Video: Senate Republicans Block Kaine, Warner, & Van Hollen Effort to Pass Bill to Protect Federal Workers

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark R. Warner (both D-VA), alongside U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), spoke on the Senate floor and pushed for a unanimous consent agreement in the Senate to pass the Saving the Civil Service Act, legislation led by Kaine to prevent any position in the federal civil service from being reclassified outside of merit system principles without the express consent of Congress. The agreement was blocked by Senate Republicans. The senators’ push comes as President-elect Trump plans to reinstate and expand Schedule F, a classification of federal workers that would make it easier for any administration to hire political loyalists and fire qualified experts.

“[Federal workers] work to ensure critical resources and services are provided in countless communities across America. They work to keep Social Security up and running, manage veterans’ benefits, research medical diseases, and develop cures and vaccines,” said Kaine on the Senate floor. “Our nation has recognized the value of a non-partisan and merit-based system to carry out federal government functions. Having a dedicated civil service based on merit rather than political loyalties is in the best interest of everyone. It not only promotes professionalism and reduces cronyism, it also promotes stability.”

Kaine continued, “There have been attempts in recent years to erode the independence of the federal civil service… I’m here on the floor where I will – in a minute – request Senate passage of the Saving the Civil Service Act. This bill upholds the merit system principles to ensure that the federal government is equipped with the most qualified and experienced individuals.”

“One of the great strengths of our democracy is that we have an independent, merit-based civil service… The vast majority of federal workers that I interact with, most could have done better in the private sector,” said Warner. “They do this work because of this sense of public service. You get rid of a merit-based system and do it all for political patronage – who would join that kind of government?”

“This is a critical piece of legislation to protect one of America’s best innovations, which is the idea of a nonpartisan, merit-based federal workforce – one that serves all Americans regardless of political affiliation,” said Van Hollen. “We've heard a lot about the need for more government efficiency, and count me in. But I will not support, and we will not support, something that under the cover of the claim of government efficiency, is simply a Trojan Horse to undo our merit-based system and turn it into one based on political cronyism – because that leads to corruption, which will erode the public's confidence and the quality of service that our federal civil servants provide.”

Earlier today, the senators held a press conference calling on Congress to protect federal workers. They were joined by U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI), as well as American Federation of Government Employees President Everett Kelly, National Federation of Federal Employees Executive Director Steve Lenkart, and International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Secretary-Treasurer Gay Henson.

PHOTOS AND VIDEOS OF PRESS CONFERENCE AND FLOOR SPEECHES ARE AVAILABLE HERE

During his first term, President-elect Trump signed Executive Order 13957, creating Schedule F in the excepted government service. The excepted government service is any federal or civil service positions that are not in the competitive service or the Senior Executive Service. This executive order, had it not been repealed by President Biden in January 2021, would have required agency heads to reclassify “policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating” positions to a newly created Schedule F category of federal employees that would remove their due process rights and civil service protections. Currently, new presidents can make about 4,000 political appointments, approximately 1,200 of which must be confirmed by the Senate. This reclassification could increase the number of political appointments from 4,000 to approximately 50,000.

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