Presidential Documents

Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 17 / Tuesday, January 28, 2025 / Presidential Documents 8247 

Memorandum of January 20, 2025 

Hiring Freeze 

Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies 

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the 

laws of the United States of America, I hereby order a freeze on the hiring 

of Federal civilian employees, to be applied throughout the executive branch. 

As part of this freeze, no Federal civilian position that is vacant at noon 

on January 20, 2025, may be filled, and no new position may be created 

except as otherwise provided for in this memorandum or other applicable 

law. Except as provided below, this freeze applies to all executive departments and agencies regardless of their sources of operational and programmatic funding. 

This order does not apply to military personnel of the armed forces or 

to positions related to immigration enforcement, national security, or public 

safety. Moreover, nothing in this memorandum shall adversely impact the 

provision of Social Security, Medicare, or Veterans’ benefits. In addition, 

the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) may grant exemptions from this freeze where those exemptions are otherwise necessary. 

Within 90 days of the date of this memorandum, the Director of the Office 

of Management and Budget (OMB), in consultation with the Director of 

OPM and the Administrator of the United States DOGE Service (USDS), 

shall submit a plan to reduce the size of the Federal Government’s workforce 

through efficiency improvements and attrition. Upon issuance of the OMB 

plan, this memorandum shall expire for all executive departments and agencies, with the exception of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This memorandum shall remain in effect for the IRS until the Secretary of the Treasury, 

in consultation with the Director of OMB and the Administrator of USDS, 

determines that it is in the national interest to lift the freeze. 

Contracting outside the Federal Government to circumvent the intent of 

this memorandum is prohibited. 

In carrying out this memorandum, the heads of executive departments and 

agencies shall seek efficient use of existing personnel and funds to improve 

public services and the delivery of these services. Accordingly, this memorandum does not prohibit making reallocations to meet the highest priority 

needs, maintain essential services, and protect national security, homeland 

security, and public safety. 

This memorandum does not limit the nomination and appointment of officials to positions requiring Presidential appointment or Senate confirmation, 

the appointment of officials to non-career positions in the Senior Executive 

Service or to Schedule A or C positions in the Excepted Service, the appointment of officials through temporary organization hiring authority pursuant 

to section 3161 of title 5, United States Code, or the appointment of any 

other non-career employees or officials if approved by agency leadership 

appointed by the President. Moreover, it does not limit the hiring of personnel 

where such a limit would conflict with applicable law. 


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8248 Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 17 / Tuesday, January 28, 2025 / Presidential Documents 

This memorandum does not abrogate any collective bargaining agreement 

in effect on the date of this memorandum. 

THE WHITE HOUSE, 

Washington, January 20, 2025 

[FR Doc. 2025–01905 

Filed 1–27–25; 8:45 am] 

Billing code 3395–F4–P 


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