Claims extracted
15
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
20%
3 of 15 hedged
("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
60/100
NBC News's corrections and
hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
7
Economy/Business
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
The Trump administration spent an estimated $9.5 billion last year on paid administrative leave for federal workers as it pushed to cut costs by shrinking the government, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Tuesday.
uncertain
it → spend → report
Agencies’ use of paid administrative leave jumped by 435% from 2023 to 2025, the report found, and salary costs from such leave rose sixfold.
asserted
costs → pay → leave
That coincides with President Donald Trump’s decision in 2025 to create the Department of Government Efficiency led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, which enacted mass firings and dissolved the U.S. Agency for International Development.
asserted
which → coincide → Development
Much of the increased leave cost — about $6.7 billion — came from salary paid through a DOGE-era “deferred resignation program,” GAO found.
asserted
GAO → increase → program
Nearly 140,000 federal employees opted into the program, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
uncertain
employees → opt → Management
It allowed for federal workers who agreed to quit in early 2025 to still be paid through September.
asserted
who → allow → September
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.
asserted
House → respond → report
The GAO report emphasized that its numbers were estimates, noting that OPM “does not know the actual costs of the paid administrative leave used for workforce reduction efforts, including the deferred resignation program.”
asserted
OPM → emphasize → program
“To calculate long-term savings, OPM needs to know short-term costs of paid administrative leave used for these efforts,” the report explained.
asserted
report → calculate → efforts
“However, OPM cannot easily and accurately do this because the paid administrative leave used for workforce reduction efforts is reported with other types of general paid administrative leave.”
asserted
leave → do → leave
The deferred resignation program was unveiled just days into Trump’s second term, and federal workers received a “Fork in the Road” email laying out their options.
asserted
workers → unveil → options
Musk, who had quickly risen to the highest echelons of power in the administration, had previously sent an email with the same subject line to X employees, where he reshaped the company’s workforce.
asserted
he → rise → workforce
At the time of the program’s announcement, then-White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that if federal workers “don’t want to work in the office and contribute to making America great again, then they are free to choose a different line of work, and the Trump Administration will provide a very generous payout of 8 months.”
During Trump’s second term, the federal workforce has lost more than 271,000 employees as of July, according to data published by OPM.
uncertain
workforce → say → OPM
The figure includes voluntary and involuntary departures.
asserted
figure → include → departures
The data indicates that between 2015, the earliest year provided, and 2025, when Trump took office again, the federal workforce grew every year.
asserted
workforce → indicate → office