{"id":14429,"date":"2021-02-10T15:51:58","date_gmt":"2021-02-10T15:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/02\/10\/reintroduced-bill-would-cut-over-100000-dod-feds\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:26:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:26:02","slug":"reintroduced-bill-would-cut-over-100000-dod-feds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2021\/02\/10\/reintroduced-bill-would-cut-over-100000-dod-feds\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill would cut over 100,000 DoD jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

New legislation would require the Department of Defense to cut its civilian workforce by 15 percent by 2025, a move that would result in the elimination of over 100,000 federal jobs based on current numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill, introduced by Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., Feb. 9 and titled the Rebalance for an Effective Defense Uniform and Civilian Employees Act, would enable the secretary of defense to use voluntary separation and early retirement incentives to encourage that reduction in the coming years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that voluntary grace period would be short lived, as the bill mandates that the secretary must initiate involuntary separations by October 2021 if the 15 percent reduction is not met voluntarily. The proposed legislation would only impact civilian employees, not uniformed service members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Office of Personnel Management separation data, on average between 2015 and 2019, just under 82,000 employees left DoD jobs each year, meaning that a standard year\u2019s departures without any new hires would not be enough to voluntarily have the agency meet the 15 percent reduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The civilian Senior Executive Service positions at the agency would also be capped at 1,000, and all workforce caps would remain in place until 2029.<\/p>\n\n\n\t