HATCH INTRODUCES BILL TO REDUCE FEDERAL EMPLOYEES TO 2009 LEVELS

August 5th, 2010 Press Release

WASHINGTON –Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) introduced legislation today aimed at cutting the bloated federal government down to size. The Reduce and Cap the Federal Workforce Act
would reduce and limit the number of civilian federal workers to February 2009 levels.

“If we are to get our deficit under control, we need to rein in the runaway growth of our federal government,” Hatch said. “Simply put, the federal government is growing at breakneck speed and it is time to apply the brakes before it bankrupts the nation and the taxpayers. My bill is a commonsense approach to putting a halt to big government.”

Hatch said the numbers show why his legislation is needed. In 2008, there were 1.2 million civilian workers. In 2010, that number jumps to 1.43 million federal workers.

“That’s a 20 percent increase since 2008,” Hatch said. “In 1974, former President Gerald Ford said: ‘A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.’ Today, we have an administration that seems hell bent on doing just that. That is unacceptable.”

The legislation would require the following:

• Three months after enactment, the head of each government agency – other than the CIA, FBI, Secret Service and Executive Office of President – will report the number of civilian employees within that agency on Feb 16, 2009, to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
• If the number of employees is greater than existed on Feb 16, 2009, then each agency (except the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security) must, through attrition, reduce the number of employees to Feb. 16, 2009, levels
• Once the number of employees reaches Feb 16, 2009, levels, the head of each agency must ensure that those numbers remain the same. Thus, a hiring of a full time employee would require the reduction of another employee.
• The OMB would publicly disclose the total number of federal employees, the number of federal employees in each agency, and the salary of each federal employee.
• The Director of National Intelligence can exclude any employee from the above requirements if the director determines that such a disclosure would pose a threat to national security.
Hatch’s bill legislation is supported by the American Conservative Union, Americans for Limited Government and Americans for Tax Reform .

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