One argument that Vivek Ramaswamy has been making is that it's possible to do an end run around entrenched bureaucracies. It might not be legal to perform mass firings of individuals in these bureaucracies, but it is legal to abolish the bureaucracies themselves. Vivek would do away with a whole slew of bureaucracies, including the sainted (but tainted) Department of Education. Here's Ramaswamy talking about this aspect of draining the swamp:
A question that has arisen, though, is what to do with all the staffers who get cut loose once their department or agency has been eliminated. These are now malicious actors who will be free to create random mayhem. I've heard Ramaswamy's answer to what would happen to most FBI personnel: they'd be shunted to departments that have a proven track record of efficiency, such as the DEA or the US Marshals. But what would happen to the free radicals from the Department of Education? Should they just... learn to code?
Heh, when I left the USPS back in 2001, I took a job in HR with the Department of Ed. I can attest that it is a worthless agency.
ReplyDeleteAs to what happens to the workers if the agency goes away, there are procedures administered by the Office of Personnel Management to handle a government Reduction In Force. RIFs occur fairly regularly in government for various reasons, just not on a massive basis. Still, there is a process designed to protect the interests of the workforce to the extent possible. Many people would be reassigned to vacancies in other agencies. Some would be eligible for early retirement. Others might get some cash incentives to go away.
I've long been a proponent of eliminating agencies that add no value. Sadly, there are many.