI shared that the agency is not a good work environment. Other unhappy DLI employees did not accept the voluntary resignation offer, but if it turns out to be legit, more people would be interested in the proposed exit.

I encourage you to read Marino’s article to learn more.