Democratic Virginia senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine took Jan. 24's Senate Committee on the Budget hearing as a chance to pillory Rep. Mick Mulvaney's over President Trump's federal hiring freeze.
Mulvaney, R-S.C. — the Trump administration's nominee as director of the Office of Management and Budget — was peppered repeatedly with questions about Trump's executive order halting federal hiring and his potential agenda for government employees.
"Why is the administration pitching the false view that federal workers are corrupt or beholden to special interests," Kaine pressed, referencing remarks Trump made as a candidate when he announced the hiring freeze in October.
Mulvaney demurred on the president's remarks, but disagreed with the assumption that all federal employees were corrupt.
When Kaine then queried the nominee on hypothetical impacts resulting from the freeze — including everything from potential Social Security backlogs and reduced veteran employment — Mulvaney blanched on the notion that the executive order would, with certainty, reduce the federal government's ability to provide services.
"I don’t think you’re wrong to be concerned about it, Senator," he said. "I don’t think it automatically follows that hiring more people will create more efficiency."
Among a flurry of executive orders signed by the newly-minted president, the hiring freeze drew a chorus of braying discontent from federal employee unions and congressmen upon its arrival.
Kaine and Warner, whose constituents are largely made up of federal employees, took Mulvaney to task for the freeze’s impact on the workforce, whose numbers are less than the heights of 3 million employees in the 1980s and early 1990s and who are rapidly approaching retirement age.
"Do you agree that if we’re going to recruit and retain the best workers — and they are going to have to do a job that is going to continue to be challenged, as we look at ways to get our budget into balance — how are we going to do that when we’ve got disparity between private and public sector payment, when we send these kind of messages about the value of federal workers on a going-forward basis," Warner said.
Mulvaney conceded that the government should do a better job recognizing "exemplary employees," but also posited that it should equally be able to address underperforming employees.
"And all I can say to you is that I look forward to figuring out a way to solve both ends of that problem," he said.
The committee also pressed Mulvaney on a range of other topics.
Social Security
One continued topic of discussion was Mulvaney’s plan for tackling Social Security costs. While the nominee pledged not to cut benefits for those currently enrolled in the program, he said as OMB director, he may possibly use a number of policy "levers," like increasing the eligibility limit, to cut costs.
"I’m not making my parents go back to work, they’re 74 years old," he said. "This is about trying to preserve those programs."
The OCO
Mulvaney agrees with the growing criticism of Congress’ use of the
Overseas Contingency Operations fund as a workaround to skirt defense budget cuts, calling it dishonest.
When pressed by Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., on the efficiency of the Pentagon's acquisition policy, the nominee said he "looked forward to doing more investigation and reforming there when possible."
Regulations
Mulvaney voiced his support for the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act, which calls for congressional approval of new major agency rules and said that OMB will pursue a rollback of current federal regulations.
"My very distinct impression from working with the transition team is that regulatory reform is going to be an absolute priority for this president," he said.
