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Donald Trump orders freeze of federal employee hiring, excluding military Donald Trump orders freeze of federal employee hiring, excluding military
(about 7 hours later)
Donald Trump issues three executive orders on Monday morning including one that freezes the hiring of federal employees as well as pay raises, excluding the US military. Donald Trump issued an executive order Monday morning that froze the hiring of federal workers with the exception to national security employees.
The decision makes good on his presidential campaign. At a news conference, White House press secretary Sean Spicer explained that the order will prevent vacant, nonmilitary positions from being filled and would only allow the creation of new positions to meet “national or public security responsibility.”
This story is developing check back for updates. He added that the order will counter the “dramatic expansion of the federal workforce in recent years.” This statement is misleading and inaccurate. In May 2014, there were nearly 2.7 million federal employees, and in December of last year, there were 2.8 million workers—a 3 percent increase, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The freeze likely plays well with Trump supporters as the order makes good on his campaign’s “Contract With the American Voter,” which promises to “clean up the corruption and special interest collusion in Washington DC.”
Jeffrey Neal, a former personnel chief for the Department of Homeland Security tells The Washington Post that the “main benefit of a hiring freeze to a new administration is that it gives them a chance to freeze things in place and get their own people in place. As far as saving money, hiring freezes are not big dollar savers.”
He also said the order probably won't have a large impact on the size of the federal workforce unless early-retirement and severance incentives were also frozen.