President Trump has many willing partners in Congress, and it was evident on March 25 when Republican members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee marked up four anti-federal worker bills, including one that would allow Trump to unilaterally abolish federal agencies and fire federal workers without congressional oversight.
H.R. 1295, the Reorganizing Government Act, introduced by Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., would surrender congressional power to the executive branch by expanding the administration’s statutory reorganization authority, encouraging further attacks on the nation’s civil service. Under the bill, Trump’s mass firings and shutting down of agencies would only need a simple majority instead of the usual 60-vote threshold.
The committee voted along the party line to approve the bill, but it is unlikely to be enacted as they don’t have 60 votes in the Senate to pass.
Democratic members of Congress pointed out the authoritarian nature of this administration as Trump and Elon Musk have been found to have violated the law and the Constitution several times. To give Trump a free reign to do whatever he wants is a no-go.
“Well, congressional Republicans have finally admitted with this bill that President Trump and Elon Musk do not have the legal authority to delete whole federal agencies,” said Committee Ranking Member Gerry Connolly, D-Va. “Nor do they have the legal authority to take a chainsaw to essential programs like Social Security and Medicaid or Medicare or to purge federal workers that care for veterans, keep our food supply safe or fight cancer.
“Congressional Republicans also know these dangerous, deeply unpopular cuts will face a real challenge in congressional approvals to regular order as they have in the past,” Connolly added. “H.R. 1295 … is a desperate attempt to circumvent normal congressional progress. The bill isn’t about reorganizing the government; it’s about dismantling it.”
Comer, the bill’s sponsor, claimed Congress retains oversight but was unable to identify that language in the bill when pressed by Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., who, after the exchange, concluded, “I strongly oppose this bill because this is a blank check to Donald Trump and Elon Musk to continue to dismantle the federal government.”
“The reason they are pushing for this bill is because Donald Trump, Elon Musk and DOGE have already been found consistently to be acting outside of the law in their mass layoffs and agency closures by the courts,” said Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz. “Now, instead of defending their own powers, congressional Republicans are pushing forward this bill to hand over their powers to the president.”
The committee also passed along the party line other anti-worker bills, including:
H.R. 1210, the “Protecting Taxpayers’ Wallet Act,” which, if enacted, would charge federal labor unions like AFGE for the use of official time, office space, and equipment. Official time is the practice in which federal managers and employees work together to make the government more efficient, productive, and just. It ensures federal agencies can efficiently resolve disputes, address issues of discrimination or retaliation, and propose improvements in the workplace. The federal government covers the cost of official time activities because, under federal law, unions must provide fair representation to all employees at the worksite – not just those who pay dues. H.R. 1210 would place an undue financial burden on unions and undermine their ability to provide full representational services to all federal employees who have elected union representation.
H.R. 2174, the “Paycheck Protection Act,” which, if enacted, would eliminate voluntary payroll deduction for federal union dues, making it harder for employees to choose to pay dues voluntarily. The bill singles out union dues for restrictions that do not apply to other voluntary payroll deductions, such as charitable contributions or routine bill payments. Payroll deduction is a standard practice throughout both the public and private sectors.
H.R. 2249, the “Preserving Presidential Management Authority Act,” which would allow the president to terminate any provision of a federal collective bargaining agreement if it conflicts with any executive order or presidential directive. Such a move would undermine the entire system of collective bargaining and make federal workers’ negotiating rights meaningless.
AFGE sent a letter to the committee leadership opposing the bills.
“Taken together, these four bills would have a profoundly negative impact on federal workers and their ability to organize and have a voice in the workplace. They would undermine workplace fairness, disrupt labor-management relations, and strip employees of their rights to freely associate and represent one another,” AFGE Acting Legislative Director Daniel Horowitz said in the letter.
“The administration and Elon Musk’s DOGE have already shown a profound disregard for Congress’s role in establishing, funding, and overseeing government agencies,” he added. “AFGE members at USAID, the Department of Education, the Agency for Global Media, and many other departments and agencies are already suffering the ill effects from the administration’s lawless actions. Expanding the administration’s statutory reorganization authority, as H.R. 1295 does, only encourages further attacks on the nation’s civil service.”
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