Senators request change to civilian employment freeze for military facilities

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah | Composite photo, St. George News

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA – Utah Republican Sens. Mike Lee and Orrin Hatch joined seven of their colleagues Friday in asking the Office of Personnel Management to improve the guidance it offers when it comes to implementing a Presidential Memorandum on the hiring of federal civilian employees at military facilities across the country.

The group of nine senators sent a letter with their concerns to the director of the Office of Personnel Management regarding implementation of the Presidential Memorandum, requesting the Personnel Management office work with the Department of Defense to improve procedures.

The letter states:

“It has come to our attention that, due to implementation guidance on the Presidential Memorandum, waivers for civilian hiring at military depots, shipyards, plants and arsenals are being issued by service secretaries on a job-by-job basis. This practice is extremely inefficient, impractical, and should be changed immediately. By the very nature of the work done at these facilities, commanders and managers must persistently address vacancies and new needs in the workforce to adapt to the constantly fluctuating demands of the warfighter.”

Utah is home of the Ogden Air Logistics Complex at Hill Air Force Base, which supports depot-level maintenance for some of the Air Force’s most vital weapons systems including the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the F-35 Lightening II and the Minuteman III ICBM.

The Tooele Army Depot, which is the Department of Defense’s ammunition hub in the western United States and its ammunition peculiar equipment center, is also located in Utah.

Copies of the letter were sent to Secretary of Defense James Mattis and to Mick Mulvaney who was recently confirmed Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Those signing the letter include: Lee, Hatch, Jim Inhofe, R-Oklahoma, David Perdue, R-Georgia, Johnny Isakson, R-Georgia, John Boozeman, R-Arkansas, Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and James Lankford, R-Oklahoma.

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1 Comment

  • Chris February 18, 2017 at 11:00 am

    Yeah, they are all for freezing the federal payroll except when it affects their districts. Hypocritical morons! The Department of Defense is more wasteful of taxpayer money than all other federal entities put together. If you ever served in the military, you know that.

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