Several senators warn that a proposed Defense Department hiring freeze may not be the most effective means to cutting costs.
In a letter to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Sens. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, argued that current plans by the Pentagon to freeze the number of federal employees at fiscal 2010 levels could mean that service contractors would have to step in to perform new work, even if the work is "inherently governmental."
"Ensuring that essential department functions are performed by federal employees must be a part of the department's workforce management plan under any budget conditions," the letter states. "Certain federal jobs -- like reviewing contracts, making budgets and writing policies -- are simply too important to agencies' missions to ever be contracted-out."
The lawmakers also added that the Pentagon is legally required to ensure inherently governmental work is performed by federal employees and is prohibited from setting arbitrary head counts for its civilian workforce.
Are you an IT worker at Defense? What impact would the proposed hiring freeze have on your department, particularly if some of the more seasoned workers move into retirement?
Brittany Ballenstedt
Brittany Ballenstedt writes Nextgov's Wired Workplace blog, which delves into the issues facing employees who work in the federal information technology sector. Before joining Nextgov, Brittany covered federal pay and benefits issues as a staff correspondent for Government Executive and served as an associate editor for National Journal's Technology Daily. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Mansfield University and originally hails from Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Travis Air Force Base, Calif., where her husband is stationed.
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