Peters, Heitkamp Urge GAO to Review Effect of Hiring Freeze on Government Spending

Press Release

U.S. Senators Gary Peters (MI), Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Federal Spending Oversight and Emergency Management, and Heidi Heitkamp (ND), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management sent a letter urging the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review the implementation of President Trump's hiring freeze for all federal civilian employees. Previous GAO reports have found that hiring freezes under the Carter and Reagan Administrations resulted in agencies compensating for personnel shortages by using contractors despite prohibitions to do so, costing taxpayers up to 60% more than the cost of using federal employees for the same work.

"While we applaud efforts to streamline government, ensure efficient operations and encourage good stewardship of taxpayer dollars, we are extremely concerned about the potential for increased government spending and waste under this freeze," wrote Peters and Heitkamp in their letter. "Across the board cuts and a shrinking of the total federal workforce are not the answer to making the federal government more efficient or effective."

In their letter, the Senators, who are charged with oversight of federal spending and the federal workforce, raised concerns that the hiring freeze could incentivize agencies to increase the use of contractors, increase operational costs and decrease efficiency, and do little to control the size of the federal workforce.

"GAO found that past government-wide hiring freezes hindered agency missions, caused inefficient staff utilization and clerical shortages, and resulted in lost revenue and uncollected debts," the Senators continued. "We simply cannot afford these potential shortfalls in our current government operations and our trusted public servants and constituents who rely on these services deserve much better."

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