[VRWCarea51]

1.8% cut is draconian? Only in Washington D.C.

[EagleUSA]

Yeah, 1.8% is a joke. So much needs to be cut WAAYYYY back...like cleaning at the IRS, EPA, etc. So much more. All of the useless, liberal bureaucracy that Obama created and inflated.

[Gaffer]

When DC doesn’t get even its projected INCREASE, they call it ‘draconian.’

That word, whoever and whichever effing ghoul thought it up, should have trademarked it or something. These a$$holes use it any time a Republican tries to control costs.

I doubt they even know the origin of the word and got it from some dame game they were playing on the computer pretending to be working.

[Steve_Seattle]

"1.8% cut is draconian? Only in Washington D.C."

I spent most of my career in local government, and during the financial crisis of 2007-2009 the city (Seattle) was able to accommodate similar reductions through retirements alone. The remaining staff easily picked up the slack. I would guess that targeted reductions of 3-5% (or more) could be accomplished without any impairment of vital programs. But even holding the workforce at the current level would be a step in the right direction, as opposing to increasing the workforce every year.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Cut every agency by 5 percent.
Do it again.

[Pollster1]

If you’re making $100k a year, which many would consider a comfortable income, a 1.8% cut is $1,800 a year. That is a mild budget cut . . . comparable to saving just under $5.00 a day (one of your two or three daily Starbucks White Chocolate Mocha venti made with soy milk if you are the typical metrosexual). FedGov should cut much deeper than that, but it’s a start.

[Little Ray]

IF it is a real cut, 1.8% reduction in existing employees, it is, by DC standards, “draconian.”
Remember, our nation's mis-managers call it a ‘cut’ when the rate of increase is reduced. Actually cutting existing personnel is “Inconceivable!”

[Alberta's Child]

That’s not 1.8% of the Federal work force. It’s 1.8% of the entire D.C. area employment base. That would be a huge number.

[Bogey78O]

From the folks who cheer on businesses having to absorb greater cuts and increased costs...

[Jumper]

Imagine if Obama could have created that kind of job growth or GDP per quarter or year???

[Cen-Tejas]

I’ll take it but it’s not near enough!

I hope Trump can bull it through Congress! It’s going to be a fight with the Liberals in Both parties!

[mlo]

"1.8% cut is draconian? Only in Washington D.C."

It was a projected reduction in regional (DC) employment of 1.8%. Not everybody in DC works for the government, so that's not even a measure of regional cuts.

The word "draconian" was not used in the article.