Lawmakers form new caucus to advocate for federal workforce reforms

Following a year of the Trump administration’s overhauls to the civil service, a bicameral group of lawmakers on Wednesday launched a congressional caucus focused on the federal workforce.

Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.), along with Reps. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.), Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) joined federal unions and good government organizations to announce the newly formed Federal Workforce Caucus. The group aims to more cohesively advocate for federal employees.

“What you’re seeing here is even more of a collective effort at this particular moment in time,” Van Hollen, a co-chairman of the new caucus, said during a Feb. 4 press conference. “This caucus is going to help respond to the ongoing, clear and present danger posed by this administration.”

Lawmakers said in the immediate term they plan to push back against some of the Trump administration’s recent workforce overhauls, such as changes to civil service protections, collective bargaining and federal hiring practices. Over time, the caucus will also focus on longer-term reforms for the federal workforce, seeking to improve employee recruitment, retention and morale.

“We know that there’s a lot of damage that has been done,” said Walkinshaw, a co-chairman of the caucus. “But there is an opportunity moving forward to rebuild from that damage an even better federal government and an even stronger federal workforce that’s more effective and even more efficient. That’s what this caucus will help us to do.”

The launch of the caucus comes after a year of major changes for the federal workforce under the Trump administration, including staffing reductions, overhauls of performance standards and the reshaping of probationary period rules.

“We’re using this crisis as a catalyst for real change, as a way to use the decimation and attempts and threats to the federal workforce as a way of rebuilding and reimagining a workforce that truly reflects the people and is able to serve the people, so that we ensure that on the other side of this crisis there is real change,” Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said during Wednesday’s press conference.

Lawmakers said they are also watching for further workforce reforms from the Trump administration, including the Office of Personnel Management’s imminent final rule for the Schedule Policy/Career employment classification. Once finalized, the regulations will allow agencies to reclassify tens of thousands of career federal employees in “policy-influencing” positions to make them at-will workers and easier to remove from their jobs.

“This directly undermines the whole idea behind the merit-based civil service — we will fight that,” Van Hollen said.

Members of the new Federal Workforce Caucus, which includes at least some bipartisan support, are expected to meet regularly with leaders from federal unions, employee groups and other organizations. The group plans to propose legislation and workforce policies focused on long-term improvements to the career civil service.

The Partnership for Public Service, American Federation of Government Employees, National Federation of Federal Employees and National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, among several others, are also partners in the new caucus.

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