Most of the OMB will remain on the job as hundreds of thousands of government workers are sent home across the country.
The Trump administration is sparing DOGE and much of the Office of Management and Budget amid a government shutdown that has furloughed tens of thousands of government workers across the country.
A third of White House staff will be sent home during the shutdown, according to a contingency plan posted online Thursday.
The plan, dated Sept. 30, shows that 554 of the Executive Office of the President’s 1,733 staff will be furloughed, while 1,179 employees would stay on the job as Congress remains at an impasse over a spending plan.
Those retained at the White House are considered “excepted” because they perform emergency functions, are presidentially appointed, are Senate confirmed staff or are otherwise exempt from furlough under federal law.
The document indicates that 119 people, including all 45 DOGE officials and 49 OMB staff, are exempt from the shutdown because their compensation comes from a source other than annual appropriations.
A breakdown of the furloughs reveals sharp differences across agencies within the White House complex.
OMB, which is led by Russ Vought — the Project 2025 architect who has played a major role in the administration’s response to the shutdown —- will keep 437 of its 530 employees.
The Office of Administration, which oversees much of the White House’s internal operations, will retain 177 employees but furlough 91. The office of the U.S. Trade Representative will keep more than 200 staffers at work, reflecting its role in ongoing trade negotiations — a priority of President Donald Trump.
DOGE, which gained notoriety in the early days of the second Trump administration for imposing wholesale cutbacks on the federal workforce, is one of the few offices in the Executive Office of the President untouched by the shutdown. That stands in contrast to smaller offices like the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which will furlough 48 of its 56 staff.
The White House emphasized in its plan that Trump and Vice President JD Vance would continue to be supported in executing core presidential functions, including national security and foreign policy. Employees deemed necessary will also support cybersecurity operations, pandemic monitoring and the distribution of mandatory spending under laws like the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed under former President Joe Biden.