Dear Bureaupat,

What effect will President Obama's 3-year budget freeze proposal have with regard to federal hiring in 2010?

Dear Intrigued,

Not in 2010, but perhaps in 2011.  As the President said in his State of the Union Address, if Congress adopts his proposal, "this freeze won't take effect until next year - when the economy is stronger."

He then gave those on the right who guffawed a curt lesson, "that's how budgeting works."

The President also noted that spending related to our national security, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security will not be affected, so if the proposed freeze became law it will protect various Cabinet level Departments like the Department of Defense and Homeland Security and agencies like the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Social Security Administration.

While the President did not explicitly state any broad government budget cuts, he did repeat his campaign promise that "we will continue to go through the budget, line by line, page by page, to eliminate programs that we can't afford and don't work."

That's a recap of what President Obama said, but let's take the President's budget lesson a little further on how government works.

First, the President does not have the power to tax and spend. That power is broadly interpreted to lay within Congress per Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution, known as the Taxing and Spending Clause.

The President presents a proposed budget, the Congress crafts it into law through appropriations committees, house and senate votes, and the President may then sign it into law.

Once an appropriations bill is signed into law, the President then executes it through the department and agencies within the executive branch.

What would a spending freeze mean for agency budget offices? Effectively, what the President is proposing is what most agencies deal with every year when an appropriations bill is not passed by the beginning of the fiscal year when they operate on a continuing resolution, that is, agencies operate on the prior year budget, with no funding for new programs and no federal pay raises.

So will this affect federal hiring? Yes and no. Affected agencies have the discretion to move funds by eliminating unfilled positions and use that money for programs or by eliminating programs and use those funds for positions.

"Like any cash-strapped family," said the President, "we will work within a budget to invest in what we need and sacrifice what we don't. And if I have to enforce this discipline by veto, I will."

However, the bottom line is that tens of thousands of federal jobs remain unfilled and more will continue to open, even if the proposed spending freeze becomes reality. So dust off your resume!

Yours in Gov,

Bureaupat

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