Trump tells federal employees to return to office by Feb 6 'or be terminated'

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump mandated Wednesday that the roughly 2 million employees in the federal workforce return to the office full-time next week, or be fired, as he continues efforts to downscale the federal government.

"If they don't agree by Feb. 6 to show up back to work in their office, they will be terminated, and we will therefore be downscaling our government," Trump said in remarks delivered from the White House. "Most of the people we're talking about have not been going to their federal offices in many, many years from even before COVID, but they have nevertheless been paid. Some have worked. Some haven't worked, and most of the studies say that some have just gone through the motions."

The dictum comes as Trump continues his push to reduce government spending, including via emails sent out by the Office of Personnel Management Tuesday evening, informing nearly all of them of a buyout offer allowing employees to be paid through Sept. 30 without working if they do not wish to return to the office.

They are given until Feb. 6 -- Trump's deadline to return to in-office work -- to send a "deferred resignation letter" accepting the deal.

The American Federation of Government Employees sharply criticized the offer, saying "purging" civil servants "will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for the Americans who depend on a functioning federal government."

"This offer should not be viewed as voluntary. Between the flurry of anti-worker executive orders and policies, it is clear that the Trump administration's goal is to turn the federal government into a toxic environment where workers cannot stay even if they want to," the union said in a statement.

Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill have meanwhile questioned whether Trump has the authority to make the buyout offers, much less the money to fund it.

"The president has no authority to make that offer! There's no budget line-item to pay people who are not showing up to work," Sen. Tim Kaine said on the Senate floor Tuesday evening. "My message to federal employees who receive this is yeah, the president has tried to terrorize you for about a week, and then gives you a little sweetheart offer: 'If you resign in the next week, we're just gonna pay you for doing nothing for the next seven months.' Don't be fooled. He's tricked hundreds of people with that offer. If you accept that offer and resign, he'll stiff you."