Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) have introduced legislation aimed at cutting the federal workforce through attrition. The legislation, dubbed the “Reducing the Size of the Federal Government Through Attrition Act,” would aim to reduce the federal workforce by 10% through 2015. The expected savings would be $139 billion over the next ten years.
Johnson introduced S. 1611 on the Senate side while Mulvaney introduced H.R. 3029 on the House side.
Legislation aimed to make cuts in some fashion to the federal workforce has become a common occurrence, undoubtedly much to the dismay of federal employees. Just earlier this week, the President’s own deficit proposal outlined various changes that would potentially negatively impact federal employees’ retirement.
The idea of cutting the federal workforce through attrition is nothing new as we’ve seen a number of proposals in the last several months that contain this measure. The Deficit Commission recommended this as one of its cost savings cuts late last year, and Senator Tom Coburn’s (R-OK) “Back in Black” cost cutting proposal released over the summer recommended an even higher workforce cut through attrition (15%). More recently, the minority staff of the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia reaffirmed some of the cost cutting measures that had been released over previous months in other proposals, one of which was cutting the federal workforce by 10% through attrition as this legislation would do if enacted.
As always, nothing is set in stone until proposed legislation is passed by Congress and signed by the President. We will of course keep you up to date with the latest news on this or any other developments that could impact your federal career.
