# An $11 billion price tag gets attention. Understanding what government lost in the process may take a lot longer

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-federal-drive-with-terry-gerton-504783/an-11-billion-price-tag-gets-attention-understanding-what-government-lost-in-the-process-may-take-a-lot-longer
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-federal-drive-with-terry-gerton-504783/an-11-billion-price-tag-gets-attention-understanding-what-government-lost-in-the-process-may-take-a-lot-longer.md
Podcast: [The Federal Drive with Terry Gerton](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-federal-drive-with-terry-gerton-504783)
Published: 2026-07-29T11:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://mgln.ai/e/345/rss.art19.com/episodes/d71c41c7-b478-4784-82f9-6e7b7d4efc36.mp3?rss_browser=BAhJIg90cmFuc2NyaWJyBjoGRVQ%3D--952c5701c84ad333c69d5faa668f8177091704f0
Audio file: https://mgln.ai/e/345/rss.art19.com/episodes/d71c41c7-b478-4784-82f9-6e7b7d4efc36.mp3?rss_browser=BAhJIg90cmFuc2NyaWJyBjoGRVQ%3D--952c5701c84ad333c69d5faa668f8177091704f0
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Duration seconds: 889

## Resource

Public Citizen has released a new analysis estimating that the deferred resignation program will cost taxpayers at least $11 billion. The report examines where that money went and what agencies may have lost as experienced employees left government service. That degraded mission performance is something much harder to put a price tag on. Here to walk through the analysis is Doug Pasternak, research director of Public Citizen’s Trump Accountability Project. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

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