Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) has issued a stark warning to federal employees, cautioning them against accepting President Donald Trump’s buyout offer, which he called “bogus.” Speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday, Kaine dismissed the proposal as legally dubious and financially unsound.
“The President has no authority to make that offer,” Kaine stated, according to CBS News Capitol Hill correspondent Alan He. “There’s no budget line item to pay people who are not showing up for work … If you accept that offer and resign, he’ll stiff you.”
Kaine’s remarks come amid widespread skepticism about Trump’s track record with financial commitments. Throughout his business career, Trump has faced allegations of refusing to pay contractors, employees, and even his own attorneys for services rendered.
The buyout offer reportedly applies to every employee in the federal civil service. However, it does not appear to grant workers immediate compensation upon resignation. Instead, the plan allows them to take a “deferred resignation,” meaning they can remain in their jobs for up to eight months while being exempt from Trump’s executive order requiring federal employees to return to full-time, in-office work.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the proposal, framing it as a fiscally responsible move. “American taxpayers pay for the salaries of federal government employees and therefore deserve employees working on their behalf who actually show up to work in our wonderful federal buildings, also paid for by taxpayers,” Leavitt said.
“If they don’t want to work in the office and contribute to making America great again, then they are free to choose a different line of work, and the Trump Administration will provide a very generous payout of 8 months.” Despite Leavitt’s assurances, doubts persist about the plan’s legitimacy and execution.
According to ABC News correspondent Cheyenne Haslett, the memo sent to federal employees outlining the buyout closely resembles a similar offer made to employees at Twitter—now X—after pro-Trump billionaire Elon Musk acquired the company. The memo, titled “A Fork in the Road,” reportedly contains near-identical language and terms.
If I’m reading Elons “federal worker buyout” right, it’s not actually a buyout, it's you staying on the job for 8 months but being exempted from return-to-office rules and performance reviews. Don't expect too many people to take this deal lol. https://t.co/NlhtXsjgPg pic.twitter.com/HL3Ve97rYz
— Joey Politano(@JosephPolitano) January 29, 2025
Musk’s Twitter takeover saw mass layoffs and significant restructuring, with employees given the option to either embrace his “hardcore” work culture or accept severance and leave. Many experts see parallels between that approach and Trump’s federal workforce strategy, raising concerns that the buyout plan may be more about forcing resignations than providing fair compensation.
With mounting questions about the legality of Trump’s directive, government employees now face a critical decision: whether to trust an offer that top lawmakers warn may leave them empty-handed. As the debate over federal workforce restructuring continues, legal challenges to Trump’s executive order and buyout program could be on the horizon.