The federal government has added approximately 188,000 new employees (excluding temporary census workers) since 2008. Implementing a policy whereby the government only hires one person for every two who leave civilian government service until the workforce is reduced to pre-Obama levels would result in significant savings for taxpayers. Under this proposal the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs are exempt from this requirement, and the President is provided flexibility to distribute newly hired employees by need.