A common theme in American political discourse is the devaluation of public employees, with many blaming the country’s problems on a “bloated bureaucracy” or federal agencies that are over-staffed and pursuing agendas beyond the legal boundaries imposed by Congress.
In a climate where the size of government can trigger political outrage, it is essential to note that many agencies we work with are well-liked by the public and do important work with fewer resources.
For example, the National Park Service (NPS), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are facing significant staffing shortages. While the NPS faces record visitation rates, its ranger staffing levels have hit a generational low. BLM’s workforce, which manages 245 million acres of land, has declined by roughly twenty percent since 2003, during which time there has been explosive growth in visitation to agency land. And the staffing shortages in EPA’s chemicals program are so significant that it will take EPA 7,000 years to finish its legally-mandated review of the safety chemicals currently on the market.
And these agencies are generally well-liked by the public.
A poll conducted by YouGov found that three-fourths of Americans view the NPS favorably, with 41% saying their opinion is very favorable and 34% saying it is somewhat favorable. A recent poll commissioned by the Environmental Protection Network found overwhelming public support for EPA across all demographics, including Trump voters. And while views on BLM are highly polarized given its mission of both managing and conserving public lands, polling reveals public lands issues like threats to wildlife habitats, water pollution, and the loss of natural areas are very important to voters in the West.
And when we talk about big or bloated government, it is also worth noting that EPA and the Department of the Interior, the agency where BLM and NPS reside, make up only .69 percent and .76 percent of the federal budget, respectively. Spending by CDC, NIH, and NOAA is also minuscule compared with other parts of the federal government. And these agencies are also chronically underfunded.
And despite all the hollering about the growth in the federal workforce, the size of the federal government has remained relatively stable since World War II.
For example, federal net outlays as a percentage of GDP— or how much money flows out of the federal treasury – have gone up and down since World War II, but the number of federal employees has remained relatively constant since WW2.
Now, more contractors and grantees are working for the federal government. But even these numbers have remained relatively stable since Ronald Reagan was president.
The truth is our federal government has not grown that much since World War II relative to the overall growth in the United States.
While a debate over the optimal size of the U.S. government is as American as apple pie, over the past five decades, this debate has taken a dangerous turn. It has shifted from reforming or winding down underperforming parts of the federal government to outright attacks on government workers and a desire to gut the civil service and destroy agencies that protect human health and the environment.
Russell Vought, President-elect Trump’s pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget, has expressed plans to put career civil servants “in trauma” under a second Trump administration so that they dread coming into work and quit. “When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains,” says Vought.
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, heads of the nongovernmental Department of Government Efficiency, have promised mass firings, reductions in force, revoking telework accommodations, and moving federal offices out of Washington, DC, to get people to quit their government jobs.
What is really going on here is an effort by the Trump administration to expand presidential power, allow powerful and polluting industries to operate with little or no government oversight, and embed crony capitalism in the fabric of government.
Our goal in the next few years is to protect the civil service, protect and strengthen environmental laws where possible through litigation, and make government work better for the American people. That is worth fighting for.
Tim Whitehouse is the Executive Director at PEER.
