Tag: federal government

Exclusive Harlan Hill Commentary: Trump Just Turned the Tide in Washington with Three Simple Statements

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by Harlan Hill   The only adult in Washington just stood up and put an end to the nonsense. In President Trump’s Friday afternoon address from the White House garden, he put an end to the government shutdown and laid out the terms for the border negotiations going forward. #1 Put and end to the government shutdown In one quick declaration, President Trump put an end to the suffering so many Americans who were facing during the longest government shutdown in history. “I am very proud to announce we have reached a deal to end the shutdown and reopen the federal government,” he said. He thanked the incredible men and women who faced hardship over the past few weeks. “You are fantastic people,” he added. President Trump showed the compassion so many Democrats were lacking in the heated immigration debate. #2 Reminded Americans of the desperate need for border security While American federal workers were hurting, so were the families harmed by illegal immigration. They still are. President Trump reminded Americans that while the government shutdown may be over, the threat of illegal immigration is not. “Walls should not be controversial,” he said. “No matter where you go, walls work.”…

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Drain The Swamp: EPA Shed 1,200 Jobs In Trump’s First Year And A Half

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Tennessee Star

by Evie Fordham   The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shed approximately 1,200 jobs as roughly 1,600 employees departed and less than 400 new employees were hired during President Donald Trump’s first year and a half in office. Departing employees included “at least 260 scientists, 185 ‘environmental protection specialists’ and 106 engineers,” according to the Washington Post. The EPA’s workforce is now down 8 percent to a size it has not been since former president Ronald Reagan was in office, reported the WaPo. “With nearly half of our employees eligible to retire in the next five years, my priority is recruiting and maintaining the right staff, the right people for our mission, rather than total full-time employees,” EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a statement according to the WaPo. Nearly 25 percent of the EPA’s 13,758 employees are eligible for retirement, reported the WaPo. Many employees have accepted buyouts, especially in 2017. At its most bloated, the EPA had more than 18,000 employees, reported the WaPo. Some longtime EPA employees are leaving after working under both Republican and Democratic administrations. “I felt it was time to leave given the irresponsible, ongoing diminishment of agency resources, which has recklessly endangered our ability to…

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Commentary: Trump, Reagan, and Big Government

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Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump

by Jeffery Rendall   As I strolled through the excellent and memory-provoking exhibits at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library (in Simi Valley, CA) the other day I was struck by how similar President Donald Trump’s approach to today’s politics is to the way Ronald Reagan handled the subject a half century ago. For starters, Reagan and Trump’s optimistic pro-American emphasis is nearly identical. They both appealed to the patriotic propensities of country-loving individuals to rise up and be the best they possibly can be, so that everyone might achieve their goals and dreams as long as they’re willing to work hard, sacrifice and put stock in the best nation on the planet. At their core both Reagan and Trump mastered a populist message and used it to ignite a movement (unfortunately in their cases, very personality-centered). Both acknowledged America as the lead source of good in the world and championed American exceptionalism as their signature value. Both were extremely media savvy and understood mass communications and messaging to perfection. It almost appears as though Trump’s emulated Reagan’s political career and added his own personal touches to match the legendary effectiveness of the great communicator. Reagan didn’t have Twitter, of course, and…

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Federal Civil Service Abuses Bigger Than Just the Department of Veterans Affairs

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By Natalia Castro   When news broke of employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) putting the lives of veterans at risk with waiting lists to die, the country was outraged. When it became clear that these employees were not being terminated for their failures and mismanagement, Florida Senator Marco Rubio led bipartisan legislation that protected whistleblowers and provided management the authority to remove bad employees. Unfortunately, the VA is not the only department allowing bad employees to stay on the job despite grotesque violations of employee guidelines and even the law. Here we highlight some of the worst stories of civil service abuse in recent years and how they have been allowed to occur. Department of Veterans Affairs Some stories of abuse are obvious, like the Washington Times of April 2016 which reported on two senior VA officials who were responsible for the death of nearly 300 veterans on waiting lists, yet took over two years to even be proposed to be terminated. But as Senator Rubio argued in a May 2017 press release, this large-scale abuse flourished because of a culture of mismanagement. Rubio explained, “To list just a few examples, one VA employee was arrested and spent time in jail…

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