Freshman Rep. Ted Budd, R-N.C., introduced new legislation this week that would require the federal government to name all the “nonessential” people it employs during the next government shutdown.
When federal appropriations lapse, the government partially shuts down, and it usually directs departments and agencies to tell essential workers to show up, and tell nonessential workers to stay home.
Budd’s bill would require each department and agency to tell the Office of Management and Budget the name of every employee who was furloughed in the next shutdown, and their job description. It would also require information about the rates of pay for these nonessential workers.
Budd said the aim of the bill is to show how big the government has grown over the years, and how many “nonessential” workers it employs. Once implemented, the bill would give the government a good sense of how many employees are nonessential, their names, and the total salary of these workers.
“It’s irresponsible for Congress to allow government operations to shut down, but in the event this does happen, many federal employees are deemed ‘nonessential’ and are told to stay home,” Budd said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “The Essential Act would increase government transparency by requiring each federal agency to submit to the Office of Management & Budget the names, salaries and job descriptions of the employees they’ve determined to be ‘non-essential.'”
During the three-day shutdown in January, departments told thousands of people to stay home.
For example, the Commerce Department told more than 40,000 workers not to report, and the Defense Department told about 375,000 workers not to come in.
The Department of Health and Human Services told half of the 82,000 people on staff to stay home, and the Departments of Labor and Transportation saw even larger portions of their staffs remain at home.
Read Budd’s bill here:
