The order, which will go into effect Thursday, also will lift a blanket federal hiring freeze that has been in place since Trump’s first day in office. But hiring will no longer be a "card blanc" affair, as in the past. Instead, Trump's Administration has hiring targets that are in line with the spending priorities the administration laid out in March.
The move is a part of Trump’s campaign pledge to "drain the swamp" and get rid of what the administration views as inefficiencies in the federal government, OMB Director, Mulvaney, said.
This new executive order is a critical part of the White House's effort to curb the size of many government agencies through a proposed budget that calls for historically deep spending cuts to everything from medical research to clean-energy programs. Finally, someone in government admits that we cannot continue to borrow 45 cents for every dollar we spend.
Expect opposition within the halls of Congress.
Mulvaney, speaking for the Administration, said, "We think at the end of the day this leads to a government that is dramatically more accountable, dramatically more efficient, and dramatically more effective, following through on the very promises the president made during the campaign and that he put into place on day one."
(see the article at Bloomberg Politics, here.)
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Related article: John Harwood / CNBC:
Trump's budget director is at home in the eye of the storm
— As President Donald Trump's budget director, Mick Mulvaney sits in
the center of the storm. He is drafting a White House budget that
members of both parties call dead on arrival. He's still trying to help
bridge the gap between …
