You can’t drain the swamp unless you fire the swamp
Dec. 11, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging Congress to attach the language of H.R. 559, the MERIT Act, to the December spending bill as a rider to expedite the firing of bad federal employees:
“Nancy Pelosi is poised to assume control of the House of Representatives in January, so this is the last chance to rein in the out of control federal bureaucracy. By attaching a rider to the December federal government spending bill, Congress could make it easier to fire bad federal employees while preserving due process. This rider would institute the same reforms that were implemented at the Veterans Administration to several other elements of the federal bureaucracy. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has passed revised language for the MERIT Act (H.R. 559) which accomplishes this swamp draining mission.
“Under current civil service rules, it can take years just to complete a single firing, resulting in a pathetic 0.5 percent firing rate which lags far below that of the private sector. Under the VA reforms, firings rose 26 percent initially in the department, and real accountability has been restored. The same could be done for more of the federal workforce. If the MERIT Act passes now as a budget rider, the GOP will have at least created an opportunity to drain the swamp rather than wallowing in it for the eight additional Cabinet level agencies that would be covered.”
Attachments:
Letter to Congress in favor of MERIT Act, Dec. 11, 2018 at https://getliberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/MERITActLetter12-11-18.pdf
“Abuse and inefficiency rampant within U.S. civil service,” By Natalia Castro, Sept. 4, 2018 at http://algresearch.org/2018/09/abuse-and-inefficiency-rampant-within-u-s-civil-service/
Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 1003 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.
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