Government Workers | featured news

The battle between Republicans and Democrats over the size and scope of the U.S. government has put federal workers — their numbers, their pay and their benefits — at center stage this campaign season.

College students clash with administrators over steeply rising tuition. Public employees shut down statehouses amid cuts to pay and retirement benefits. Teachers and social welfare advocates protest budget cuts. Lawmakers struggle to cope with sharp declines in tax revenue.

Conservative Republicans have long clamored for government downsizing. They're starting to get it — by default. Crippled by plunging tax revenues, state and local governments have shed over a half million jobs since the recession began in December 2007. And, after adding jobs early in the downturn, the federal government is now cutting them as well.

FBI agents have arrested a city government worker and are searching the offices of the city's chief technology officer.