The Environmental Protection Agency’s workforce numbers are expected to drop to levels unseen since President Ronald Reagan was in office through an employee buyout program that kicks in this month, according to an agency official.
EPA unveiled its program to begin buying out employees in June to meet President Trump’s goal of reining in the agency’s budget. With combined buyouts and retirements, the EPA will go from an employee ceiling of 15,000 employees to 14,428. That is below the 14,440 employees at the agency seen in fiscal year 1988 when President Reagan was still in office, the official noted.
Last week, 362 employees accepted voluntary buyouts and another 12 employees retired, the official said. On top of that, another 33 employees are set to retire at the end of September and 45 other employees are considering buyout offers, the officials said.
The official explained that the agency is “incredibly top-heavy” and that 25 percent of current employees are eligible to retire with full benefits today. These employees are being encouraged to retire along with another 25 percent that can retire in the next five years, the official explained.
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in a statement that he is encouraging employees to retire early. “We’re giving long-serving, hard-working employees the opportunity to retire early,” he said. “We’re proud to report that we’re reducing the size of government, protecting taxpayer dollars and staying true to our core mission of protecting the environment and American jobs.”
With early retirements, the total number of employees let go could rise to around 3,000, which fits with Trump’s budget blueprint.
Meanwhile, senior House Republicans are asking Pruitt if the buyouts are going through the necessary oversight that the Obama administration had avoided when it bought out some employees three years ago.
House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders want to be briefed on the EPA buyout plan, according to a letter to Pruitt sent Tuesday evening. Reps. Greg Walden, R-OR, chairman of the energy committee, and Tim Murphy, R-PA, chairman of committee’s oversight panel, said they want to ensure that EPA’s goal of finalizing these buyouts this month acts in the best interest of the taxpayer, and are worried Trump might be using the same flawed process that Obama used.
The last round of buyouts made in 2014 did not go through proper channels for approval. The EPA Office of the Inspector General said that many of the positions the previous administration provided buyouts for were not eliminated, according to the letter.
“While EPA has made some progress improving the agency’s use of buyouts, given the lack of internal controls during the previous administration, the committee wants to ensure that the separation payments becoming effective in September 2017 are an efficient use of taxpayer money and are in compliance with [Office of Personnel Management] requirements,” according to the letter.
Walden and Murphy want to be briefed on the buyout process by Sept. 15. “We will respond to Chairman Walden through the proper channel,” an agency spokesman said.
