January 23, 2017

Today Rep. Dina Titus of Nevada’s First Congressional District issued a statement on President Donald Trump’s executive order prohibiting the federal government from hiring new employees – a measure that will diminish transparency, efficiency, and accountability in the federal workforce while jeopardizing vital government services provided by non-military agencies.

In Nevada, President Trump’s actions could have a detrimental effect on the workforce, economy, and quality of care for our veterans. 

On the federal hiring portal, the Department of Veterans Affairs lists 49 job postings for physicians, surgeons, social workers, and specialists in Nevada that will now go on the chopping block.

Air Traffic Controllers, Transportation Security Administration workers, and other positions cannot be filled. The freeze will also eliminate available positions in Nevada at the Departments of Health and Human Services, Agriculture, and Interior.

The order exempts the White House from the hiring freeze.

 “Less than a week into the Trump Administration, the self-avowed ‘greatest jobs president’ has committed to harming veterans, abandoning our national parks, and jeopardizing air travelers,” Rep. Titus said. “This executive order raises the question: Just what are the president’s priorities? Cutting needed government services? Decreasing accountability? Endangering the American people?”

Rep. Titus co-signed a letter to the Trump Administration’s transition team on January 9, 2017, to request that it reconsider the hiring freeze. The letter highlighted a Government Accountability Office report that concluded hiring freezes have a history of disrupting agency operations, increasing costs to government, and limiting oversight to detect fraud, waste, and abuse in federal spending. The report found that hiring freezes disrupted pipeline safety monitoring, nuclear safety regulations, and the provision of veterans’ care, among other services.