
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, September 7, 1993                   TAG: 9309070102
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

GORE PLAN READY

Vice President Al Gore said Monday the administration's "rock 'em, sock 'em, shake 'em up" plan to change the federal bureaucracy will make the government work better and cost less. Government as it exists is "failing the American people," Gore said.

The vice president, point man on the proposal to make sweeping changes in the federal government, will unveil the blueprint this morning in a White House ceremony with President Clinton at his side.

The White House estimates savings at $108 billion over five years, according to administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. Slightly more than half the proposals require congressional approval. The plan would eventually put 252,000 federal employees out of work, their services no longer needed in the streamlined government envisioned by the White House.

That would reduce the federal work force by 12 percent, bringing it below the 2 million mark for the first time since 1966.

Layoffs, although not expected, are possible, Gore said. The White House plans to offer displaced workers buyouts, early retirements, transfers and training for other public and private sector jobs.

"I think that the ground has shifted and many who are traditionally cynical about the prospect for system changes are going to be surprised by the amount of support for rock 'em, sock 'em, shake 'em up, sweeping changes of this kind," Gore said.

"That's what the American people want and the American people are dead right in wanting it. This government has grown stale, wasteful, inefficient, bureaucratic and is failing the American people."

Many of the changes would upset labor groups and step on the toes of legislators whose influence would be diminished by changing the budget, personnel and purchasing systems they now oversee. Gore said he is ready for the backlash.

Asked if he could guarantee that the plan would not force layoffs of federal employees, Gore said, "There is no iron-clad guarantee, but there is an iron-clad commitment to do everything possible to manage this transition extremely well so that those who are affected have other jobs and any exceptions to that rule will be few and far between."

The report is the first step in a slow process to "reinvent" the government, Gore said.

"Any effort to change the culture of a large organization will take time, perhaps eight to 10 years," Gore said.

by CNB