A group of 19 House Republican members has called on President Donald Trump to clarify his presidential memorandum that imposes a hiring freeze on federal civilian employees.The lawmakers said in letter published Wednesday the implementation of the federal job freeze “negatively” affected Defense Department acquisition personnel who negotiate national security-related contracts.
They added that military departments believe the hiring freeze includes contracting personnel at the department and urged Trump to “support the complete resourcing for DoD contracting offices.”
The letter was signed by Reps. Vicky Hartzler, Rob Bishop, Mike Turner, Rob Wittman, Joe Wilson, Mo Brooks, Bradley Byrne, Walter Jones, Steve Knight, Elise Stefanik, Sam Graves, Mike Gallagher, Scott Taylor, Scott DesJarlais, Neal Dunn, Trent Franks, Ralph Abraham, Paul Cook and Tom Cole.
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said certain positions should be exempted from the freeze due to “consequences for readiness and a variety of issues,” Defense News reported.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump ordered the freeze on Jan. 23 in a bid to address federal bureaucracy.
