From the first days of his second term, President Donald Trump has been taking bites out of the federal government.
Sweeping layoffs, the dismantling of entire agencies and dramatic restructuring at others, and steep funding cuts have chipped away at departments, their staff, and their funding streams since Trump returned to the White House in January.
As a result, the U.S. government enters 2026 with a much smaller workforce and a reoriented set of priorities that have shifted staffing and funds away from issues including foreign aid; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and vaccine development in line with Trump’s new agenda.
The changes have already affected millions of Americans—and millions more around the world—and their impact will continue to expand as further cuts take effect moving forward.
Here’s what to know about how Trump’s cuts have reshaped the federal government in 2025, and what’s still to come.
The federal workforce
The Trump Administration began taking steps to slash the federal workforce quickly after taking over in January. At the beginning of his second term, Trump signed an Executive Order creating the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, which spearheaded mass buyouts and layoffs across the government.
On January 28, just over a week after Trump returned to office, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent an email to roughly two million federal employees offering a Deferred Resignation Program, under which those who agreed to resign would be promised full pay and benefits through Sept. 30, 2025.
OPM then began issuing guidance for agencies to fire nearly all probationary employees—generally those who have been working for the federal government for less than one to two years—and ordered them to send plans for broader cuts to their workforces.
More than 150,000 federal workers ultimately took buyouts, according to OPM, and tens of thousands of others have been laid off, including…
