The Beltway swamp hates it, but President Donald Trump is bound and determined to shrink the federal budget and its massive deficit, and to shrink the 2 million-plus federal workforce.
A score of liberal news outlets are all claiming that Trump’s directive to freeze certain federal spending was rescinded on Wednesday. Except, no such thing took place.
A memo from the Office of Management and Budget was pulled back, mainly because it was badly written.
Take the headline from the Washington Post, for example: “Trump White House rescinds order freezing federal spending, reversing course.”
But Mr. Trump’s executive order to put a hold on various grants, loans, and credits that have not yet been spent or dispersed continues to stand.
He still wants to freeze and then review funding for things like Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and the Green New Deal.
He is still going after the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act and a whole bunch of other programs that are based on some kind of status called “disadvantaged businesses or communities.”
DEI and affirmative action strike again, but they are both illegal. And the President is well within his executive authority.
In other words, he’s not pulling back. And it’s the executive order that counts.
Not to mention, all this could save close to $1 trillion in federal spending and deficits.
As far as shrinking the federal workforce, another Trump executive order provides a generous eight-month severance package to workers who want to resign, rather than work for the administration.
Once again, while the liberal media and the Washington swamp howl, Mr. Trump absolutely has the authority to do this under the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. Hat-tip to the Wall Street Journal editorial page for pointing this out.
The President can redesignate jobs if the role involves policymaking at any level, be it a Cabinet secretary or an assistant secretary or a mid-level career bureaucrat.
And Mr. Trump is restoring a job category known as “Policy/Career,” which was formerly known as “Schedule F”. Which allows him to say: if you disagree with my policy agenda, and you work against it, you’re fired.
Well, over 50,000 civil servants will have to deal with this. And over two million civil servants will have to figure out if they want to resign or not.
Odds are, 5 to 10% will resign. That alone could save taxpayers $100 billion.
If you want to stay in the game, you have to show up for work and toe the line for President Trump’s election mandate for policy change.
And don’t listen to any fake news.
