That rule was implemented during the Carter regime, at the direction of the United Mine Workers. The whole point of it was to protect union "fireman" jobs at the mines.
Carter is still walking around and it's really not too late to bring him up on criminal charges for creating this infernal machine.
That is just an example. The same kind of thing goes on every day. There was the whole city of New Orleans demanding gov't service and no matter how many billions were spent it wasn't enough. Telling gov't to downsize is putting [not much] pressure on the wrong party.