US Treasury Readying ‘Substantial’ Round of Layoffs

The U.S. Treasury is preparing sweeping layoffs, the latest in a series of federal job cuts.

That’s according to recent court documents flagged in media reports Wednesday (March 26), stemming from a complaint aiming to stop layoffs by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Trevor Norris, the Treasury’s deputy assistant secretary in human resources, said in a sworn statement that the department is working on plans to adhere to DOGE’s “Workforce Optimization Initiative.”

“These plans will be tailored for each bureau, and in many cases will require separations of substantial numbers of employees through reductions in force (RIFs),” Norris said.

In a statement issued to CNBC, a spokesperson for the Treasury said the department is “considering a number of measures to increase efficiency, including a rollback of wasteful Biden-era hiring surges, and consolidation of critical support functions to improve both efficiency and quality of service.”

The statement added that no decisions had been made, “and any current reporting to the contrary is false.”

The news comes as DOGE’s efforts have led to job cuts and resignations at other government agencies. For example, last week saw reports that around 10% of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) 5,000 employees had accepted buyouts or deferred-resignation offers and will leave the regulatory agency.

The departures reportedly include a significant number of workers from the SEC’s divisions of enforcement, exams and the office of the general counsel. The commission is also ending its office leases  in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, while the General Services Administration is considering doing the same with the SEC’s office in Chicago.

Also last week, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced that it will reduce its workforce by 43% and shift its resources to focus on its “core missions.” This means cutting about 2,700 of its current 6,500 positions.

“Just like the small business owners we support, we must do more with less,” SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said in a news release. “We have therefore submitted plans to pursue a strategic restructuring that will realign the agency and its resources with our founding mission.”

In related news, President Donald Trump this week issued an executive order requiring the Treasury to cease its use of paper checks beginning Sept. 30, and to stop accepting  them for payments “as soon as practicable.” According to the executive order, the goal is to ultimately switch the federal government to using electronic payments.