How Trump’s federal government cuts compare to Clinton’s

As Donald Trump pushes for sweeping federal government cuts in his second term, comparisons are emerging with Bill Clinton’s efforts to shrink the government in the 1990s.

Why It Matters

Since beginning his second term, Trump has implemented a series of spending cuts across various federal departments, leading to mass lays offs, in a move that has prompted backlash and fears of a constitutional crisis. But the largest federal government overhaul in modern history took place 30 years ago under Democratic President Bill Clinton through his “Reinventing Government” initiative, which was led by Vice President Al Gore.

Elon Musk has recently drawn comparisons between that effort and Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), writing on X, “What @DOGE is doing is similar to Clinton/Gore Dem policies of the 1990s.”

What To Know

Like President Bill Clinton’s Reinventing Government initiative, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has aimed to reduce the federal workforce. However, the pace and approach taken by the two presidents has differed significantly, with Clinton’s approach relying more on voluntary buyouts and attrition over a 7 year period, whereas Trump and Musk’s strategy has involved more immediate and extensive layoffs, with a focus on swift cuts and bold actions.

Elaine Kamarck, who ran Reinventing Government as a senior Gore adviser in the 1990s, emphasized these differing approaches in an interview with the Associated Press, contrasting her team’s slow, deliberate and collaborative approach with Musk’s rapid pace.

“The stakes in federal government failure are really, really high in a way they’re not in the private sector,” Kamarck said. “We really worried about screwing things up, and I don’t think these guys are worried enough about screwing things up, and it’ll be their undoing.”

Under Clinton’s program in the 1990s, the federal workforce was reduced by over 377,000 employees, primarily through authorized buyouts of $25,000 for federal workers, leading to the elimination of more than 400,000 federal positions between 1993 and 2000. Over 115,000 workers took buyouts during Clinton’s administration.

In contrast, Musk’s DOGE, established under President Donald Trump’s administration, has initiated mass layoffs targeting approximately 200,000 federal employees so far in the month since Trump began his second presidency, and that number is likely to grow. Meanwhile, about 77,000 probationary federal employees have accepted buyout plans known as “deferred resignations,” per the Office of Personnel Management.

The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development has seen the most radical cuts under the Trump administration, with 780 employees fired, amounting to 83% of the department’s workforce, according to CNN. Meanwhile, around 2,000 employees were laid off at the Agency for International Development (USAID), amounting to 20% of the department’s workforce. Numerous other departments have also seen layoffs, including Defense, Education, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among others.

Clinton and Trump’s approaches to restructuring also differed in several other ways. For example, Trump has brought in an external team to oversee his cuts in the form of Elon Musk, who heads up DOGE, and his team of advisers.

Since DOGE was created, concerns have been raised repeatedly about how much power and influence the unelected tech billionaire has in how the country is run.

In the weeks following Trump’s inauguration, Musk and other DOGE employees gained access to the internal data of government agencies, including the Labor Department, U.S. Treasury, Office of Personnel Management, General Services Administration, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Small Business Administration and more. Musk also attended a Cabinet meeting this week, despite not being a member of the Cabinet, and spoke for longer than any of the Cabinet secretaries.

Following Musk’s Cabinet appearance, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich said on X: “Trump hosts the first full cabinet meeting of his second term today—with noncabinet member Elon Musk in attendance. It’s yet another reminder of who the wealthiest administration in history actually serves: the billionaire class.”

In contrast to Trump’s approach, Clinton’s administration saw federal workers contributing to reforms themselves. Kamarck told the AP a 400-person staff was recruited from existing workers within the federal agencies to oversee the restructuring. The team worked to improve government efficiency and customer service by implementing private sector-inspired metrics like performance standards for employees. They also promoted the adoption of new technologies, particularly the internet, leading to the creation of many government websites and programs, including the electronic filing of income taxes.

“Liberating employees and seeing employees as a better part of the system was a big piece of it,” Don Kettl, an emeritus professor of public policy at the University of Maryland, told the AP. “One important difference is the Trump administration sees federal employees as the bad guys, and the Clinton administration saw federal employees as good guys.”

In light of Trump and Musk’s chaotic approach, multiple Republican lawmakers criticized the administration this month for their heavy handed approach. Senator John Curtis urged Elon Musk to show compassion for federal workers, stating, “These are real people. These are real lives. These are mortgages. It’s a false narrative to say we have to cut and be cruel to do it as well.” New Jersey Representative Jeff Van Drew also expressed concerns, saying, “We have to be really careful that we’re cutting things that don’t hurt everyday people.”

Curtis also criticized Musk for announcing that federal workers would receive “an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” with failure to respond being taken as a resignation. He stated, “We don’t need to be so cold and hard, and let’s put a little compassion and dignity in this as well.”

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski also slammed the email, calling it “absurd” and likening it to “intimidation.” Following the directive, department heads from the Justice, Defense, State Departments, and the FBI began pushing back against the initiative.

Lawmakers have also slammed the Trump administration for not working with Congress to restructure the federal government. Trump and Musk have suggested shutting down the Department of Education and USAID in a move that some lawmakers have said would be illegal.

Nonetheless, despite the Constitution stating that the legislative branch must approve spending and federal law prohibiting the president from cutting programs Congress has authorized without its consent, Republicans in control of Congress have allowed Musk to proceed with his changes independently.

In contrast, President Clinton was the last to successfully seek Congressional approval for cuts, with Congress agreeing to $3.6 billion in reductions he proposed. Meanwhile, both Trump and Musk have only made vague promises about submitting cuts to Congress. But without its involvement, any savings will be fleeting, according to Chris Edwards, who edits DownsizingGovernment.org at the conservative Cato Institute in Washington. “None of these changes DOGE wants to make will be permanent,” he told AP.

This week, Murkowski warned against government overreach in light of Trump’s decisions.

Speaking to NBC News, Murkowski said, “When the executive basically blows by Congress or rolls right over Congress and we allow that, we are seating our responsibility.”

“I believe that you can absolutely be a 100-percent supporter of President Trump and still stand up for the institution of the Senate, for the legislative branch with our authorities that are prescribed to us specifically by the Constitution,” she added.

Murkowski sent a stark warning: “But if we don’t, if we just say, ‘Well, we like his policies and so therefore we’re going to cede some of our authorities,’ don’t think that this is the last time you’re going to see that.”

What People Are Saying

Max Stier, president of the Partnership for Public Service, which seeks to improve the federal workforce, told the Associated Press: “There was a tremendous effort put into understanding what should happen and what should change. What is happening now is actually taking us backwards.”

Elaine Kamarck, who ran Reinventing Government as a senior Gore adviser in the 1990s, told the Associated Press: “We did it without a constitutional crisis. Unlike these people, we didn’t think there were vast trillions in efficiencies. … Their mandate is only to cut. Our was: Works better, costs less.”