A more positive thing to do would be to cut them off the payroll entirely...but, either one of the moves will/would be deflationary especially with an economy that is 70% driven by consumer consumption. There are a lot of federal employees.
I read an article yesterday that stated that the USA had 107,000 fewer students in school K-12 last year but that the teacher count increased nationwide by 87,000 last year.
Wonderful, huh?
That damn teacher count is a major problem. the boomers are retiring, the next bulge is a few years off if ever. the unions are hellbent on full union member employment. TIme to throw the union bosses into ovens.