Senior House Democrats have introduced legislation to reverse President Trump’s controversial executive order that would create a new “Schedule F” classification for Federal employees in policy-making positions and make it easier to hire and fire them.
The new bill – the Saving the Civil Service Act – was introduced by Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., who chairs the House Government Operations Subcommittee, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee. The legislation would nullify President Trump’s executive order, and rescind any actions that may be taken as a result of the order.
Rep. Connolly had pledged the legislative effort earlier this week, saying that a measure to reverse the executive order might come through a standalone bill, or through spending legislation.
In announcing the bill, the House Democrats said the executive order would “remove important civil service protections and make it easier for the Administration to unfairly retaliate against Federal employees.”
“Congress must stand up to this midnight attack on civil service protections,” Rep. Connolly said. The order, he continued, “is based on nothing – no data, no evidence of a problem, no consultation with stakeholders, including Congress. It is a last ditch attempt by the Trump administration to make it easier to remove Federal employees who they deem aren’t ‘loyal enough’ to the President and return us to patronage politics.”
The executive order, Rep. Maloney said, “would replace our current nonpartisan, expert career civil service with one that is loyal only” to the President. “Congress must act to prevent this travesty from happening,” she added.
Majority Leader Hoyer pledged that “House Democrats will continue to stand with the Federal civilian workforce to prevent these harmful policies from going into effect.”
