Say, which political party is it that believes in limited government again? Couldn’t be the GOP now, could it? I think perhaps a long time ago this was so, but today they are just an embarrassing bureaucracy blob that shifts wherever the donor winds tell them too, completely unchained from any principle except self benefit.
This was made abundantly clear after 21 House Republicans threw a hissy fit over President Trump’s recently signed executive orders that make it easier to fire poorly performing federal workers and saves taxpayer dollars from going to union related activities.
Earth to Republicans, our government is too big, bloated and inefficient and no longer works in the best interest of Americans. Reforms need to be made and an obvious start would be to get rid of employees who just are not, and probably never have been, cutting the mustard in taxpayer funded jobs. An immediate cut off of tax payer dollars to unions is needed too, but this is probably too much to ask for, so let’s start with the minimal reductions outlined on the EO’s.
Oh the Congressmen claim of course to be concerned the new orders mess with “the longstanding federal labor statutes that protect America’s civil service from discrimination, unfair treatment and sexual harassment,” so let’s take a look at what they actually mean.
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- The first one makes it easier to fire a bad worker by reducing the Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) process, which is a last ditch chance for federal workers flagged for removal to improve themselves. This timeframe can run between 60 and 120 days, but the EO makes it a flat 30 day government wide mandate. Imagine, the horror of having only 30 days to convince your manager not to fire you! Pardon me while I reach for my tiny violin. Most of us in the private sector get 0 days warning, 30 would be a luxury.
- The next one tightens up how government funds are spent by limiting the amount of time federal employees can be paid doing union work while on the government clock. Wait, we currently allow taxpayer money for this? Please, this EO is long overdue and even then it doesn’t go far enough with its 25% cutoff time.
- The third one reduces the window of time for labor contract bargaining between government and the unions and requires those contracts to be posted on line to promote transparency. Again nothing shocking here. With the federal government having paid $16 million in salaries for union negotiators in 2016 this EO is a no brainer.
The Government Accountability Office reports that it takes between six months and a year to fire a federal worker flagged for misconduct, plus an average of eight more months to resolve appeals. Millions, probably billions of taxpayer dollars get eaten up by this process as well as for paying people doing union related work and dealing with labor contract bargaining.
It’s all in drastic need of an overhaul and Trump’s executive orders are a step in the right direction. The House Republicans protesting this are blatantly choosing unions over the American people. It’s kind of gross they are not even trying to hide this.
To read their letter asking President Trump to rescind the Executive Orders, go here. It provides a handy listing of names too so don’t by shy about letting them know what you think.
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Good topic as always Tricia!
About five years ago I wrote my Congressman and both Senators a letter with the title “We can no longer afford this government”. I sited many of the bloated projects and cost overruns etc. Of course I get a canned letter back pointing out their “efforts” to curb spending. Yeah right!
Federal workers should NOT be allowed to unionize. Civil service is a birds nest on the ground for any lazy sob to sop up taxpayer dollars all the while not hitting a lick and then drawing a great retirement. The system is very broken and President Trump is finally doing something about it.
All these establishment so called” republicans” are either retiring or getting voted out in their primaries, but it will take a while to “drain the swamp”!
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I so agree, there should be no unions involved with government employees, as it leaves the door swung wide open for corruption and there is 0 incentive for accountability with tax payers of course holding the bag.
Good for you for trying to write your Congressmen though! I can’t stand those canned responses, it just boils the blood more.
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Wow! Hadn’t seen that. I’m beginning to believe no one really wants to cut back the bloated federal bureaucracy.
Thanks for speaking out.
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It’s got a life of its own now, really depressing. Seriously if Republicans can’t uniformity agree on going after low hanging government reform fruit like this, we’re doomed.
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Agreed, Tricia. But it goes way beyond federal workers. Unionized public workers at the state and local level are highly protected on the job -think not, try and get rid of a poorly performing employee at the state, county or local level. Details are usually required to be documented for up to/possibly exceeding a year, before action can be taken. School teachers and other public employees included. Even w/ verified documentation, there is still the appeals process which can drag on for months before the person is fired.
Almost all the employees currently in unions, are in government jobs. There’s very few private sector union members, and fewer every year… a trend over the past couple of decades.
And of course the unions donate millions to political candidates and committees every year – ‘you scratch our back and we’ll scratch yours.’ And guess which party gets most of those donations?
There is some ongoing litigation challenging unions ability to force employees to pay dues against their will. I think the unions will eventually get hammered on that one -way past due!
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You’re right Mike, it goes way beyond federal and it’s a big, big problem. And I’m not saying all govt workers are bad either, Lord knows I personally know plenty of good ones. It’s just the system is completely tilted towards corruption with the unions like you said donating to politicians who in turn negotiate their benefits. Things cannot continue along this way for much longer!
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I didn’t mean to imply all gov’t. workers are bad, but for those that are -my statement stands. Thanks!
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Oh I didn’t think you implied that at all. I agree with your statements!
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Will someone please pull the plug and put us out of their misery…!!!
This as I’m writing my post for tomorrow regarding the latest idiocy coming out of Hollywood regarding our President…
If it isn’t entertainers, it’s politicians—we the people can’t seem to catch a break!
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No kidding Julie, enough is enough! Sometimes I unplug for awhile and ignore the news, but I also like to stay informed which makes it impossible to avoid stories like these. Aaargh!
Can’t wait to read your post tomorrow. Although should I wear my outrage prevention outfit?
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Me too Tricia— hence why tomorrow’s post— oh the vicious cycle 😖
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‘Tricia – You GO, girl… WOW! I loved this one ! !
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Well thank you Mister Took! How is Mrs. Took doing these days?
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If there was ever a testimonial for having business people versus politicians running this government, Trump is it. Of course these career politicians are against it, they see the house falling down around them. If they really cared about the people they represent and not just their own munificence, they would pass term limit laws. Don’t hold your breath though.
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Amen to that Al. I’ve tried holding my breath waiting for politicians to do the right thing. It never ends well!
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Did you have the hip surgery yet?
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Not until July 17th. Still doing pre-op workouts. Thanks for checking on me.
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Trump looks better all the time. Perfect he isn’t, but he is one of the best presidents we have had in a long time.
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I’m not sure I’d agree with you on Trump being one of our best presidents Tom, but yes, he has been doing some very good things.
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Well, at this point we would have to go back to Ronald Reagan to top Trump. That’s skipping over four presidents and almost 30 years.
We can only hope and pray, but if Trump keeps it up and enough of us support him well, God may bless more than we deserve.
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Very true!
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Tricia, thank you for your blog post.Really thank you! Awesome.
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