Bill Seeks to Downsize Government

A Republic senator late last week introduced a bill that would reduce and limit the number of civilian federal workers to February 2009 levels.

The 2010 Reduce and Cap the Federal Workforce Act, introduced by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, would require the head of each government agency, except the CIA, FBI, Secret Service and Executive Office of the President, to report to the Office of Management and Budget the number of civilian employees within that agency on Feb. 16, 2009. If the current numbers are greater, then each agency, except the Defense and Homeland Security departments, would be required through attrition to reduce the number of employees back to 2009 levels.

The bill also would require OMB to disclose the total number of federal employees, the total number of federal employees in each agency and the salary of each federal employee.

Hatch said in a statement that from 1981 to 2008, civilian workers numbered between 1.1 million and 1.2 million. But the Obama administration is forecasting the government's total workforce this year to reach 2.15 million and serve 310 million Americans, he 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," Hatch said.

But are arbitrary cuts to the federal workforce useful, particularly for areas like information technology, where agencies are facing increasing demands for new workers?