John Myers: “Mr. Chairman, I certainly support the thrust, the intention, the direction that we are talking about here, reducing in…”

“Mr. Chairman, I certainly support the thrust, the intention, the direction that we are talking about here, reducing in force the number of employees for the Federal Government. Nothing new about that. We have heard for years from our constituents that most of the agencies in the Federal Government are bloated. This may be true in some instances, but in some it is not. We all recognize the need to reduce the number of employees, thereby saving the taxpayers of this country unneeded expenditures. The way to go about it is where we have run into a difficulty through the years. We can do it through normal attrition if we have an agreement that they will not be replaced. There has been some of that going on in the last several administrations. There have been people who have retired, who have left employment, and all of them have not been replaced. However, there is another way. We can just simply fire them, RIF, kick them out. But that is not fair to the Federal employees, many of whom, most of whom, have dedicated their lives, and some have worked many, many years, and maybe just lack a few years in completing their service. To force them out of employ because we have decided that we no longer need them is not fair to those individuals who have given so much of their lives to the service of their Federal Government.”