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Trump Signs Executive Orders on Federal Hiring Freeze, TPP Withdrawal
President Trump signed three executive orders on Monday morning that cancel an agreement for a far-reaching trade deal with Asia, start a hiring freeze for many federal government positions, and reinstitute an intermittent policy that prevents federal family-planning money from being sent to international organizations that discuss or perform abortion services.
The executive order ending the United States’ participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership was symbolic, as the deal was unlikely to make it through Congress.
Meanwhile, the federal hiring freeze could have a larger impact, although it is uncertain which departments are exempted. Similar measures in the past have led to increased use of contractors at higher cost to taxpayers.
Trump’s order says “no vacant positions existing at noon on January 22, 2017, may be filled and no new positions may be created, except in limited circumstances.”
In 1982, the Government Accountability Office said freezes under Presidents Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter were “ineffective in managing federal employment.” That report said the previous freezes “disrupted agency operations, and in some cases, increased costs to the Government.”
American Federation of Government Employees President J. David Cox Sr. said, “President Trump’s federal hiring freeze will result in more government waste as agencies are forced to hire high-priced contractors to do the work that federal employees can and should be doing.”
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