A group of House Democrats is pressing the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for answers on delays in federal retirement processing following the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program (DRP) and other workforce reduction policies.
In a Dec. 22 letter sent to OPM Director Scott Kupor, the Democrats, led by Rep. James Walkinshaw, D-Va., raises concerns over the “enormous strain” placed on the federal retirement system.
“This foreseeable and avoidable administrative failure is the clear result of an Administration that has prioritized a purge of the federal civil service over government efficiency, leaving thousands of federal employees in administrative and financial limbo,” the letter says.
The letter comes in response to recent reporting that revealed many retiring federal employees are facing significant delays on their applications, and some have been waiting months for their retirement payments to kick in.
“This surge of applications caused by the Administration’s policies has now overwhelmed agency HR offices and payroll providers before many cases even reach OPM, a bottleneck the Administration should have anticipated and planned for if it were serious about efficiency,” the letter notes.
Walkinshaw sent the letter alongside Reps. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Don Beyer, D-Va., Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., and Kweisi Mfume, D-Md., ranking member of the Subcommittee on Government Operations.
The Democrats are asking OPM to answer several questions, including what guidance OPM has provided to agencies to ensure that retiring employees who lost access to their government email can communicate with HR offices.
They also want to know what steps OPM is taking to address retirement applications that remain stalled at agencies or payroll providers, how OPM is assessing the impact of agency HR staffing reductions on retirement processing delays, and how OPM is tracking and accounting for delays that occur at agencies and payroll providers.
Additionally, they are asking which agencies have “wholly adopted and launched” OPM’s new Online Retirement Application for their HR teams and workforce.
The lawmakers asked for a response from OPM by Jan. 29, 2026. According to reporting from Federal News Network, Kupor sent a response to the Democrats on Dec. 30.
Kupor touted the benefits of the new Online Retirement Application, while saying that outdated systems are to blame for the current challenges HR employees are facing.