The Simple Solution to Shrinking Government: Slash Federal Spending

If there’s one thing to know about government efficiency programs, it’s that they often amount to smoke and mirrors. Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is no exception. While headlines trumpet plans to slash the federal workforce, the reality is far less impressive. The size of the civil service is a distraction—a symptom, not the disease. If the Trump administration, or any administration for that matter, truly wants to reduce federal overreach, there’s only one effective solution: cut spending.

The Numbers Don’t Lie: Spending, Not Staff, Is the Problem

Contrary to popular belief, the number of federal employees has barely budged in decades. In 1990, there were 3.1 million federal workers. By 2023, that figure had shrunk slightly to 2.9 million, including postal employees. Yet during this same period, federal spending exploded, ballooning tenfold since the 1950s.

How can the federal government grow so massively while its direct workforce stagnates? The answer lies in the rise of a sprawling "shadow workforce"—millions of contractors, grant-funded workers, and state and local employees whose jobs are indirectly financed by federal dollars.

The Real Federal Workforce: Nine Million and Counting

While DOGE focuses on civil service employees, the real workforce paid by Uncle Sam is much larger. In fact, federal contractors and grant-funded workers outnumber civil servants by more than three to one. According to a 2019 analysis, the federal government employs over 9.1 million people. This includes:

• 2.1 million federal employees (including postal workers).
• 4.1 million contractors working in fields like defense, tech, and infrastructure.
• 1.2 million grant-funded workers performing federally supported research or public services.
• 1.3 million active-duty military personnel.

These contractors and grant-funded workers form the backbone of a "shadow government" that continues to grow unchecked. For example, in 2020, while regular federal employees totaled 2.7 million, grant and contract workers exceeded 6.8 million.

A Bipartisan Failure to Cut Spending

Despite campaign rhetoric about shrinking government, the federal spending spigot only opens wider. Trump’s first term, for instance, added over 2 million jobs to the federal shadow workforce. Federal contract awards surged by more than 40%, with the Departments of Defense, Transportation, and Health and Human Services leading the way. Biden, of course, eagerly continued this trend, layering additional trillions in federal obligations.

Defense contractors, in particular, thrive in this ecosystem. Military spending has become a sacred cow, with billions allocated to aerospace engineers, programmers, and other "private sector" employees who are, in truth, de facto federal workers. Adding insult to injury, the Pentagon has failed every single audit in the past seven years, leaving taxpayers in the dark about where the money actually goes.

Why Cutting Federal Jobs Won’t Fix the Problem

DOGE’s focus on civil servants misses the point. Civil service employees represent a shrinking fraction of the true federal workforce. The blended workforce—contractors, grant workers, and others—keeps growing, sustained by unrelenting spending increases.

Want to reduce the size of government? Forget about firing civil servants protected by labor laws and bureaucratic red tape. Instead, slash federal spending at its source. When the money stops flowing, the millions of workers dependent on federal contracts, grants, and subsidies will be forced to find employment in the private sector. Similarly, state and local governments, which rely heavily on federal transfers, will also see their inflated payrolls shrink.

Time to End the Theater

The truth is simple: federal power isn’t measured by the number of bureaucrats sitting in government offices. It’s measured by spending, deficits, and debt. The more money the government prints and borrows, the more it distorts markets, expands its influence, and undermines individual freedom.

For decades, politicians have promised smaller government, but few have delivered. Cutting civil service jobs makes for great headlines, but it’s a distraction from the real issue. If we want meaningful reform, it’s time to attack the root cause: runaway federal spending.

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