Mr. Trump announced that he would 'streamline the payroll'

President Donald Trump said he has no plans to fill many vacant positions in federal agencies because the current apparatus is too cumbersome.

President Donald Trump. Photo: Reuters

“I generally won’t be filling a lot of the positions that have traditionally been filled because I don’t see a need for them,” President Trump said in an interview with Forbes on October 10.

“I mean, if you look at some of the government agencies, you see how bloated they are. It’s completely unnecessary. There are hundreds of thousands of people in these agencies,” Trump added.

This is not the first time the US leader has mentioned leaving many positions vacant in the US government. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Mr. Trump repeatedly declared that he would “drain the swamp,” implying that he would clean up the apparatus and eliminate corruption, while reducing the size of the federal government.

Still, critics have criticized President Trump for failing to fill key positions. The State Department, the agency responsible for foreign relations and global foreign policy, remains vacancy-filled, with ambassadors to several key countries yet to be appointed.

In addition to the appointment restrictions, many positions in the federal government are still “waiting” because the Senate has not yet formally voted on them. A recent Washington Post tally shows that the Senate has only approved 142 nominees proposed by President Trump, while another 165 are still waiting despite being formally nominated.

According to Dan Tri