“Reduce the size of the federal government workforce by 25% within 5 years.”
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Adversarial re-check: all three sources cited by the prior rating are real and live, and each says what was claimed. The govinfo text of S. 295 (119th Congress), introduced January 29, 2025, confirms the bill would bar total federal employment from exceeding '90 percent of the total number of Federal employees in all agencies as of September 30, 2025' and limits agencies to 'not appoint more than 1 individual for every 3 Federal employees retiring or otherwise separating.' Pew confirms 'The federal workforce shrank by 10.3% in 2025, or a net of nearly 238,000 workers.' The promise itself is verified as Scott's own: Government Executive (Feb. 2022) reported on his Rescue America plan that 'he would lead the charge to slash 25% of the federal workforce within five years.' ONE CORRECTION to the prior rationale: Scott did NOT originate S. 295. GovInfo's bill record lists Ron Johnson (WI) as sponsor and Rick Scott (FL) as cosponsor; Scott is the sole original cosponsor, not the lead. That overstatement alone would push toward ATTEMPTED. However, independent evidence not in the prior rating sustains CHAMPIONED on the activity axis: Scott's own Senate office documents that on March 4, 2025 he LED Rep. Andy Harris and 19 other Republicans in a letter to GOP leadership demanding they reject any funding deal that would 'tie the hands of the President and prohibit DOGE from continuing their efforts,' and he joined the Senate DOGE Caucus and publicly defended DOGE's federal job cuts. That is self-initiated leadership well beyond a single supporting vote. Same-standard test applied: a member of the opposing party who promised a 25% cut to some agency, then co-introduced a 10% version that died in committee AND personally organized a 21-member leadership letter defending the executive downsizing drive, would likewise draw CHAMPIONED under this rubric, which explicitly allows the label 'even if not fully enacted.' FULL is wrong because the 10.3% contraction came from executive hiring freezes, deferred resignations and RIFs, not from anything Scott enacted, and it is well short of 25%. PARTIAL is the closest rival (roughly 40% of the target magnitude has materialized) but under-credits the leadership and over-credits Scott for executive-branch action he did not control. No evidence found of Scott acting against the promise. Confidence raised from 0.55 to 0.70 on the strength of the added leadership evidence, held below 0.8 because his single legislative vehicle targets 10% not 25% and remains stuck in the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
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