President Trump and Elon Musk’s Office of Government Efficiency have targeted the federal workforce laying off thousands of federal employees.
The president has justified those cuts as a cost savings measure and many of those fired workers have been reinstated after the terminations were challenged in court.
But experts say the federal payroll is not a large source of bloat compared to the U.S. government’s total spending. In fiscal year 2024 “personnel compensation and benefits” accounted for just 8.6% of government spend, according to data from the U. S Treasury Department.
“There’s room for savings coming from a smaller size of the federal workforce, but that’s not the bulk of the savings,” said Rachel Greszler, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation. “It’s more the spending that’s going out the door from all of these programs.”
Efforts to streamline government are not new. Presidents Clinton, Obama, and Bush attempted similar evaluations of government operations, some resulting in layoffs.
Experts worry the attempted cuts could have implications for public service.
“They are in serious danger of throwing out the baby with the bathwater,” said Elaine Kamarck, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “They’re just cutting everything across the board, and it’s going to soon have repercussions on things people want.”
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