President Donald Trump, known to be a regular “Fox & Friends” viewer, responded to Ingraham on Twitter. | Michael Reynolds/Getty Images Trump responds to Ingraham: We're trying to shrink government

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the understaffing of the executive branch under his administration has been a conscious choice as part of a larger effort to shrink government, pushing back against conservative commentator Laura Ingraham, who told Fox News that the federal government is short on manpower.

In an interview Tuesday morning on “Fox & Friends,” Ingraham noted that Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long, who is overseeing the federal response to the storm damage and flooding in Texas from Hurricane Harvey, has been in his position only since June. The storm, recovery from which Long said will take years, along with a full plate of other domestic and international issues to deal with, are proof that the Trump administration needs to be fully staffed, Ingraham said.


“We can all look at these horrific pictures, and we can conclude that a federal government does need staff. We see it acutely in need of staff in a situation like this,” Ingraham said. “This isn't the only crisis we're facing. This is massive, humanitarian. We're also facing a huge crisis with North Korea. We're facing a crisis of confidence across the country where people wonder even with President Trump in, he said he was going to drain the swamp, can we have a government that works for the people and not just have a people enslaved to the government.”

Trump, known to be a regular “Fox & Friends” viewer, responded to Ingraham on Twitter, writing that “we are not looking to fill all of those positions. Don't need many of them — reduce size of government.”

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Under Trump’s administration, the hiring rate for jobs requiring Senate confirmation has lagged relative to that of his predecessors. Of 591 key positions that require Senate confirmation, just 117 have been filled, according to a database maintained by The Washington Post and the Partnership for Public Service. An additional 106 are currently awaiting Senate confirmation, while 366 are currently without a nominee. Two individuals also have been named but not nominated to fill vacancies.

Overall, there are roughly 1,200 government jobs that require Senate confirmation.

Ingraham, in her interview with Fox News, left open the possibility that Trump had left jobs vacant as part of an effort to shrink the government, but she said the public should hear more from the White House about that plan if that is the case.

She specifically noted, as an example, that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is without a deputy even as he works on the renegotiation of NAFTA, a major policy goal of the president’s. “That's a massive undertaking and, you know, they're doing it with a much smaller staff, and it's really — it's not ideal.”

“I mean, this is a question that has to be posed to the administration. I know they have a lot on their hands, but we have to have people in place,” Ingraham said. “If there's a plan to not staff and cause the ultimate shrinkage of government, then let's hear about that as well.”

