Back when Michigan's gov't got rid of G.A. (General Assistance) some of the social workers (state employees, every one) came to a similar conclusion -- let's push the mostly male former GA population onto the SSI machinery. One must also remember, President Reagan campaigned on many things, one of which was the ending of unfunded mandates. The thinking that, hey, we should remove these leeches from the state nipple and put them onto the federal nipple, was an idea that probably arose all over the country at pretty much the same time. This isn't on President Reagan, it's just an example of unintended consequences, and/or partisan party-line backlash.
Little thought goes into public policy.
Looking at the output of our ‘public servants’ we can conclude they’re massively overpaid. You gave one more example Civ - among millions of examples out there.