STATEMENT OF U.S. SENATOR
DANIEL K. AKAKA
Chairman, Subcommittee on
International Security, Proliferation,
and Federal Services
"The Federal Workforce:
Legislative Proposals for Change"
March 18, 2002
This morning we begin two
days of hearings on the federal workforce and several
legislative proposals offered by Senator George Voinovich and
Senator Fred Thompson. We have with us a distinguished group
of witnesses -- both today and tomorrow -- who will share
their insights on how to best meet the challenges of
recruiting and retaining the people that agencies need to
carry out their missions.
I thank you all for being
with us today, and I wish to extend a special aloha to Mr.
John Priolo, director of the Hawaii Chapter of the Federal
Managers Association, who will testify on behalf of his
Association’s president, Mr. Michael Styles.
I am delighted to be joined
by my colleague and good friend, the Senator from Ohio, who
has championed the importance of a strong federal workforce. I
appreciate his support today just as I was pleased to support
him during the many hearings he held on these issues.
I won’t recount
statistics, or talk about my concern over the loss of critical
institutional knowledge; and I leave the discussion of the
bills to our panelists.
I will, however, talk about
the men and women who make up our government’s workforce. I
am pleased that in the wake of the terrorist attacks last
fall, anti-government rhetoric has abated and a higher
percentage of young Americans say they would consider federal
service as a job option.
We saw that for every
essential service these attacks disrupted, the government
responded quickly and effectively. Our nation's recovery is
being aided through the talents and professionalism of our
federal workforce, who are selflessly supporting the efforts
of armed forces abroad.
After September 11th, more
than 2,100 federal employees were deployed in disaster
response teams, and to this day, thousands of federal
employees are responding to the war on terrorism as a part of
their normal duties. The federal workforce is this nation's
backbone, and I think it’s time to drop the pejorative use
of the word bureaucrat.
Our hearing continues the
dialogue on what needs to be done to make government service
more attractive to young people and to inspire and compensate
those who have chosen government as their job of choice. Just
last week, this Subcommittee heard from agency and expert
witnesses that the lack of employees with language, science,
and technical skills threatens our national security. That
hearing focused on S. 1800, a bill I introduced with Senators
Durbin and Thompson, and cosponsored by Senators Cochran,
Collins, and Voinovich.
As we examine the Voinovich
and Thompson legislative proposals, I want to make sure that
the bills will not cause harm to either employees or their
agencies. Federal agencies have been operating under flattened
budgets for years, and the Administration’s fiscal year 2003
budget proposal – after removing funding for homeland
security and defense purposes – would see discretionary
spending decline by one percent. This leaves no room to fund
recruitment, retention, and training programs. Moreover, the
lack of parity between the pay of civilian workers and
military service members sends the wrong message to
prospective and current federal employees.
I support good management,
and I want to make sure that we have the right people and the
right skills to operate the government in an effective,
efficient, and economic manner. But I do not see how we can
expect young people to consider government employment if we
are unable to provide them with comparable pay and benefits
and opportunities for training.
How do we advertise the
government as an employer of choice if agencies lack funding
for incentives – including money to implement fully the
student loan repayment program?
How do we balance
recruitment and retention goals with this Administration’s
goals for competitive sourcing? These are among the questions
I hope we will answer today.
There must be a commitment
from the highest levels of government and a willingness to
allocate the resources necessary to achieve a strong and
vibrant workforce. Again, I wish to thank our witnesses for
being with us today. You deserve our gratitude for your
commitment to our federal civil service system.
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