OMB to Feds: Expect 'Additional Burdens'

Amidst spending cuts and pay freezes, President Obama's fiscal 2012 budget actually proposes an increase of 15,000 federal employees. But that's a little deceiving, Emily Long points out today, because a decrease in federal employment this year means the 2012 level would be 12,000 employees below the size of the fiscal 2010 workforce.

OMB Director Jacob Lew addressed the staffing issue in a press briefing today. His message, in essence, was that it's time for federal employees to suck it up:

"We have a great workforce that works very hard, and there are additional burdens being put on the federal workforce. We have tried to provide growth where those burdens can't be managed within totals, but we also have to look internally to get administrative savings in most places. There are more agencies on the domestic side going down than up overall. And these are going to be challenging, difficult years."