Trump Extends Federal Worker Hiring Freeze Through July 15 (1)

Federal agencies aren’t allowed to hire employees or create new roles through July 15, after President Donald Trump extended a government-wide hiring freeze.

The directive released Thursday doesn’t apply to military, national security, public safety, or immigration enforcement positions. The president’s own executive office and his picks for agency leadership are also exempted.

Trump on Inauguration Day barred federal agencies from adding workers until his administration crafted a proposal to reduce their size. His budget office hasn’t released such a plan.

Trump has made cutting government jobs a centerpiece of his second presidency. More than 100,000 federal workers have been fired or took resignation incentives to leave since he assumed office, according to Bloomberg Law’s reporting.

The new memo specifically addressed the IRS, which is poised to lose 20% of its employees—around one-fifth of the agency— in the coming months from employees taking Trump’s second deferred resignation offer. An IRS hiring pause will continue after July 15 unless Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent determines “it is in the national interest” to lift it.

Agencies must ask the Office of Personnel Management, the federal government’s human resources wing, for exceptions to the blanket freeze, the memo said.