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A furlough won't work because why would federal workers vote for a plan that will slice their pay?
Same goes for freezing pay.
You can't cap the number of workers because Congress (both the Repubs and the Demos) are against shrinking government (oh, the GOP talks about that but never actually does anything about it).
Same goes for hiring "1 for 2".
The only plan that would fly is cutting appointees.
A better plan is to simply to tie pay to performance.
The firing rate held at 0.46 percent of the workforce in both fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2014 — the lowest rate in 10 years.
The private sector fires nearly six times as many employees — about 3.2 percent — according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and whether the government fires too few people or just not the right people is the subject of continued debate.
Do what any household does: prioritize spending from top to bottom. At the top would be things like food, shelter & clothing; bottom is starbucks, cable, eating out, etc.
Once we have prioritized, simply start cutting from the bottom, and keep going until income=outlay.
Stupid choices. Sorry, I won't play this silly game.
I will however offer a better solution.
Audit every single fed program by a BRAC type panel and determine if that program is worth borrowing money to pay for it.
If not cancel the program.
If any Agency looses over 50% of its programs abolish the Agency.
Paying the same taxes that the American Taxpayer (their employers) have to pay is not "stupid".
Any Federal Employee that is in arrears with the IRS should have a set amount of time (no longer than 3 months) to either pay their Tax Bill OR agree to wage garnishment.
That said - I'm in total agreement with a BRAC type panel and a Sunset Law for ALL Government Programs. We have this at the State Level in Texas and it's wonderful.
Implement term limits, for all politicians. No one should be a career politician. And voters clearly cannot be trusted to choose what's best. IMO, term limits eliminates a career of pols lining their pockets from lobbyists and corporate interests. It would also help eliminate Alzheimer's patients and thieves like Rangel from our Gov't.
What do politicians have to do with the federal workforce? It's like asking a question about dessert and having someone answer "steak."
A furlough won't work because why would federal workers vote for a plan that will slice their pay?
Same goes for freezing pay.
You can't cap the number of workers because Congress (both the Repubs and the Demos) are against shrinking government (oh, the GOP talks about that but never actually does anything about it).
Same goes for hiring "1 for 2".
The only plan that would fly is cutting appointees.
A better plan is to simply to tie pay to performance.
Not following your logic. Federal workers don't get a vote on issues like furloughs. If the House and Senate fail to pass an appropriations bill, there is no funding available to pay employees. The only remedy is to furlough employees until such time as an appropriations bill is passed into law making funds available to pay the employees. In 2013, due to sequestration and the lapse in appropriations Depart of Defense employees were furloughed for 11 days. The DoD employees effected didn't get a vote in the process.
Same for the pay freeze. That already happened for a three year period. (2011-2013) Federal workers pay was frozen for all three years, no cost of living increases. Finally in 2014, and again in 2015 fed workers received a meager 1% increase each year. The widening pay gap between federal and private sector employees grew larger over the three year freeze. Hard to attract the best and brightest to government employment when they realize they will likely be making half of what they could make in a comparable position in the private sector.
It is certainly possible to cap the number of workers, so long as you make each cap agency specific.
Appointees are the low hanging fruit. They serve at the pleasure of the Executive Branch and can be let go at any time.
I agree with linking pay to performance. The DoD was transforming from the standard General Schedule system to the National Security Personnel System beginning in 2006. The new system directly linked pay with performance and did away with time based step increases. Those that underperformed didn't receive pay increases and filed complaints, and sadly, the system was repealed. That, in my opinion, is the main problem with federal employment. The loudest voices are those of the marginal to poor performers. That is what needs to be fixed. Get rid of the dead wood. Remove all those just collecting a paycheck. The problem is that requires moral courage and the ability to weather the criticism and complaints of those marginal performers and make the decisions stick and pass through the reviews of the Merit Systems Protection Board reviews, and all that requires a level effort that has sadly been shown to be lacking
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