On April 17 President Trump extended the hiring freeze he implemented on January 20 for an additional three months to July 15, 2025. The hiring freeze prohibits filling vacant federal civilian positions or creating new ones.

The hiring freeze applies to most agencies with exemptions for immigration enforcement, national security, and public safety. The freeze also prohibits contracting outside of the federal government.

The Department of Defense has exemptions for “mission-essential employees into positions that directly contribute to our warfighting readiness,” according to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Exemption authorities should be used “to sustain the workforce at readiness-centric facilities including, but not limited to, shipyards, depots, and medical treatment facilities,” Hegseth wrote.

However, the hiring freeze at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has been extended indefinitely, contingent on agreement from the Secretary of the Treasury, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the Administrator of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to lift it.

When the hiring freeze expires, agencies “will be able to hire no more than one employee for every four employees that depart from federal service,” according to the presidential memorandum. It is part of a larger effort to “drain the swamp and end ineffective government programs.”