Giuliani: Slash the Federal Workforce

Republican presidential candidate Rudolph W. Giuliani doesn't see the impending federal retirement tsunami as a "human capital crisis." In fact, he views it as an opportunity. In a speech to the Heritage Foundation last night (see the Washington Post report on it here) Giuliani took note of a projection that 42 percent of civilian federal employees would retire during the next two presidential terms. "Some politicians assume that we'll just replace all of them," he said. "I bet there are some politicians in the other party -- I don't know, maybe in ours -- that think we ought to increase them. . . . Here's what I would do: I would seek to replace only half of them."

Giuliani, the Washington Times reported, said such a move would save $70 billion a year. "The challenge will be, of course, to convince the Democrats that there's such a thing as a nonessential government employee," he said.

In the speech, Giuliani also argued for an across-the-board cut in non-Defense spending.