The Department of Education is reportedly spending $7 million a month on employees who are not even working according to a shocking new report.
The department has spent over $21 million on idle employees over the last three months per calculations made by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252.
Part of the employees collecting checks include those that accepted the Trump ‘buyout’ at the start of his second term.
The Trump administration offered federal workers a chance to voluntarily vacate their government posts while remaining on the payroll for months, with many opting to get checks through September 2025.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, chair of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) a subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability told the Daily Mail in that ‘President Trump gave federal workers an incredible offer—8 months of pay to walk away. Hardly anyone gets that kind of deal.’
‘But now, thanks to the courts, $7 million a month is being wasted on idle employees at the Department of Education. If the courts had respected the will of the American people when they voted for DOGE, we wouldn’t be in this mess,’ Greene continued.
‘President Trump ran on cutting waste, fraud, and abuse from the federal government, which included defunding the Department of Education, and that’s exactly what Americans voted for.’
‘The people want DOGE cuts. The courts are forcing wasteful spending,’ Greene concluded.
Chair of the Subcommittee on Delivering On Government Efficiency (DOGE) U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-SC) presides over a hearing of the House Oversight Subcommittee in the Rayburn House Office Building on February 12, 2025 in Washington, DC
Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who heads up DOGE government slashing efforts in the Senate told the Daily Mail in a statement that federal employees wasting taxpayer funds in such a manner is a ‘complete slap in the face to the hardworking Americans footing the bill.’
‘From attending Mardi Gras to engaging in union activities and even appealing creepy personal misconduct violations, federal employees have long abused paid administration leave to escape work,’ Ernst stated.
‘For years, I have exposed how do-nothing bureaucrats cost taxpayers millions every year. It is a complete slap in the face to the hardworking Americans footing the bill.’
‘I am working with the Trump administration to undo the years of backwards bureaucratic policy in Washington to ensure that anyone collecting a taxpayer-funded paycheck is spending their day serving the American people,’ Ernst added.
Senator Ernst has worked to expose the billion dollar cost of do-nothing bureaucrats in her $2 trillion roadmap for the Trump administration to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse.
Trump’s education secretary Linda McMahon pushed during her confirmation hearing earlier this year for her Department to be completely shut down, a move in line with promises made by the president on the campaign trail last year.
At her February confirmation hearing, McMahon noted that ‘in conjunction with [Trump’s] fervor to shut down the bureaucracy of the Department of Education, he has also stated that he will work with Congress to make that happen.’
Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) heads up Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Caucus efforts in the Senate
Education Secretary Linda McMahon testifies during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C, June 3, 2025
Back in February, the Trump administration also moved to decrease the size of the federal government by announcing a voluntary deferred resignation program for federal employees.
An estimated 75,000 federal employees across agencies took the differed resignation offer under which they were promised to be paid and provided with benefits until September 30th, 2025 or until they accepted a new job.
In March, the Department of Education cut nearly half of its workforce, a total of nearly 1,300 employees.
The U.S.Department of Education building during a Defend Our Schools rally to protest U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order to shut down the department, in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 21, 2025
Members of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) union protest against firings during a rally to defend federal workers in Washington, DC on February 11, 2025
After the reduction in DOE staffing levels was announced, Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight Government Reform and House Committee on Education and Workforce sent a letter to McMahon expressing their disapproval with the move.
‘The approximately 1,300 employees who you wish to leave the Department are dedicated public servants who have devoted their careers to serving their country and ensuring that all students are able to learn and to thrive, regardless of race, gender, disability, or zip code,’ the Democrats noted.
‘Discarding thousands of civil servants without regard for their job performance is an attack on those hardworking and passionate individuals as well as our government and the critical services it provides,’ they continued.