I am writing in response to a letter Rep. Jeff Hurd recently sent to constituents regarding cuts to the federal workforce. In his letter he said, “I wholeheartedly agree our federal government has become too big.”
Apparently, Rep. Hurd agrees with President Donald Trump and co-president Elon Musk that the current civilian federal workforce of approximately 3 million has grown in recent times and needs to be reduced.
The truth is that the civilian federal workforce surpassed 3 million for the first time in 1942 and has consistently remained between 2 million to 3 million ever since.
In 1942, when the U.S. had 3.4 million civilian federal workers, our population was 135 million. This is one federal worker for every 40 people.
Today, with a civilian federal workforce of 3 million and a population of 342 million, we have one federal worker for every 114 people. In other words, our population has nearly tripled in the past 80 years yet the size of the civilian federal workforce has stayed constant.
Looks like the federal government has done an incredible job of doing more with less! So, why does Rep. Hurd believe our government has grown too big when it has remained virtually unchanged throughout his lifetime?
This is an incredibly important point because Rep. Hurd’s premise of a growing federal workforce that has become too big drives his claim that we need to reduce the size of the government. This premise is factually incorrect.
Cynthia Wutchiett
Paonia
