AFGE is urging members of Congress to reject two bills pending in Congress that would kill nearly 400,000 jobs, undermine local economies, and waste taxpayer dollars.
In letters sent to members of the House of Representatives this week, AFGE Legislative and Political Director Beth Moten explained how H.R. 417 and H.R. 340 would kill 270,000 federal jobs and 120,000 defense civilian jobs respectively. The bills would not reduce the workload created by the growing population, making it impossible for agencies to carry out their missions and create safe, thriving communities. When agencies don’t have enough people to handle the work, they would be forced to hire contractors, who are two to three times more expensive than federal employees.
“The number of workers employed by the federal government is currently at an all-time low – less than 2 percent of the total U.S. workforce. The last time the number was this low Dwight Eisenhower was President,” writes Director Moten.
At DoD, the civilian workforce is already the smallest – and cheapest – of DoD’s three workforces of military personnel, civilians, and contractors.
The bill “is not just misguided policy which is utterly uninformed by the complicated realities of government and business, but it is also an unfair political attack on the working and middle class Americans who make up the civilian workforce,” Director Moten states.
Read the letters from Director Moten to members of Congress here and here.
