Van Hollen Statement on Trump Administration’s Federal Hiring Freeze

Today U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen issued the following statement on the Trump Administration's federal hiring freeze:

"President Trump's decision to enact an arbitrary hiring freeze on federal agencies is short-sighted and may ultimately cost taxpayers more as that work is shifted to federal contractors. Rather than take the time to understand agency budgets and make informed decisions, the President has decided to forbid agencies from bringing new talent into the civilian workforce. This will jeopardize critical missions like securing our borders, conducting oversight of federal programs, providing Social Security benefits, and monitoring the safety of our food supply. The size of each federal agency's workforce should rise or fall based on the priority of their missions, not an arbitrary freeze. Unfortunately, this knee-jerk decision involved as much thought as one of the President's many tweets."