Clinton To Reduce Federal Work Force, Privileges -- 100,000 Jobs To Be Cut; Fewer Chauffeurs, Flights

WASHINGTON - President Clinton is ready to shrink the federal work force, banish obscure commissions and slash more perquisites of power in Round Two of his campaign to cut the cost of government.

Among the privileges on the presidential chopping block today were chauffeur-driven limousines for top Cabinet deputies, money-losing executive dining rooms at federal offices and some flights on government aircraft, Communications Director George Stephanopoulos said. Clinton also wants to cut administrative costs by 3 percent annually throughout government.

The most significant of today's orders follow through on Clinton's campaign pledges to eliminate at least 100,000 federal jobs through attrition and to cut administrative costs by 3 percent annually throughout government.

Those two steps are expected to save the government at least $9 billion over four years, said a senior White House official who requested anonymity.

In addition, Clinton was ordering agencies to abolish at least a third of the 700 federal-advisory commissions that are not required by law. That could save about $50 million a year.

The latest round of orders was designed to make sure "government is doing everything it can to sacrifice," before Clinton asks more from ordinary Americans, said Bruce Reed, Clinton's deputy assistant for domestic policy.

Clinton also plans to ask Cabinet members to look for "perks and privileges and waste at their departments and . . . offer up some sacrifices of their own," the White House official said.

The official said Clinton also is considering other steps, such as legislation to make it easier to fire federal workers, move them from one job to another and eliminate narrow job descriptions.

Clinton was issuing three executive orders and three presidential memoranda today that would:

-- Reduce the 2.1 million-member civilian-federal work force by 100,000 by the end of 1995, with 10 percent of the cuts coming from management. The cutbacks are to be spread throughout all federal agencies and accomplished through attrition, drawing from openings created by the 200,000 workers who leave government each year.

-- Require across-the-board cutbacks of about 3 percent annually in each department's administrative costs. The reductions would start with a 1 percent reduction in fiscal 1994 and total 11 percent by fiscal 1997. Covered expenses include travel, consulting fees, printing and supplies.

-- Reduce the number of federal-advisory commissions not required by law by about one-third, with each department submitting names of questionable panels. Some possible examples cited by White House aides: the Weather and Climate Coordinating Committee, the Board of Tea Experts and the Advisory Panel for the Dictionary of Occupational Titles.

-- Eliminate home-to-work use of chauffeur-driven limousines for top Cabinet deputies, except where needed for national-security reasons.

-- Require all federal executive dining rooms to either cover their own costs or shut down. Ten of 14 federal departments had executive dining rooms during the Bush administration.

-- Further restrict use of federal aircraft for nongovernment purposes. Cabinet officials would have to get White House authorization before using federal planes for nongovernment trips.