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Fact-Free Rounds Claims Bureaucracy Growing; Federal Workers at 50-Year Low

Senator-Elect Mike Rounds lies on Meet the Press:

And so part of the message has got to be that the bureaucracy, which has taken over, or the vacuum, because Congress has been dysfunctional, has not been doing their job. You've got a bureaucracy which is growing. We've got to get that bureaucracy back under control again [Mike Rounds, interview with Chuck Todd, Meet the Press, NBC-TV, 2014.11.09].

The federal bureaucracy, the black beast Mike Rounds is charging to Washington to kill, is not growing. It is shrinking:

Federal State Local Total
October 2013 2,732,000 5,057,000 14,065,000 21,854,000
October 2014 2,711,000 5,066,000 14,137,000 21,914,000
change -21,000 9,000 72,000 60,000

Over the last year, the federal government has cut 21,000 jobs. Over the last six years, after briefly adding 629,000 federal jobs as part of the stimulus effort to tow the economy out of the ditch, the Obama Administration has given all those jobs back and cut another 75,000 from the 2.786-million strong workforce it inherited from the Bush 2 Administration.

Fewer civilians work for Uncle Sam now than at any point under President Reagan or President Nixon.

The federal bureaucracy is not growing. Mike Rounds's list of lies is.

29 Comments

  1. SDBlue 2014.11.10

    I read an interesting article the other day stating Democrats lost the most recent election because Republicans lie better than Democrats tell the truth. Mike Rounds is the perfect case in point. He would not know the truth if he tripped over it. (Hey, FBI! You can step in any time now.)

  2. Wayne B. 2014.11.10

    Sounds to me like Sequestration is working...

  3. Mike Henriksen 2014.11.10

    The same Mike Rounds that grew the State government to record levels!

  4. jerry 2014.11.10

    Most Americans do not even realize the goods and services we have lost until you need those goods and services. Eliminating those public jobs only shows that we are getting dumber and dumber day in and day out. By getting rid of those jobs, things like law enforcement on those that really need enforced, lack or are eliminated. Sequestration is really the castration of government which is okay if you want to sing high notes in a choir, but not worth a damn if you are trying to run your country.

  5. testor15 2014.11.10

    Interesting how the man who grew SD government worker numbers complains / lies about the federal government numbers to suit his agenda. Again.

  6. Donald Pay 2014.11.10

    "It's not a lie, if you believe it." Rounds is getting in touch with his inner George Costanza.

    Li'l Mikey never met a crony capitalist he could turn down. Rounds will no doubt want to increase the federal bureaucracy and federal spending for nuclear waste, nuclear power, uranium permitting, etc.,etc. Anything his minders want in terms of increased federal bureaucracy, he'll find a reason why that federal bureaucracy needs to be built up. What a jerk!!!

  7. caheidelberger Post author | 2014.11.10

    SDBlue, I reject the notion that Mike Rounds can lie better than I can tell the truth. ;-)

  8. Loren 2014.11.10

    Lie through his teeth to get elected and all of a sudden start telling the truth? Since when did we expect that?

  9. Mike B 2014.11.10

    The problem with the government is that we were promised greater transparency and then given the complete opposite.

  10. Anne Beal 2014.11.10

    They've shifted to independent contractors. They're still getting paid by the government, but they aren't counted as employees.

  11. Les 2014.11.10

    No bid independent contractors as well Anne.

  12. WayneF 2014.11.10

    Donald Pay:

    You are so right that MMR will do "anything his minders want" him to.

    Not bright enough to run his own campaign ... or state government ... MMR has allowed unnamed others to call the tunes and name the dance.

    Unless / until he is charged and indicted, SD is in for some sad episodes of "leadership."

  13. Jana 2014.11.10

    I just can't figure out why Chuck Todd let that go by, or worse for South Dakota, that the statewide media never fact check these guys. Argus? KELOLAND? Yankton? Aberdeen American News? Pierre Cap Journal?

    Seriously?

    Mike's integrity keeps dipping, but he doesn't care when the media won't do their job.

  14. 96Tears 2014.11.10

    The massive use of contractors to perform functions once held by civil service employees got its big start under Reagan. They called it doing it in the private sector. What it really meant was "we're paying off our pals by ripping off the federal government."

    Rounds one-upped Ronnie with privatizing the EB-5 program, making his pals into overnight millionaires and fleecing another federal program. According to Mike and his pals, it isn't a wise use of government money if they can't steal it.

  15. caheidelberger Post author | 2014.11.10

    Anne, where would I go to get evidence to support your contractors' statement?

    From a conservative perspective, isn't moving toward private contractors a good thing?

    From a national security perspective, isn't moving toward private contractors a terrible idea?

    From a general perspective, are we talking about hiring Amert Construction to pour concrete for I-90?

  16. Bill Fleming 2014.11.10

    Jana, I'm not really much of a Chuck Todd fan. Put it this way, he's no Tim Russert, or even a David Gregory. My hunch is, he had no idea whether Rounds was telling the truth or not, and might not even care.

  17. Jana 2014.11.10

    I agree Bill, I heard they talked to Jon Stewart about the job...would have made Sunday mornings a lot more informative and fun.

    Chuck Todd is trying too hard to be an insider to be an effective voice of the 4th Estate.

  18. mikeyc, that's me! 2014.11.10

    All the lies will serve him well in front of the Senate Ethics
    Committee hearings.

  19. JeniW 2014.11.10

    The second thing that Rounds did that was a major turn off for me was when he ended the state contract with two local businesses (Canfield Furniture, and Lewis Drug,) to do business with two businesses in Minnesota.

    To me, it was a betrayal.

  20. Francis Schaffer 2014.11.10

    Cory, it would depend if it is a bid or no bid contract! Oh yes, oversight? That would be good too and transparency whatever that has become!

  21. JeniW 2014.11.10

    "Selective transparency" = Only release information if the material makes the state look good and/or innocent.

  22. leslie 2014.11.10

    rounds may represent that talent of the elite; upon moving into the national spotlight as a eager soon to be .001%er!-the ability to visualize any grouping of funds, amounts spent nationally on health care, nutrition, the military...ect., and use accountants, lawyers, bankers and doctors to figure out how to put those huge public dollars into private hands forever more. leaving the public out in the cold. talk about redistribution of wealth.

    it fits too w/ MSNBC's chris matthews' recent (11.10.14) opening rant-that the hawks want another war, this time with Iran. there is the defense money pot, our largest budget, right? for redistribution. msnbc.com/hardball

    its like "per cap." just to the select few.

  23. SDBlue 2014.11.11

    Sorry, Cory! I should have prefaced my remark by saying present company excluded! ;)

  24. scott 2014.11.11

    what do you bet that mike's relatives all get federal jobs now?

  25. JeniW 2014.11.11

    Scott, is there any doubt?

  26. Craig 2014.11.12

    Am I the only pesron here who doesn't automatically an increase in federal bureaucracy is somehow automatically linked to the number of federal employees on the payroll?

    Pardon me for defending Rounds (and this is painful to do), but I don't read his statement as suggesting the sheer number of federal employees is growing... merely that the 'machine' of government is growing. This is a common talking point from the GOP, because they see the ACA as an overreach by the federal government (how many times have you heard the talking about about "one sixth of the US Economy..."?), and they are upset about an increase in regulations such as recent proposals by the EPA as well as banking/finance reforms contained within Dodd-Frank, the 'regulatory burden' of complying with new CFPB rules, etc. etc.

    So the basic argument here is that government itself - and the rules, regulations, and general bureaucracy is growing... even if the number of federal employees isn't.

    Frankly I don't think it is fair to call Rounds a liar in this instance - because his statement is more a matter of perception and opinion... not something you can refute with a single metric.

  27. mike from iowa 2014.11.12

    So what do all the economic,housing,savings and loan,stock market,and cost over runs on every federal project(including dumbass dubya's illegal little wars) have in common? Lack of oversight and regulations.

    Lose the regs and let the money stealing fun begin.

  28. Craig 2014.11.12

    I agree Mike - I never heard anyone blame the collapse of the economy upon their being too many regulations. Fact is, had Washington been paying attention they could at least have minimized the impact if not entirely avoided it with some well placed rules and regulations.

    Now we have a few politicians running around trying to act as if 2008 is a distant memory. They claim Wall Street is over-regulated and the updated rules are a 'burden'. They claim a free market will solve all the nation's economic issues while failing to mention it was the free market that led to the distaster in the first place while the government had to be the one to step in and save the economy from ruin by artificially propping up various large financial institutions and manufacturers.

    As you can see I'm not buying the GOP/Rounds talking points, but at the same time I can't say as he is lying when he speaks of "a bureaucracy which is growing". What I would challenge him on is why he seems to be attacking a system which was put in place due to the free market failures that led us to the brink of collapse in the first place?

    That is the problem with talking points - they only work as long as nobody bothers to question them.

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