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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallThe “expires tomorrow” deadline belongs to a 2025 news story, not a current offer. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) says its Deferred Resignation Program (DRP) is closed. About 20,000 acceptances was an early estimate reported on February 4, 2025; OPM later said the program resulted in approximately 154,000 voluntary resignations.
What was the federal buyout offer?
On January 28, 2025, OPM emailed federal employees about a voluntary Deferred Resignation Program. It was commonly described as a buyout, but the offer was a deferred resignation arrangement: participating employees would generally keep their pay and benefits until their resignation date, rather than receive a one-time buyout payment. The usual separation date was September 30, 2025, though an employee could choose an earlier date. The offer said an employee could accelerate the date but generally could not extend it. OPM’s archived offer says the program is now closed.
Until separation, participants were to be exempt from applicable in-person-work requirements. Agencies could reassign or eliminate duties, reduce official duties, or place participants on paid administrative leave. The arrangement therefore did not guarantee that someone would continue doing their usual job while receiving pay.
Who could participate?
OPM described full-time federal employees as generally eligible, but eligibility depended on the position and employing agency. Exclusions included military personnel, Postal Service employees, immigration-enforcement and national-security positions, and other agency-designated roles; OPM’s FAQ also describes public-safety exclusions. The archived OPM FAQ gives the program’s terms and exclusions.
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Was acceptance mandatory, and could employees change their minds?
No employee was obligated to respond, according to OPM’s FAQ. The agency said an employee could ask to rescind an acceptance, but the agency would review the request and could deny it—for example, if the employee’s duties had already been reassigned or the employee had been placed on leave. Employees who missed the response deadline because of approved absence could ask their agency for an extension. Retirement eligibility could also affect how a resignation date worked for an individual employee, so the general offer terms did not replace agency-specific benefits guidance.
How the reported participation figures changed
The figures describe different moments in the program and come from different sources; they should not be treated as competing counts measured on the same basis.
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| Date and source | Reported figure | What it represents |
|---|---|---|
| February 4, 2025 — Axios, citing a senior administration official | About 20,000 | Early reported acceptances, described at the time as about 1% of the federal workforce. Axios’s report said the offer was then scheduled to remain open through Thursday. |
| February 6, 2025 — Associated Press relaying a White House official | 65,000 | A signup figure reported shortly before the original deadline, as a federal judge temporarily paused implementation and directed an extension pending a hearing. The AP report covered the pause and the administration’s reported count. |
| December 31, 2025 — Office of Personnel Management | Approximately 154,000 | OPM’s later rounded figure for voluntary resignations attributed to the DRP. OPM’s announcement reported the program result. |
The roughly 20,000 figure was an interim snapshot, not the final reported program total. The court pause and deadline extension occurred after that early report; the later OPM figure reflects the program’s eventual reported result.
What oversight reporting says about the cost
A 2026 Government Accountability Office (GAO) review of four payroll service providers found that government-wide paid administrative-leave workdays in its data rose 435% between 2023 and 2025. GAO estimated that agencies in its review spent $9.5 billion in salary costs on paid administrative leave in 2025, with $6.7 billion estimated as associated with the DRP. GAO’s review says these are estimates based on payroll data and assumptions, not a precise audited cost of the program. GAO also noted data limitations and said OPM did not know the actual costs of administrative leave used for workforce-reduction efforts.
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What the headline’s deadline means now
The original offer was sent January 28, 2025, and generally set September 30, 2025, as the resignation date. The February 2025 deadline was affected by a court pause and extension; it is not an open enrollment window today. OPM’s archived page explicitly marks the Deferred Resignation Program closed. The early February acceptance figure explains the headline’s original news peg, while OPM’s year-end announcement supplies the later approximate total.
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