Civil Servants
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According to this data if read correctly, there were 1,572,855 retired federal employees. This was as of 2006 year end. Source-http://www.opm.gov/feddata/RetirementPaperFinal_v4.pdf There are also currently over 1,300,000 retired military personnel receiving a pension.
Maxine B. Baker is the president of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation which is also referred to as Freddie Mac. She is also the CEO of the company.
The US does not have any national holidays in the sense of special days on which all employees refrain from work. There are federal holidays on which all federal employees are excused from work or else are paid extra for working if they are in essential jobs. These federal holidays are set by federal law passed by Congress. I think the President could issue an executive order to close federal offices due to lack of funds or some other emergency situation. The President can also declare special days of observance for various reasons such as a day of prayer, but people are free to ignore them if they wish.
The legislative branch is referred to as Congress in the United States. In other countries, the legislative branch may be called other things, such as Parliament, the Diet, National Assembly, and others.
The Pendleton Act, passed in 1883, was the first step in creating the federal civil service system, in which employees of the federal government are hired and promoted on the basis of competitive tests, not on favors owed to political supporters (the "spoils system"). The Pendleton Act created a Civil Service Commission to devise appropriate tests and enforce the law. It also made it illegal to fire employees because they had supported a different candidate, to require them to work on political campaigns or to demand donations to a political party or candidate from them. Initially, about 10% of the government's civilian jobs were covered by this law. It now applies to more than 90% of federal civilian employees. Ever since Washington, Presidents had appointed people who agreed with their views to important policy-making jobs in their administration. President Andrew Jackson took this further and fired even minor employees in order to give jobs to his supporters, saying "To the victor belong the spoils." Even under this "spoils system", it was expected that the new appointee would actually do his job to some extent, but President Grant's administration (1869-1877) became notorious for its incompetent and irresponsible political appointees. The public began demanding a change in the system. A few years later, in 1881, newly-elected President James A. Garfield was assassinated by a mentally disturbed man who was angry because he hadn't gotten a federal government job he felt he deserved. The public's demands for reform became much stronger and the new President, Chester A. Arthur, agreed. He became a strong supporter of Civil Service reform and pushed the Pendleton Act forward.