Gerald E. 'Gerry' Connolly
01/16/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/16/2025 16:17
Ranking Member Connolly, Senator Kaine, and Representatives Mfume, Fitzpatrick, Bacon Reintroduce Bipartisan Legislation to Protect the Civil Service from Politicization
Today, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, along with Reps. Kweisi Mfume,Brian Fitzpatrick,and Don Bacon,reintroduced the Saving the Civil Service Actto protect the federal workforce from politicization and political manipulation. The bipartisan legislation includes and builds on Ranking Member Connolly and Rep. Fitzpatrick's Preventing a Patronage System Act, which passed the House in September 2022. Ranking Member Connolly, Rep. Fitzpatrick, and Sen. Kaine previously introduced the legislation in the 118th Congress. Senator Tim Kaine introduced companion legislation in the U.S. Senate.
"The civil servants who make up our federal workforce are the engine that keeps our federal government running," said Ranking Member Connolly. "They are our country's greatest asset. We rely on their experience and expertise to provide every basic government service-from delivering the mail to helping families in the wake of natural disasters. The President-elect's promise to remove qualified experts and replace them with political loyalists is a direct threat to our national security and our government's ability to function the way the American people expect it to. It threatens to create a system wherein benefits and services are delivered based on the politics, not the needs, of the recipient. Expertise, not political fealty, must define our civil service."
"Every day, our nation's federal employees go to work for the American people to administer Social Security, Medicare, and veterans' benefits, protect our national security, and provide other critical services to communities across our country," said Sen. Kaine. "We must ensure our federal workers continue to be hired based on their expertise and experience, not their political party. I'm concerned by the President-elect's proposed plans to target the federal workforce, and I will keep working with my colleagues to pass this legislation to protect the merit-based federal civil service system."
"An attack on our nation's federal workforce is not only an attack on public servants and their families, but it is also an assault on the ability of the federal government to efficiently and effectively provide critical governmental services to citizens. The bipartisan legislation we introduced today would protect hardworking federal employees from the 'pendulum swings' of electoral politics," said Rep. Mfume. "The fact that this bill is supported by Members of Congress on both sides of the political aisle is an indication of the seriousness and substance of the threats being made against our friends and neighbors devoted to civil service, and signals the urgency by which we must act to protect our federal workers."
"When our nation's federal civil servants take their oath, their duty is to the American people-not political parties or partisan agendas," said Rep. Fitzpatrick. "Our bipartisan Saving the Civil Service Act is about protecting what makes our government work: integrity, fairness, and accountability. By upholding a merit-based hiring system, we ensure that federal employment serves one purpose-to deliver effective and efficient service to the people, free from the shadow of political interference."
"Our civil service employees perform research and analysis that is valuable to Congress, and we need to protect them from being unilaterally terminated just because they may be at conflict with any Administration in charge-Republican or Democrat," said Rep. Bacon. "While it is prudent to look at numbers of civilian employees, we should not strip them of due process and their civil service protections without the express permission of Congress."
On October 21, 2020, President Trump signed Executive Order 13957 creating Schedule F in the excepted service. This executive order would undermine the merit system principles of our federal workforce by requiring agency heads to reclassify "policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating" positions to a newly created Schedule F category of federal employees that removes their due process rights and civil service protections.
The Saving the Civil Service Act would ensure the civil service system cannot be politically manipulated by:
"The civil servants who make up our federal workforce are the engine that keeps our federal government running," said Ranking Member Connolly. "They are our country's greatest asset. We rely on their experience and expertise to provide every basic government service-from delivering the mail to helping families in the wake of natural disasters. The President-elect's promise to remove qualified experts and replace them with political loyalists is a direct threat to our national security and our government's ability to function the way the American people expect it to. It threatens to create a system wherein benefits and services are delivered based on the politics, not the needs, of the recipient. Expertise, not political fealty, must define our civil service."
"Every day, our nation's federal employees go to work for the American people to administer Social Security, Medicare, and veterans' benefits, protect our national security, and provide other critical services to communities across our country," said Sen. Kaine. "We must ensure our federal workers continue to be hired based on their expertise and experience, not their political party. I'm concerned by the President-elect's proposed plans to target the federal workforce, and I will keep working with my colleagues to pass this legislation to protect the merit-based federal civil service system."
"An attack on our nation's federal workforce is not only an attack on public servants and their families, but it is also an assault on the ability of the federal government to efficiently and effectively provide critical governmental services to citizens. The bipartisan legislation we introduced today would protect hardworking federal employees from the 'pendulum swings' of electoral politics," said Rep. Mfume. "The fact that this bill is supported by Members of Congress on both sides of the political aisle is an indication of the seriousness and substance of the threats being made against our friends and neighbors devoted to civil service, and signals the urgency by which we must act to protect our federal workers."
"When our nation's federal civil servants take their oath, their duty is to the American people-not political parties or partisan agendas," said Rep. Fitzpatrick. "Our bipartisan Saving the Civil Service Act is about protecting what makes our government work: integrity, fairness, and accountability. By upholding a merit-based hiring system, we ensure that federal employment serves one purpose-to deliver effective and efficient service to the people, free from the shadow of political interference."
"Our civil service employees perform research and analysis that is valuable to Congress, and we need to protect them from being unilaterally terminated just because they may be at conflict with any Administration in charge-Republican or Democrat," said Rep. Bacon. "While it is prudent to look at numbers of civilian employees, we should not strip them of due process and their civil service protections without the express permission of Congress."
On October 21, 2020, President Trump signed Executive Order 13957 creating Schedule F in the excepted service. This executive order would undermine the merit system principles of our federal workforce by requiring agency heads to reclassify "policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating" positions to a newly created Schedule F category of federal employees that removes their due process rights and civil service protections.
The Saving the Civil Service Act would ensure the civil service system cannot be politically manipulated by: