by Kylie Handler, editor
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be taking some major reductions under President Donald Trump’s administration — and it will save American taxpayers millions of dollars every year.
Trump has made it his mission to reduce the bloated bureaucratic waste in Washington, D.C. — and he is starting by downsizing the EPA by nearly half before the end of his first term.
This major reduction will not be damaging employees, though; Trump will instead offer early retirements rather than firings.
EPA’s first year staff results show that the agency is below levels that have not been seen since President Ronald Reagan’s administration.
To be exact, as of January 3, 2018 the EPA staff count was at 14,162 employees. The last time the EPA employment numbers were below 14,400 was in the fiscal year 1988.
If those offered an early 2021 retirement do choose to leave, Administrator Scott Pruitt and his team will be downsizing from 15,000 to 8,000 employees.
That is a whopping 47 percent. President Barack Obama could have never made that significant of a reduction.
“We’re proud to report that we’re reducing the size of government, protecting taxpayer dollars and staying true to our core mission of protecting the environment,” Pruitt explained in a statement to Secrets.
The major component that liberals never want you to hear is that Trump and his administration are dedicated to reducing the size of the government and saving Americans money.
While many agencies have made some cuts, the EPA is taking the lead.
In the next five years, 20 percent of EPA employees will be eligible for retirement. And 23 percent already can retire with full benefits, while another 4 percent can retire at the end of 2018.
“We’re happy to be at Reagan-level employment numbers and the future retirements shows a preview of how low we could get during this administration. It would be fair to say anywhere from 25 to 47 percent of EPA could retire during this administration,” said an EPA official.
As an incentive, Pruitt has used buyouts and attractive retirement benefits to spur some to leave the agency. He has also succeeded in instituted a hiring freeze.
Obama was more focused on growing the government bloat, just like his liberal pals.
Trump is dedicated to saving taxpayers dollars, and protecting our environment efficiently. The way it should be.
—Kylie Handler is a news editor for The Horn News