- Trump has issued a range of executive orders and guidance impacting the federal workforce.
- An order to freeze federal funds and grants that was later rescinded sparked confusion across agencies.
- Federal workers have also been grappling with the RTO mandate and buyout offers.
The second week of President Donald Trump’s campaign to cut government waste left uncertainty around what jobs and programs the federal government will continue to support.
Despite the White House rescinding its temporary freeze on federal grants and loans, the dozens of organizations Business Insider contacted this week were struggling to make sense of the future of their funding.
Additionally, the federal workers who administer these programs are dealing with Trump’s “deferred resignation” offer and a return-to-office mandate.
The White House said it’s been clear in its directives.
“The executive orders issued by the president on funding reviews remain in full force and effect and will be rigorously implemented by all agencies and departments,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a Wednesday statement. She said in a separate statement on the buyouts that if federal employees don’t want to return to the office, “then they are free to choose a different line of work, and the Trump Administration will provide a very generous payout of 8 months.”
Fallout of the funding freeze
Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth told BI that organizations in her state of Illinois are still reeling from the White House’s short-lived freeze on federal grants and loans.
Food pantries have told her that they’re still worried they won’t be able to access funding, and a nonprofit that serves homeless youth said the order “turned their organization upside down.”
“These are real-world consequences,” Duckworth said. “Right now, we’re just in a mode of trying to get information out to folks, but also communicating with them that this is not over yet.”
On Monday night, the Office of Management and Budget released a memo ordering federal agencies to “temporarily pause” some federal grants and loans. One day later, OMB rescinded the memo after a federal judge paused it while she considered a lawsuit brought by a group of nonprofits.
However, the White House’s Leavitt later wrote in a post on X that Trump’s earlier executive orders aiming to end funding for federal DEI programs and some of former President Joe Biden’s environmental initiatives were still in effect.
“What I think she’s trying to say is, ‘Hey, we’re still going ahead with what we said we’d do on day one,'” Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy at the left-leaning think-tank Center for American Progress, told BI.
Some federal workers previously told BI that the OMB memo caused chaos within their agencies. One FEMA worker said they were trying to get aid out the door as quickly as possible, and an SBA worker said that “the general chaos is grinding things to a halt as people don’t know what is going to come next.”
GOP Sen. Josh Hawley defended the funding freeze, saying: “I think the president has every right to review the terms on which federal funding grants are dispersed, how they’re being dispersed, where they’re going, which is what I think they’re doing here.” GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, meanwhile, asked for a “game plan,” telling reporters that he wanted to “give people back home some idea of what to expect.”
Even with the memo rescinded, Duckworth said she expects “long-term negative effects.”
“Even if it gets resolved in the next 48 hours, it won’t be resolved in the minds of people in the business community and in the not-for-profit community for a very long time,” Duckworth said.
Confusion among federal workers
At the same time, many workers are grappling with Trump’s return-to-office mandate and federal buyout offer.
Agencies are still crafting plans for workers who have been working remotely, some far from federal offices, and the uncertainty is making it difficult for some employees to plan. Others, however, previously told BI they see value in working in person and are willing to make the adjustment.
In addition, the Office of Personnel Management sent an email to millions of federal employees on Tuesday offering them a “deferred resignation,” in which employees could elect to resign before February 6 and receive their pay and benefits through September 30.
Federal workers were hesitant to take up that offer. One worker told BI that Trump’s offer is “unpatriotic that he’s trying to put people out of work or provide incentives for people to leave their stable jobs.”
Some union leaders urged them to reject the deal. The American Federation of Government Employees, the biggest union for federal workers, wrote in an FAQ on the deferred resignations that the OPM’s email was “riddled with inconsistencies and uncertainties.”
These shifts represent Trump’s plans to overhaul the federal government, and he has said he will continue pursuing avenues to cut government spending.
Are you a federal worker, or do you have a tip to share? Reach out to this reporter at asheffey@businessinsider.com or contact her securely on Signal at the username asheffey.97.
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