India, Sept. 16 -- The federal government expended $9.5 billion in compensation to employees who were not performing work during 2025, a consequence of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiatives.

According to reporting by The New York Times, which references a recent assessment from the Government Accountability Office, DOGE's deferred resignations initiative resulted in a 435 percent expansion of paid administrative leave throughout 2025. This represents an escalation exceeding six-fold compared to 2023 levels.

Since the presidential inauguration in January of the preceding year, President Donald Trump and Musk's initiatives have resulted in a 12 percent reduction in the federal workforce. However, this workforc...