The chair of the Senate federal workforce subcommittee has said a GOP proposal to implement a hiring freeze on federal employees would wind up costing more in the long run by increasing the government’s reliance on contractors.
Federal employees are caught in the crossfire in the debate about the size and role of the federal government heating up before congressional elections. A related debate centers on question about the ratio of contractors and federal employees in the federal workforce.
Lest some of the debate rhetoric make federal employees question whether they are valued, Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, went on record recently praising federal workers, including saying that they are "hard working, talented people," deserving of "gratitude and respect.”
Under Obama there has been a greater emphasis on "rebalancing” the federal workforce by slowing the growth in contracting, focusing on maintaining critical competencies and institutional knowledge in-house and even in-sourcing.
The hiring freeze would extend to all non-security positions. One version of the proposal would require agencies to reduce their workforces to the level they were at in 2009 and maintain them there.
