13. Environmental Protection Agency · Major

Downsize EPA by terminating newest hires in low-value programs

Partially done

Printed page 422 13. Environmental Protection Agency

“Employee Review. Determine the opportunity to downsize by terminating the newest hires in low-value programs and identify relocation opportunities for Senior Executive Service (SES) positions.”

What has happened

Jul 18, 2025 Partially done
EPA's reduction in force and voluntary separations took the agency from 16,155 to about 12,448 employees, concentrated in ORD and the eliminated EJ/DEI offices — downsizing by program, though not limited to newest hires. No SES relocation plan was found.
- EPA Announces Reduction in Force, Reorganization Efforts to Save Taxpayers Nearly Three-Quarters of a Billion Dollars (EPA press release)
  Primary Executive branch Jul 18, 2025
- EPA Announces Next Phase of Organizational Improvements to Better Integrate Science into Agency Offices (EPA press release; RIF of ~280 EJ/DEI employees)
  Primary Executive branch May 2, 2025
Feb 14, 2025 Partially done
EPA terminated 388 probationary employees — its newest hires — after what a spokesperson called "a thorough review of agency functions"; fewer than half the probationary workforce. Court challenges to the government-wide probationary firings followed (and a district-court reinstatement order was stayed by the Supreme Court in April 2025); no EPA-specific order found on allowlisted sources.
- See which federal agencies are firing new hires (Government Executive; EPA fired 388 probationary employees)
  Secondary Executive branch Feb 14, 2025

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

No Primary source for the February 2025 probationary terminations was found: EPA issued no release, and the federal court records we keep and search (CourtListener) include no opinion naming EPA in the AFGE v. OPM (N.D. Cal.) or Maryland v. USDA (D. Md.) reinstatement litigation. The govexec figure stands alone as Secondary, which is allowed when no Primary source exists. Federal News Network’s report on the reinstatement order refused to open for us (https://federalnewsnetwork.com/hiring-retention/2025/03/federal-judge-orders-reinstatement-of-probationary-employees-targeted-by-mass-firings-at-most-agencies/ — lead).
The SES-relocation half of the ask is unaddressed in any source we accept as Evidence; hence partial.

Action: eliminate
Object: EPA staffing in low-value programs
ID: 1057