WASHINGTON - Today, Subcommittee on Government Operations Ranking Member Jody Hice (R-Ga.) introduced the Accountable Federal Employees Act (H.R. 7095) to reform the under-performing, inefficient, and unaccountable federal bureaucracy by enabling the discipline and removal of failing federal employees. Underperforming federal employees are notoriously hard to discipline or remove and continue to hinder agency missions. This legislation solidifies President Trump’s past executive orders which sought to hold taxpayer-funded employees accountable and reform the federal workforce.
“Americans are suffering at the hands of under-performing federal employees. But unfortunately, Democrats have only sought to protect and reward inadequate job performance with bulletproof job security and a plethora of taxpayer-funded benefits rather than holding these employees accountable for their work. It’s time for Congress to ensure federal agencies meet their missions, and that starts with holding bureaucrats accountable to the American people," said Subcommittee Ranking Member Hice. “I’m proud to introduce the Accountable Federal Employees Act, which reigns in the unelected, unaccountable federal bureaucracy and cements President Trump’s ground-breaking policies to address failing employees. Federal employees serve hardworking American taxpayers, and we must ensure the taxpayers’ investment in the federal government is well spent."
Background: Year after year, the wide majority of federal employees attest in the Federal Employees Viewpoint Survey that the federal government deals ineffectively with their poorly performing colleagues. Prominent among the reasons for this problem are provisions in federal employee union contracts that make it too hard to discipline and remove failing employees. Making matters worse, these contracts often fail to require all employees to focus full-time on performing their jobs. Instead, they allow federal workers to devote excessive taxpayer-funded time to union activities.
The Trump Administration attempted to tackle these problems head-on through a series of ground-breaking executive orders to reform the federal workforce. President Biden rescinded these orders after taking office.
The Accountable Federal Employees Act resolves these matters in one fell swoop, putting into law the full terms of each relevant executive order issued by President Trump.
