Washington, D.C. -On Tuesday, May 21, 2019, the Subcommittee on Government Operations will hold a hearing on “The Administration’s War on a Merit Based Civil Service."
WHERE: 2154 Rayburn House Office Building
WHEN: Tuesday, May 21, 2019
TIME: 2:00 p.m.
A livestream will be broadcast here.
PURPOSE & BACKGROUND
* The purpose of this hearing is to examine the Administration’s proposal to eliminate funding from OPM and move its offices and operations into the Department of Defense (DOD), GSA, and the Executive Office of the President.
* OPM serves as the federal government’s chief human resources agency, helps to ensure that merit principles are incorporated in federal hiring practices and government operations, and administers retirement benefits and healthcare and insurance programs for more than 2.7 million active employees and 2.6 million annuitants, survivors, and family members.
* President Trump’s Fiscal Year 2020 budget request eliminates funding for OPM, requests $50 million “for costs incurred transitioning Office of Personnel Management functions to the General Services Administration," and an additional $1 million to merge the OPM Office of the Inspector General (IG) into the GSA IG.
* The Administration failed to provide many documents requested by the Committee prior to the hearing, including basic legal and quantitative information. The administration provided no information on the controversial parts of the plan, such as eliminating the statutory independence of civil service policy functions. On March 22, the Subcommittee sent a letter to Acting Director Weichert to request 13 categories of documents related to the reorganization of OPM. On April 29, the Subcommittee received only 387 pages total from OPM, most of which related only to the Administration’s move of National Background Investigations Bureau from OPM to DOD.
* On April 4, 2019, Chairman Connolly and Chairman Elijah E. Cummings led House Democrats in a letter urging the House Committee on Appropriations to deny funds for the implementation of the Administration’s reorganization plan and the proposed merger.
WITNESSES
Panel One
The Honorable Margaret Weichert
Deputy Director of Management
Office of Management and Budget
Acting Director
Office of Personnel Management
Triana McNeil
Acting Director of Strategic Issues
Government Accountability Office
Norbert E. Vint
Acting Inspector General
Office of Personnel Management Office of Inspector General
Panel Two
J. David Cox, Sr.
National President
American Federation of Government Employees
Ken Thomas
National President
National Active and Retired Federal Employees
Linda Springer
Former Director of the Office of Personnel Management
