US President Donald Trump
Credit: Reuters Photo
President Donald Trump on Thursday extended a hiring freeze across the federal government's civilian workforce to July 15.
The pause, which Trump ordered in the first hours upon returning to office in January, had been set to end Sunday.
The freeze applies to agencies across the executive branch, but not to the military or jobs related to public safety, national security or immigration enforcement, according to the White House. Positions in the White House are also exempt.
The president's directive extending the freeze said that "nothing in this memorandum shall adversely impact the provision of Social Security, Medicare or veterans' benefits." But it did not describe specific exemptions for the Social Security Administration, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or the Veterans Affairs Department, all of which have been targeted for layoffs.
"In carrying out this memorandum, the heads of agencies shall seek efficient use of existing personnel and funds to improve public services and the delivery of those services," the memo said.
The hiring pause has been in effect as Elon Musk and his government-cutting initiative, the Department of Government Efficiency, have been culling the federal workforce, eliminating tens of thousands of jobs.
Tara M. Sinclair, an economics professor at George Washington University who previously worked at the Treasury Department, said agencies such as the Social Security Administration, which has had its staffing cut by at least 5% under Trump, could be damaged.
"I don't think it's realistic," Sinclair said of the memo's promise that benefits would not be affected. "I haven't seen any clear evidence that they've found ways of being more efficient in terms of the provision of those benefits. It takes a lot of people. These are very complicated programs."
With the hiring freeze in force, she said, the government cannot bring in people with "skills to embrace these new technologies and to make these efficiency improvements."
The White House did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Concerns about the future of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid have driven protests against the president and Republican lawmakers. And former President Joe Biden, in his first extended public comments since leaving the White House, said Tuesday that the Trump administration was "taking a hatchet" to the Social Security Administration.
Trump has asked the Office of Management and Budget to submit a comprehensive plan by Sunday to reduce the size of the government workforce.
The office is led by Russell T. Vought, an architect of Project 2025, the conservative policy playbook that Trump distanced himself from during last year's presidential campaign but has since adopted many elements of.
The memo issued Thursday gave Vought the power to grant individual exemptions to the hiring freeze.