Trump Will Lift the Federal Hiring Freeze but Many Jobs Likely to Remain Unfilled

[Zippyjuan]

http://fortune.com/2017/04/12/trump-federal-hiring-freeze-jobs/


The federal government hiring freeze implemented by President Donald Trump as one of his first acts in office will be lifted Wednesday. But budget director Mick Mulvaney says many jobs will remain unfilled as the White House embarks on a government-wide effort to overhaul the executive branch and significantly reduce its work force.

Mulvaney told reporters Tuesday at a White House briefing that the move was part of the president's campaign pledge to "drain the swamp" in Washington and save taxpayers money.

"It does not mean that the agencies will be free to hire willy-nilly," he said. "What we're doing tomorrow is replacing the across-the-board hiring freeze that we put into place on Day One in office and replacing it with a smarter plan, a more strategic plan, a more surgical plan."
The president signed a memorandum in January freezing large portions of federal government hiring, barring the military and positions deemed necessary for national security and public safety. As part of the memorandum, Trump gave the Office of Management and Budget 90 days to come up with a long-term plan to reduce the federal government's size.

While the guidance to be issued Wednesday does not contain agency-specific hiring goals or limits, Mulvaney said that agencies targeted with significant budget cuts in Trump's first budget proposal, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, would be expected to make significant cuts to their workforces. Agencies that Trump wants to spend more on, like the Department of Veterans Affairs, would be expected to see their payrolls rise.
Trump's budget blueprint calls for a 6 percent increase in VA funding, mostly to pay for rising health costs to treat veterans. The VA is one of three agencies slated for more money amid big-time cuts to other domestic programs.

[Zippyjuan]

Related: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/donald-trump-white-house-staff-vacancies-237081


Why the Trump administration has so many vacancies

The process is bogged down by the involvement of top White House officials, turf wars and an inexperienced and overworked staff.

Hundreds of key jobs across the federal government remain vacant as a result of an overworked White House personnel office that is frustrating Cabinet secretaries and hampering President Donald Trump’s ability to carry out his ambitious legislative agenda.

The process is bogged down as a result of micromanaging by the president and senior staff, turf wars between the West Wing and Cabinet secretaries and a largely inexperienced and overworked staff, say more than a dozen sources including administration insiders, lobbyists, lawyers and Republican strategists.

Trump personally oversees the hiring process for agency staff by insisting on combing through a binder full of names each week and likes to sign off on each one, according to two people with knowledge of the administration’s hiring process. Also weighing in on the names — and not always agreeing on final picks — are leaders of sometimes warring factions, including chief of staff Reince Priebus, senior strategist Steve Bannon, Cabinet secretaries and, sometimes, the White House’s top lawyer, Don McGahn.

“It’s like a medieval court,” said one person advising potential nominees through the confirmation process. “The White House meets once a week to go over personnel in some attempt to create uniformity, but in this White House, you just have to smile at that. … It’s hard to impose uniformity among the White House’s different coalitions.”

The only uniformity is that potential hires must show fealty to the president. One person close to the White House said a sense of “paranoia” has taken over amid fears that disloyal hires might undercut Trump’s agenda or leak to the press.

All of this adds up to unusual pressure on the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, which is charged with filling thousands of jobs throughout the federal government, according to former personnel staffers from the administrations of Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

The top-heavy decision-making has put the Trump White House behind other West Wings in filling out the ranks of the federal government. Of the 553 key appointments that require Senate approval, the White House has formally nominated 24 people and 22 have been confirmed, according to data from the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service — to say nothing of the thousands of slots that don't require confirmation.

By comparison, Obama had 54 people confirmed by April 7; Bush, 32; and Bill Clinton, 44.

“Not having the people in the agency offices means it’s harder to do different or new things,” said Clay Johnson, who ran the personnel office under Bush. “If you want to keep on keeping on, the career staff can do that.”

The White House disputes that its process is flawed and said the president weighs in only on Senate-confirmable positions.

“We didn’t come with the same type of bench that other presidents come in with,” said one senior White House official, referring to Trump’s lean campaign staff. “We’re being more deliberative and selective to make sure our hires are in line with the president’s objectives. I would not say we are slow. We are making progress.”

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

The process is bogged down by the involvement of top White House officials, turf wars and an inexperienced and overworked staff.



"Turf wars?" "Overworked?" What a totally amateurish and laughable article.

Got any more crap posting for the sake of it on here?

[TheCount]

I guess the budget-cutting is over. I assume the national debt has been paid off?

[Zippyjuan]

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/trump-vacancies-executive-branch-237149


Trump blames vacancies on 'lousy process'

President Donald Trump blamed the rampant understaffing across the government’s executive branch on the “lousy process” of confirmations and told Fox Business that he is being unfairly blamed for a system that is outside his control.

“I am waiting right now for so many people. Hundreds and hundreds of people. And then they’ll say why isn't Trump doing this faster?’ You can't do it faster because they're obstructing. They're obstructionists,” Trump said in an interview that aired Wednesday morning. “So I have people, hundreds of people, that we’re trying to get through. I mean, you see the backlog. Can't get them through.”




Contrary to Trump’s claim that he has “hundreds and hundreds of people” awaiting confirmation, the White House had, as of April 7, put forward just 24 nominations for the 533 key posts that require Senate approval. Of those 24 nominees, 22 have been confirmed.

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

You assume that incomplete/disordered government is automatically and always a bad thing? Leave the spots vacant long enough and you see just how easily you can get by without so much government.

The progressive mindsets are the often the first to whine when there's the threat of "government shutdown." They cower when their nanny government disappears for a time. Just like a baby cries when its mommy leaves. So it figures that Zip and TheCount would be the first ones to comment on this.

[Jan2017]

Maybe this will be a part of orange baloney's press conference scheduled in about a half hour - 4pm ET.
I'm already having something much better for lunch btw.

[phill4paul]

The federal government hiring freeze implemented by President Donald Trump as one of his first acts in office will be lifted Wednesday.

Well, erase that check mark out of the "positive" category. Lol.