It's estimated that as many as five to ten percent of 2.3 million federal employees are expected to accept President Trump’s buyout offer, according to reports. It’s a good move done the right way, Ray Alexander, a retired Naval officer said on American Family Radio Monday.
An email sent to federal employees from the Office of Personnel Management last week gives them a Thursday deadline to decide whether to "fish or cut bait" as a massive government downsizing plan unfolds.
If employees remain and fish, according to the email, they’ll be subject to “enhanced standards of suitability and conduct.” If they walk away, they’ll receive buyouts of roughly eight months of pay. There are legal questions surrounding the buyout offer.
The proposed buyouts are part of Trump’s plan to shrink the federal government, something The Associated Press says he’s doing at “breakneck speed.”
Alexander told show host Jenna Ellis it’s a welcome strategy. “This is interestingly unpredictable. Interesting and useful, but I think unpredictable,” he said.
More than 3 million people worked for the federal government last year, accounting for almost 1.9% of the nation’s workforce, according to The Pew Research Center. If 7.5% percent of 2.3 million walk away that will be 172,500 jobs that are open or are being eliminated.
The email assumes that employees who remain will do so with “renewed focus on serving the American people,” but they will return without “full assurance” about the future of their individual position or agency.
“Should your position be eliminated you will be treated with dignity and will be afforded the protections in place for such positions,” the email adds.
“I’m a big fan of this. Basically, I’m a small government guy,” Alexander expressed. “Having witnessed a lot of the inefficiencies in the government in my time – both in the military and then as a federal employee – I've always been a strong advocate for doing as much as we can with as little as possible.”
Streamline > layers of procedures
A streamlined approach is better instead of layering government with policies and procedures, Alexander stated.
Though some agencies and the military could see workforce increases, the majority of federal agencies will be downsized through restructurings, realignments and downsizing, the OPM email states.
Employee furloughs are coming, and a “substantial” number of employees will be reclassified to “at-will” status – meaning the government can terminate an employee at any time for almost any reason without incurring legal liability, provided the reason for termination is not illegal.
Alexander called the move a “great restructuring tool,” noting that if the administration simply moved ahead with waves of layoffs it would have to justify its actions in regard to positions that had already been budgeted.
“This allows folks to voluntarily resign. The loss of jobs through restructuring would be a much more complicated and bureaucratic process,” he said.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll last week found that an overwhelming majority of respondents are in favor of downsizing the government, but far fewer think Trump is doing it the right way. Sixty-one percent like the idea of fewer federal employees but only 49% say they should be required to work in the office, and only 49% say imposing a hiring freeze on federal agencies is a good thing.
The OPM published its email on its website and titled it, “Fork in the Road.” Elon Musk, tapped by Trump to head the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), responded on X with a photo of the “Fork in the Road” art exhibit he previously commissioned.
The executive branch lacks the authority to extend a mass buyout offer, writes David Dayen in The American Prospect.
The OPM website states that its “buyout authority” is capped at $25,000.
Allowing workers the option to remain until Sept. 30 allows the OPM to reference the buyouts as “deferred resignations,” language that could indicate its legal strategy.
“This is a great opportunity for the federal workforce to be restructured in Donald Trump’s vision and in Elon Musk’s vision,” Alexander said, “to make it much more productive for the American people, getting much more out of a single dollar than we have in the past.”
The OPM writes that performance standards will be updated to reward and promote those who exceed expectations and to “address in a fair and open way those who do not meet the high standards which the taxpayers of this country have a right to demand.”
When your job is safe no matter what
It’s the way to go, Alexander argued, pointing out there’s been no “existential threat” to an employee’s future based on his or her level of performance.
“With no existential threat coming from the leadership, there’s no incentive to perform. That’s been a constant struggle within government,” he added.
Incentives create competition among workers which enhances production – and the taxpayers benefit.
“It’s something I advocated in my military career. We need to provide some benefit for good performance, some consequences for negative or bad performance,” Alexander said.
Such things, he contends, “absolutely” were lacking from the last administration.
