Two of the largest federal agencies, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), are now in the crosshairs of the Trump administration’s sweeping workforce reductions, according to new reports. The layoffs are being pushed through billionaire Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (Doge) as part of a broader effort to gut federal agencies.
The IRS, which currently employs 90,000 workers nationwide, is drafting plans to slash its workforce by up to half through a combination of layoffs, attrition, and buyouts, the Associated Press reported.
The agency has already begun its purge, laying off 7,000 probationary employees in February, many of whom had less than a year of service. The administration is also considering reassigning IRS employees to the Department of Homeland Security to assist in immigration enforcement efforts.
A former IRS commissioner, John Koskinen, warned that a massive reduction in force would render the agency “dysfunctional.”
The IRS workforce is 65% women and 56% people of color, according to agency data.
Meanwhile, an internal VA memo obtained by Government Executive reveals plans to lay off up to 83,000 employees by the end of 2025.
The memo, sent to senior officials on Tuesday, states that the VA will work with Doge to reduce its workforce to 2019 levels—before millions of veterans became eligible for expanded health care benefits.
More than one in four VA employees are veterans, making the cuts particularly controversial.
The Biden administration had significantly expanded VA staffing following the passage of the 2022 PACT Act, which provided health care and benefits to millions of veterans exposed to toxic burn pits, Agent Orange, and other hazardous substances.
Representative Mark Takano, the top Democrat on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, called the layoffs an “outright betrayal of veterans.”
The VA and IRS layoffs are part of a broader effort by the Trump/Musk administration to shrink the federal government, particularly agencies that provide critical public services.
USAID has already been largely dismantled, leaving millions of people worldwide without food, medicine, and clean water.
The federal civilian workforce (excluding military personnel and postal workers) consists of 2.4 million employees, only 20% of whom are based in Washington, D.C. and its surrounding states.
The mass layoffs and buyouts are unprecedented and legally questionable, with some agencies already facing court challenges over the administration’s actions.
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