Last year, when talking about the federal workforce, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said, “You can’t drain the swamp and leave all the people in it.”
This week, he released a Trump administration budget for fiscal 2019 that shows the White House expects to increase those it considers swamp dwellers. At the same time, the administration struck at federal labor unions that represent 60 percent of the government’s staffers.
Estimated employment levels for 2019 will be higher than those for 2017 and 2018, while maintaining just under 2.1 million civilian employees, according to the “Strengthening the Federal Workforce” budget appendix.
Although a temporary hiring freeze imposed by President Trump early in his term resulted in “substantial decreases” to workforces at the departments of Agriculture, Interior, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the administration projects higher staff levels at seven mostly security-related agencies, including the departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security and Commerce, which is gearing up for the 2020 Census.
