Donald Trump and his Republican allies are 'ready to slash the federal work force, impose hiring freezes and halt automatic pay raises'

  • Trump vowed during campaign to institute federal hiring freezes
  • Republicans say slashing work force will save the government billions
  • Newt Gingrich, the former speaker, says no more 'jobs for life'
  • Gingrich expects chief strategist Steve Bannon to oversee effort
  • Democrats vow to fight any attempt to roll back worker benefits 

By Ariel Zilber For Dailymail.com

Published: 17:39 EST, 21 November 2016 | Updated: 22:40 EST, 21 November 2016

If President-elect Donald Trump and his Republican colleagues in Congress have their way, government employees will be easier to fire and they will have their pensions reduced, aides and lawmakers say.

The incoming administration and its allies on Capitol Hill are planning to try and trim the public sector work force, in line with campaign promises to roll back government benefits, The Washington Post reported on Monday.

With Republicans in control of both houses of the legislature as well as the executive branch, they now have a chance to enact reforms which federal employees once thought they were immune from, including lower pensions, hiring freezes, a halt to automatic raises, and a crackdown on publicly funded union business.

'You have the country moving to the right and being much more anti-Washington than it was,' former House speaker Newt Gingrich said.

President-elect Donald Trump (center), seen here with Vice President-elect Mike Pence (left) and Mitt Romney (right) on Saturday, has vowed to impose a federal hiring freeze

Gingrich, a top adviser to Trump, said the era of federal employees having a 'job-for-life' is coming to an end.

'We're going to have to get the country to understand how big the problem is, the human costs of it and why it's absolutely essential to reform', said Gingrich.

The former speaker predicted that Steve Bannon, Trump's chief strategist, would lead the effort.

In his Contract With the American Voter, the president-elect stated that his downsizing reforms are necessary 'to clean up the corruption and special interest collusion in Washington, D.C.'.

Trump has also called for 'a hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce federal workforce through attrition (exempting military, public safety, and public health)'.

Newt Gingrich (left), a top Trump adviser, says that he has encouraged the president-elect to downsize the government work force. He says chief strategist Steve Bannon (right) will most likely oversee the effort

The president-elect has so far offered few specifics.

Last month, a spokesperson for Trump told The Washington Post that 'in the long term, a smaller federal workforce will mean a more honest and effective government, in which it is harder to hide corruption'.

Republicans have long argued that a 10-per cent cut in the federal workforce would save the government $49billion over 10 years.

They also say that they will insist on making it easier to fire ineffective workers.

'It's nearly impossible to fire somebody,' said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Republican from Utah.

Chaffetz is the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. 

'When the overwhelming majority do a good job and the one bad apple is there viewing pornography, I want people to be held accountable'. 

The Democrats, meanwhile, vow to fight any attempt to erode the federal work force.

Congressman Elijah Cummings told the Post that his party will 'fight any effort to roll back civil service protections'.  

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