GOP to Back Hiring Freeze

The House Republicans' "Pledge to America," a series of proposals for running the country that leaders plan to unveil Thursday, will include a freeze on federal hiring for non-security-related jobs, Politico reports.

According to the report, in addition to the hiring freeze, the GOP members will say they are committed to "canceling remaining expenditures from the 2009 stimulus law, return domestic appropriations to 2008 levels, impose 'hard' budget caps on discretionary spending accounts, reduce spending for congressional operations, have weekly floor votes on winners of the 'YouCut' program that allows citizens to vote online for programs that should be slashed, end the Troubled Asset Relief Program, end government control of the secondary home-mortgage lending giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, ... sunset programs after a certain number of years, and use more straightforward budgeting for entitlement programs."