Trump takes aim at federal bureaucracy with new executive orders rolling back civil-service protections

The following article by Lisa Rein was posted on the Washington Post website may 25, 2018:

President Trump signed three executive orders Friday aimed at overhauling the federal bureaucracy. Credit: Nicholas Kamm, AFP, Getty Images

President Trump moved Friday to roll back civil-service protections that federal employees have enjoyed for a generation, making it easier to fire poor performers, curtailing time employees can be paid for union work and directing agencies to negotiate tougher union contracts.

In three executive orders the president signed before the holiday weekend, Trump took his first significant steps toward fulfilling a campaign promise he made to overhaul a federal bureaucracy he told voters was awash in “waste, fraud and abuse.”

The changes have been championed by Republicans who have sought to rein in the size and reach of the federal bureaucracy of 2 million, which under Trump has been gradually shrinking through hiring freezes and unfilled vacancies. Continue reading “Trump takes aim at federal bureaucracy with new executive orders rolling back civil-service protections”