Bill Clinton: “You know, when I tell people that the Federal work force is over 200,000 smaller than it used to be--just folks, you…”

“You know, when I tell people that the Federal work force is over 200,000 smaller than it used to be--just folks, you know. When I go home and tell people that, they have a hard time believing it. But the reason is--there are two reasons for that. One is, we had the money to give humane severance programs to the people who left the Federal employment. That is, we gave them good early retirement packages or good early-out packages and time to work out a new education program or a new line of work. The other reason is that the people that are left are doing a better job. I mean, there's a dramatic increase in productivity of these Federal workers that are left. And I know it kind of contradicts a lot of people's preconception about the Government, but I think it's interesting that you can cut the Federal work force that much and literally nobody knows it hap- pened because there's been no undermining of the quality of service that these Federal employees have given. I think it's really--and I thank you for saying that about it. [A participant suggested a tax incentive for something other than a fixed asset, such as payroll taxes.]”