Republican Congressmen Introduce Legislation to Reduce Size of Federal Workforce

Rep. Darrell Issa, (R-CA), Rep. Dennis Ross, (R-FL), and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, (R-UT) recently introduced legislation that would cut the federal workforce by 10 percent by 2015. H.R. 2114, the Reducing the Size of the Federal Government Through Attrition Act of 2011, would allow one federal employee to be hired for every three who retire or leave their job.

The bill is modeled after a recommendation from the President's Fiscal Commission, though it is slightly more aggressive. The Fiscal Commission recommendation called for two workers to be hired for every three who leave their job, and estimated that this would save $13.2 billion by 2015.

CRFB commends Reps. Issa, Ross, and Chaffetz for introducing legislation that would produce concrete savings and reduce the budget deficit. Hopefully more lawmakers will follow their example and start putting forth concrete proposals to improve our country's fiscal situation.