Lawmakers Launch New Effort to Stop Politicization of Federal Workforce
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Lawmakers are trying again to codify civil service protections and prevent future presidents from issuing an order similar to President Trump’s Schedule F. The Schedule F order would have moved large chunks of the federal workforce to essentially at-will employment.
Representative Gerry Connolly (D-VA) introduced the Saving the Civil Service Act with Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) as cosponsor.
“The former President’s attempt to remove qualified experts and replace them with political loyalists was a direct threat to our national security and our government’s ability to function the way the American people expect it to. Expertise, not political fealty, must define our civil service,” said Representative Connolly in a statement.
Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced the legislation on the Senate side, with 13 democrats and one independent as cosponsors.
The current bill is similar to the Preventing a Patronage System Act from the previous Congress. That bill was included in the House version of the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), but did not make it into the final legislation.
“Our best path to get this passed is to get it passed as part of the defense bill,” Senator Kaine told Federal News Network about the new bill this year, “It’s going to be late in the year. We’re probably talking about no earlier than September, but we’ll work to get Republican votes.”
The bill contains some new provisions including:
· The Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must approve the reclassification of jobs from the competitive service into Schedule C.
· Agencies can only reclassify one percent of their workforces or five employees whichever is more, over the course of a four-year presidential term.
· An employee must consent before reclassification.
· OPM must report the transferred positions and the reason why.
The Saving the Civil Service Act has gained broad support among organizations representing federal workers.
“We hope both parties see the value of a highly skilled, apolitical civil service hired for what they know and not who they know,” said Everett Kelley, National President, American Federation of Government Employees.
“Every member of Congress must choose: You either support transparency and accountability through this bill or you support rogue political operatives who covertly run private agendas while on the Taxpayer’s dime. You cannot have it both ways,” said Mitch MacDonald, President of the NOAA Attorneys Guild.
Still, GovExec reports that conservatives are “prepared to bring back the initiative immediately upon the election of a Republican president” and have already identified “50,000 federal workers to target.”