1.   Another aspect of shrinking government sales pitch is the reduction in the federal workforce.

2.   But the Republican leaders feared that plan would create a bureaucratic, unionized federal workforce that would be impossible to replace even if dramatic changes were needed.

3.   But the president, acknowledging that other federal workers face tougher times, signed an executive order Tuesday barring discrimination against parents in the federal workforce.

4.   But the Republican-led House has fiercely resisted, charging that Democrats are only trying to balloon the federal workforce and bolster unions.

5.   He has taken a leading role in such issues as the environment, telecommunications policy, the space program and downsizing the federal workforce.

6.   He said that as president he would cut the size of the federal workforce by one-third without reducing government services.

7.   However, this year the GAO added a broad new category stemming from downsizing the federal workforce.

8.   It would, of course, cost taxpayers more money to add well-trained screeners to the federal workforce and pay them a decent wage.

9.   Republican leadership had been complaining for weeks that the Democratic version would unnecessarily expand the federal workforce, and with it, union membership.

10.   Republican leaders, however, feared that plan would create a bureaucratic, unionized federal workforce that would be impossible to replace even if dramatic changes are needed.