Interior outlines additional positions for potential elimination

David Jordan, CQ-Roll Call on Oct 20, 2025

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WASHINGTON — The Interior Department plans to terminate over 2,000 employees across five government workers unions, according to a Monday court filing.

The department provided updated numbers after it was ordered by a federal judge to include additional information for three additional unions — the National Federation of Federal Employees, Service Employees International Union and the National Association of Government Employees — after they joined a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

The department’s breakdown of its planned job cuts also shows the largest number — more than 770 — would land in the secretary’s office, including 229 working in customer service and another 129 working in the communications office.

The Bureau of Land Management would face 474 cuts, 386 of which are in various states offices. The department filing said 335 positions at the U.S. Geological Survey would be cut, including 108 jobs at the USGS’ Great Lakes Science Center. The National Park Service follows with 203 planned cuts, 189 of which land in the Southeast, the Northeast and the Pacific West regional offices.

The lawsuit was originally filed by the American Federation of Government Employees and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The Interior Department’s filing on Friday, which only included these two unions, said it would eliminate 1,539 positions.

The department also said it has paused all work on reductions in force to comply with a temporary restraining order preventing all federal departments and agencies from carrying out firings during the government shutdown.

The department reiterated its previous declaration that the reduction plans predated the government shutdown that began with the lapse of appropriations on Oct. 1. The department had considered large-scale layoffs earlier this year, but plans were halted after an earlier court challenge. The Supreme Court said in July the department could move forward with the firings.

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