Trump signs order to issue hiring freeze

President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum imposing a hiring freeze on federal employees, with exceptions for employees in national security, public safety and the military sectors.

Trump signed the order on his first full weekday in office, making good on one of Trump's key pledges included in his 100-day action plan, the "Contract with the American Voter." The contract outlines steps to "clean up corruption and special interest collusion in Washington D.C." as well as ways to reduce the scope of the federal government.

The memorandum, sent to the heads of executive departments and agencies, reads:

"By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order a freeze on the hiring of Federal civilian employees to be applied across the board in the executive branch. As part of this freeze, no vacant positions existing at noon on January 22, 2017, may be filled and no new positions may be created, except in limited circumstances."

The order primarily applies to executive branch civilian employees, which numbered more than 1.3 million in 2014, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

On April 22, 2017, or 90 days after the memorandum's effective date, the director of the Office of Management and Budget will "recommend a long-term plan to reduce the size of the Federal Government's workforce through attrition," at which point the hiring freeze will end, according to Trump's directive.

This order does not affect Trump's appointments to his Cabinet, along with the national security, public safety and military personnel.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the hiring freeze order is part of Trump's plan to "respect the American taxpayer."

"Some people are working two, three jobs just to get by," Spicer said in a Jan. 23 press briefing. "And to see money get wasted in Washington on a job that is duplicative is insulting to the hard work that they do to pay their taxes."

Trump is not the first president to enact across-the-board hiring freezes. Democrat Jimmy Carter and Republican Ronald Reagan were the last presidents to impose similar orders.

In 1982, the Government Accountability Office examined hiring freezes imposed by the former presidents and concluded the actions were not effective at controlling government costs. The report said the freezes "had little effect on Federal employment levels, and it is not known whether they saved money."

While Trump has made progress by issuing the order, the real measure of success for this pledge will come down to how much he is able to reduce the scope of the government through attrition. For that reason, we rate this promise In the Works.