Union: Mulvaney comments confirm agency moves meant to cut

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A federal employees union says recent comments by acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney confirm the Trump administration’s “grand strategy” to cut the federal workforce by relocating agency offices out of Washington.

Mulvaney said last week the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s plan to relocate several hundred jobs from Washington is “a wonderful way to streamline government.”

He was speaking to fellow Republicans in South Carolina and said it’s “nearly impossible” to fire federal workers but that many would not move to a new location.

The USDA said in June it would move most employees of two research agencies, partly to bring them closer to farmers and agribusinesses.

Government workers union local president David Verardo says it’s a strategy to reduce the government workforce and eliminate checks and balances.