The Federal Workforce Reduction and Reform Act of 2011 (S.1476), introduced in the United States Senate on August 2, 2011, aims to reduce the federal government’s annual travel budget by 75 percent.

Federal travel

The legislation, introduced by Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma), would limit travel and subsistence expenses and mileage allowances for official travel by federal employees, as described below:

(A) For each of fiscal years 2012 and 2013, it may not exceed 50 percent of the total amount so paid or reimbursed by such agency for fiscal year 2011; and

(B) For fiscal year 2014, may not exceed 25 percent of the total amount so paid or reimbursed by such agency for fiscal year 2011.

By doing this, they hope to reduce the annual federal travel budget, which is now at more than $15 billion, by 75 percent.

Along with an extension of the pay freeze on federal civilian employees’ salaries and bonuses for an additional three years, the bill aims to save the federal government more than $600 billion over ten years.

“If the recent debate over the debt ceiling has shown anything, it’s that we need to make sure the federal government is forced to live within its means, just as small businesses and working families across the country are,” said Senator Hatch. “Our bill will generate significant savings – more than $600 billion – by implementing just a small handful of relatively simple reforms.”

The U.S. Travel Association’s Geoff Freeman told Travel Weekly that an arbitrary cut like this would be harmful to the government agencies whose travel budgets will be cut, and it won’t be good for the millions of travel industry employees who depend on this spending for their income.

S.1476 has been referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Under normal circumstances, a drastic proposal like this would have trouble passing through the committee and no chance whatsoever of being approved by the full Senate.

But a few things make this a special case. For starters, the bill is being co-sponsored by Senator Tom Coburn, who is part of the ‘Gang of Six’ who were so influential in the recently concluded debt ceiling negotiations. One of the components of the debt deal is that Congress has to constitute a ‘Debt Committee’ to recommend $1.2 trillion in federal spending cuts by November.

Senator Coburn is a strong contender for this committee, comprised of six Republicans and six Democrats. So even if this bill to cut federal travel spending doesn’t go anywhere right now on its own, it’s virtually guaranteed to be listed as one of the recommendations of the debt committee, in which case it has a much better chance of passing both the Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.

Photo – public domain (source)

Related posts:
Fiscal Commission Calls For Massive Cuts in Federal Travel
Federal Agencies Using GSA Software to Reduce Business Travel