Gore proposals should sit well with business.

In their "reinventing government" package, President Clinton and Vice President Gore are applying business thinking that is bound to please private-sector critics.

"Today, the central issue we face is not what government does, but how it works," the Vice President's task force said in its 169-page final report last week.

This is, at best, a dubious proposition for a government that plans to redistribute $1.42 trillion in taxpayer dollars this year and borrow another $263 billion from the public to top off the tank of government service.

The budget exceeds the entire gross domestic product of Germany, the world's third-largest economy. Today's federal government is run by 2.1 million civilian employees, 800,000 postal workers, and 1.8 million military personnel. They are largest single segment of the U.S. work force.

Defense Cuts

Those in the military are already getting squeezed by Clinton's shrinking defense budget, and an overhaul of the U.S. Postal Service is sending middle managers packing.

But federal civilian workers have been comfortably immune from the sweeping job losses experienced in the corporate sector from IBM to General Motors.

So the Clinton administration deserves credit for acknowledging that the way the government does business is in need of overhaul, not because of the any shortcomings among the individual employees but because a ponderous and inefficient system has been built up over the years.

12% Reduction Sought

"Counting all personnel, budget, procurement, accounting, auditing, and headquarters staff, plus supervisory personnel in field offices, there are roughly 700,000 federal employees whose job it is to manage, control, check up on, or audit others," said the Gore task force report. "This is one-third of all federal civilian employees."

The report called for eliminating through buyouts and early retirement some 250,000 federal jobs over the next five years, a 12% reduction that would bring the total civilian work force below two million for the first time since 1966.

Most of these jobs would be in middle-management, white-collar positions, which is why federal unions representing lower-grade workers generally applaud the plan. These workers, who actually deliver services to the public, would generally keep their jobs.

Besides slashing the federal work force, the administration committed itself to a host of much-needed reforms that can be implemented either by executive order of the President or through legislation.

Administration officials briefing reporters conceded the task will not be easy. and many of the anticipated savings to taxpayers will require legislation.

Still, the proposals are out on the table for public discussion, and many of them make sense. They would simplify government budgeting techniques, cutting back on paperwork costs and making it easier for agencies to put money where it is needed.

They would make it easier for federal agencies to buy goods and services from private vendors, slash internal regulations that overlap, and give states and local governments greater flexibility to use federal funds.

Other changes seek to give government workers greater latitude to make decisions on their own and treat taxpayers like customers, instead of worrying about red tape that stifles initiative. Many federal agencies would be consolidated, and field offices would be closed.

Republican leaders welcomed the proposals, giving Mr. Clinton a solid bipartisan base to get the needed legislation. If President Nixon could go to China, Clinton may succeed in the politically popular act of taking a whack at government.

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