Federal Employee Issues Take Center Stage at Postal Service Hearing

Rep. Darrell Issa, the ranking member on the House Oversight and Government Reform, went after the size of the federal workforce in general this morning at the opening of a hearing on the sorry financial state of the Postal Service. He claimed that the Postal Service has "more or less" a third more workers than it actually needs, and while insisting that he wants to support Postal workers and make sure they're fully employed, is making no bones about the fact that he thinks the federal government is overstaffed:

It is clear that we have not recognized that the Postal Service has more workers than it needs, and the federal government in general has more workers than it needs....I hope that we will hear about the kidns of synergies the federal government needs to achieve...You must leave here today understanding that Congress needs a plan like any other board of directors that passes the sniff test, that will be reasonable for us to say to the American people....No postal service employee should be given a route that's less than a full day's work.

I know Rep. Gerry Connolly has a strong defense of Postal pay and benefits coming up. It could be a bumpy ride, here in the Rayburn Building this morning.