A Government Accountability Office report found federal agencies spent $9.5 billion on administrative leave costs in 2025. The GAO directly attributes the increase to the DOGE restructuring push, according to CBS News. Administrative leave — paid leave during which federal employees remain on the payroll but are not working — accumulated at a documented cost because the DOGE process of identifying, processing, and separating federal workers placed large numbers of them on paid administrative leave during the review period.
WHAT THE GAO IS
The Government Accountability Office is Congress’s independent, nonpartisan watchdog — the federal government’s own accountability agency. The GAO’s reports are the authoritative independent assessment of government spending and program effectiveness. When the GAO says a program increased costs by $9.5 billion, that is not an opposition party’s estimate or an advocacy group’s calculation. It is the federal government’s own watchdog’s finding.
THE SPECIFIC MECHANISM
How the DOGE restructuring produced administrative leave costs:
▸ DOGE identified workers for separation through a rapid review process
▸ Workers identified for separation were placed on administrative leave — paid, non-working status — during the review and separation process
▸ Court orders in some cases blocked separations, extending the administrative leave period
▸ The combination of rapid identification and legally contested separation produced a sustained administrative leave population that accumulated $9.5 billion in payroll costs while not working
THE EFFICIENCY CLAIM VS. THE GAO FINDING
DOGE was publicly marketed as an efficiency initiative — reducing federal spending by eliminating unnecessary employees and redundant programs. The GAO’s finding is a specific documented counter-evidence: the efficiency initiative produced $9.5 billion in administrative leave costs that were not in the federal budget before DOGE’s restructuring began. Whether DOGE’s efficiency gains elsewhere in the budget offset the $9.5 billion administrative leave cost is from the full GAO report’s scope of findings, as confirmed.
THE IRAN WAR FISCAL CONTEXT
ONYX has documented the Iran war’s fiscal cost throughout the arc: $37.5 billion in 40 days of active operations. The DOGE administrative leave finding adds $9.5 billion to the fiscal accountability picture: the same federal budget is simultaneously managing $37.5 billion in war costs, $9.5 billion in DOGE-generated administrative leave costs, and the December 11 government funding fight that ONYX has flagged since August.
The Government Accountability Office — the government’s own watchdog — found that DOGE’s cost-cutting push cost $9.5 billion in administrative leave. DOGE was marketed as efficiency. The GAO found increased spending. That is the government’s own agency assessing the government’s own cost-cutting initiative and finding it cost money.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
▸ GAO full report — whether additional DOGE-related cost findings are documented
▸ Congressional response — whether the $9.5 billion finding produces hearings or formal oversight
▸ December 11 budget — whether the administrative leave costs affect the government funding negotiation
▸ Court orders — whether the federal worker reinstatement court orders produce additional administrative leave costs
| CONFIDENCE: HIGH | GAO report: federal agencies spent $9.5 billion on administrative leave in 2025; the increase is directly attributed to the DOGE restructuring push, as confirmed by CBS News reporting. |
| ⚖️ BIAS CHECK — WHO IS SAYING WHAT | |
| GAO | The federal government’s own nonpartisan watchdog; their attribution of the cost increase to DOGE is authoritative independent assessment, not political characterization |
| DOGE | Marketed as an efficiency initiative; their position is that aggregate savings justify the administrative leave costs; that specific claim is from their public communications |
| CBS News | The outlet that confirmed the GAO finding; their reporting is the evidentiary basis |
| ONYX | Covering the GAO finding at its specific confirmed content; naming the fiscal context because the Iran war cost and December 11 budget are both documented in the arc |
SOURCES
▸ CBS News — DOGE GAO administrative leave $9.5 billion September 17, 2026
