On the recordMarch 8, 2010
I am pleased to be joined by my good friend the senior Senator from Arizona, Mr. McCain, in introducing legislation to reduce the number of presidential political appointees. Specifically, the bill caps the number of political appointees at 2,000. When I previously introduced this legislation, the Congressional Budget Office estimates it would save $382 million over the next 5 years and over $872 over the next 10 years. The bill is based on recommendations of a number of distinguished panels, including the 1996 Twentieth Century Fund Task Force on the Presidential Appointment Process. The Task Force findings, which are still very relevant today, are part of a long line of recommendations that we reduce the number of political appointees in the Executive Branch. For many years, the proposal has been included in CBO's annual publication Reducing the Deficit: Spending and Revenue Options, and it was one of the central recommendations of the National Commission on the Public Service, chaired by former Federal Reserve Board Chairman and current economic advisor to President Obama, Paul Volcker.
