Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Republicans released the text of their reconciliation bill on Friday, which contains language that would make it easier for the Trump administration to fire Federal employees.
The budget reconciliation bill would require new Federal employees to choose whether they want to become employed on an “at-will basis” – waiving their civil service protections – or face a pay cut via increased retirement contributions. The budget reconciliation bill passed by the House last month includes the same language.
The language is reminiscent of the Trump administration’s “Schedule F” workforce policy, now known as “Schedule Policy/Career,” which made Federal employees deemed to be in policy-making positions “at-will.”
President Donald Trump issued an executive order in January to implement the Schedule Policy/Career classification.
“Unfortunately, the Senate has included House-passed language to force new federal employees to choose between merit-based civil service protections or a 5% pay cut via increased retirement contributions,” National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE) National President William Shackelford said in a statement.
“This incentivizes a policy of converting the civil service into a haven for political cronies and corruption, harkening back to the days of the spoils system. It also forces all new employees to pay an additional 5% into retirement, an across-the-board pay cut that will further hamper recruitment efforts,” Shackelford said.
Shackelford noted that the Senate “rightly rejected” a provision in the House budget reconciliation bill that would have rolled back retirement benefits for vested Federal employees.
Specifically, the House version aimed to eliminate the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) annuity supplement, but the Senate dropped that provision from its version.
“These are earned benefits, not gifts, and should never be cut after the fact,” Shackelford said.
Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., acting ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, also criticized the Senate’s budget reconciliation bill. The Democratic lawmaker said the bill would gut the take-home pay and workforce protections of nonpartisan civil servants.
“The Senate Republicans’ bill expands the Trump Administration’s unprecedented assault on lifesaving programs and the dedicated civil servants who keep our federal government running. The bill would provide a backdoor to implement Schedule P/C, formerly known as Schedule F, which will enable a massive expansion of the purge of nonpartisan public servants in favor of partisan loyalists,” Rep. Lynch said in a statement.