Good afternoon folks - 

You sent me to Congress with a specific mission: to cut wasteful spending and make Washington squeal. 

That's why every month, I research and identify areas of waste, abuse and inefficiencies and give out my Squeal Award, which recognizes a Washington concept that has proven to be wasteful and must go. 


Squeal Award: Bureaucratic Burrowers 

When you hear the word “burrow”, you might traditionally think of a rabbit digging in a garden or a gopher tunneling out in a field.

However, in Washington, D.C. “burrowing” refers to a government agency insider practice where political employees, or “appointees” use their  position and influence to transition their temporary positions into life-long careers at a federal agency.

A political appointee is assigned to a federal agency by the sitting administration to help achieve the administration’s established policy goals. While most political employees leave federal service at the end of the administration, some try to convert their temporary positions into career positions, typically targeting high-paying, senior level jobs. According to a 2017 study by the Government Accountability Office, 467 political appointees became career employees between 1998 and 2016!

The American people do not need appointees from past administrations, who have become entrenched in the Washington bureaucracy, wielding their influence and clogging the gears of the federal agencies that are trying to serve our country. While political appointees do play a vital role in achieving the policy goals of an administration, they should not be allowed to immediately become career employees when their administration leaves town.

That is why recently introduced the Political Appointee Burrowing Prevention Act to place commonsense restrictions on this beltway-bubble practice. I joined Fox Business to discuss and introduce this new legislation, which you can watch by clicking the image below…

 

I'm presenting this month’s Squeal Award to the Washington-insider practice of 'burrowing', and look forward to working with my colleagues to pass the Political Appointee Burrowing Prevention Act to make sure the only burrowers you have to worry about are the ones in your lawn.


Do you have an example of government waste or inefficiencies that I should take a look at? Send me an email by clicking here.

Thank you!