Eleven Democratic senators pressed Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag on Friday to wall off large categories of federal work from outsourcing.

Specifically, jobs involving the evaluation of contractors, preparation of budgets, development of policies and the interpretation of regulations should be considered "inherently governmental," and thus not able to be outsourced to contractors, they said.

The senators' letter to Orszag comes as OMB is expected to unveil next month a long-awaited new definition of "inherently governmental" work.

The senators urged Orszag to define "inherently governmental" work in broad terms, "to cover all sensitive functions so managers won't need designations like ‘core,' ‘critical' and mission-essential' to shield jobs they know are best performed by federal workers."

The senators said even work considered "closely associated with inherently governmental" work should remain in-house.

Finally, the lawmakers urged OMB to set deadlines for each agency to identify and insource any such work that was contracted out.

The letter was signed by Sens. Barabra Mikulski, D-Md.; Robert Byrd, D-W.Va.; Robert Casey, D-Pa.; John Kerry, D-Mass.; Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Tom Harkin, D-Iowa; Patty Murray, D-Wash.; Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.; Richard Durbin, D-Ill.; Russell Feingold, D-Wisc.; and Benjamin Cardin, D-Md.