The Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office is poised to lose more than half of its current staff, as nearly 60% of its workforce has sought to opt into the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program, or DRP, the Washington Examiner has learned.
The cuts come one week after it was revealed the department extended its “fork in the road” buyout, first offered to federal employees in February.
The program allows federal employees to resign from their positions immediately while receiving full benefits and paychecks through September of this year.
Approximately 123 out of 210 current LPO employees have registered to opt into the deal, two department employees confirmed to the Washington Examiner. One employee had viewed a list of all 123 individuals pursuing the buyout program.
While their registrations for the buyout will still need to be approved, LPO staff were told last week that any individuals who did opt into the DRP would be granted approval, the employees said.
If all 123 buyouts are approved, it would be equivalent to a 58.5% cut to the office, which helps finance domestic energy projects, including those supporting new nuclear generation, domestic mineral production, and grid modernization.
That number is also subject to change, given the age of some staffers. Federal employees older than 40 years old have the option to opt into the DRP for a 45-day period and still change their mind. During that time, they would not be subject to layoffs.
One department employee explained that many individuals in that age group appeared to be buying time as an additional sweeping reduction in force is expected to hit DOE, in line with President Donald Trump’s priorities to downsize the federal government.
If even some individuals choose to return to the department within that 45-day period, the LPO is on track to return to staffing levels seen at the start of the Biden administration.
The office saw a significant increase in its staff, doubling to around 250 employees, in a large part thanks to increased funding from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed by Democrats and signed by President Joe Biden, and the bipartisan 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
While the office was previously able to operate with a smaller staff, it was also managing a smaller portfolio of energy infrastructure projects. The Biden administration expanded its loan guarantee authority to nearly $412 billion.
As of April 11, the extended deadline for the deferred resignation program, a DOE spokesperson said they did not have any final numbers to report on how many people had opted into the program.
The spokesperson explained that certain employees, such as those working safety, national security, law enforcement, or other essential roles, may not receive approval.
The department did not respond to the Washington Examiner‘s inquiry regarding updated numbers.
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Dozens of industry groups, including clean energy and nuclear firms, have since called on Energy Secretary Chris Wright to protect LPO from these cuts, saying that it could backfire on the Trump administration’s energy and manufacturing dominance agenda.
“The office’s ability to underwrite and monitor large-scale energy projects depends on specialized technical staff and institutional capacity,” a letter from 30 industry groups sent to the secretary Monday said. “Without them, the federal government risks slowing or stalling the diverse mix of energy projects that serve national priorities, such as new nuclear energy development for powering AI data centers — undermining investment certainty and weakening American competitiveness.”
