White House prepares for ‘maximum elimination’ of federal workers allowed by law
By Casey Harper
The Center Square
The White House sent a memo to several federal agencies telling them to prepare to reorganize and fire high quantities of workers.
The memo is the latest in Trump’s ongoing war against what he calls bloated federal “woke” policies, overregulation, and wasteful spending. About 75,000 federal workers took a buyout to leave their position, and a few thousand have been fired so far.
“The federal government is costly, inefficient, and deeply in debt. At the same time, it is not producing results for the American public,” reads the memo from Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Charles Ezell, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management.
OMB runs federal agencies for the White House. OPM acts like a human resources department for the federal government.
“Instead, tax dollars are being siphoned off to fund unproductive and unnecessary programs that benefit radical interest groups while hurting hardworking American citizens,” the memo continued.
Trump signed executive orders after taking office directing federal agencies to identify and eliminate wasteful spending. Agencies have until March 13 to prepare “agency reorganization plans.”
The memo says agencies should attempt to cut expenses, reduce its need for office space, and carry out a “significant reduction in the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) positions by eliminating positions that are not required.”
“Pursuant to the President’s direction, agencies should focus on the maximum elimination of functions that are not statutorily mandated while driving the highest-quality, most efficient delivery of their statutorily-required functions,” the memo said.
American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley, who leads the largest union of federal workers, blasted Trump after the news broke.
“Laying off potentially hundreds of thousands of federal workers will mean fewer services at higher costs for the American taxpayer,” Kelley said.
Kelley argued Americans will receive lower quality federal services with “no discernible savings for taxpayers.”
“This administration has targeted every single federal worker and does not seem to care how much turmoil they cause for either the employees or the American public,” she added. “The chaos is the point.”