{
  "id": 7886379,
  "title": "US government paid federal employees $9.5bn not to work amid Doge cuts – report",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/16/us-government-paid-federal-employees-9-5bn-not-to-work-amid-doge-cuts",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-16T22:17:06.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Guardian US",
    "slug": "the-guardian-us",
    "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/16/doge-payments-federal-worker-leave"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "GAO report shows how use paid administrative leave rose by 435% from 2023 to 2025 and incurred a sixfold cost The US government paid federal workers $9.5bn not to work in 2025 as part of the Trump administration ’s attempts to shrink the federal workforce. As part of efforts by the “department of government efficiency” (Doge), spearheaded by Elon Musk , federal agencies’ use of paid…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}