For all the talk about the dramatic spending cuts to hit the federal government under the bipartisan sequestration, the federal government isn’t exactly tightening its belt. According to USAJobs.gov, the job posting site for the feds, approximately 2,200 jobs listings became available during one week in March. As Eileen Ambrose reports, “Add in new postings open only to current or former federal workers, including those laid off, and the number of new openings jumps to more than 4,600.”
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has issued a list of jobs included at USAJobs.gov that he says demonstrate the feds’ continued wastefulness. These jobs include a director for the Air Force History and Museums Policies and Programs, clocking in at a hefty $165,300; a Department of Labor assistant with pay up to $81,204; painters for the Air Force, and a lawyer for the Morris K. Udall Scholarship Foundation, with an annual salary of $155,000. These jobs, says Coburn, “are not necessary at this time until we get past this pothole in the road.”
Meanwhile, President Obama and the media continue to proclaim that air traffic controllers will be cut, the postal service will have to cut days, and border security will be furloughed. Much of the pressure from the sequester springs from the fact that federal employees are increasingly unionized, meaning that the government has little flexibility in terms of pay and benefits. President Obama has inflated the size of the federal workforce overall, even as state workforces have declined.
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