Musk ‘Buyout’ Taken by 40,000 Federal Workers as Deadline Nears

The Trump administration’s offer to pay federal employees through the end of September if they agree to leave by the end of February has attracted more than 40,000 sign-ups as of Wednesday — about 2% of the federal civilian workforce.

An Office of Personnel Management official familiar with the deferred retirement data said that number was growing, and the administration expected a rush of applications in the final 24 hours. The deadline to apply — which can be done simply by sending the word “resign” from a government e-mail account — is the end of the day Thursday Washington time. ...