Thanks to the staunch supporters of federal workers from both sides of the aisle, anti-federal worker provisions were dropped from the final version of President Trump’s Big Retaliation Bill that has passed both the House and Senate.
On July 1, the Senate narrowly passed the bill after Vice President JD Vance cast the tiebreaking vote. Two days later, the House passed it on a 218-214 vote, which was mostly along party lines.
During the days and hours leading up to the House and Senate votes, AFGE worked hard to oppose measures that would have devastated the federal workforce, the civil service, and unions’ ability to perform our mission to represent federal employees in the workplace.
AFGE thanks Democratic and Republican members of Congress who did not waver in their support for federal workers and the work they do serving the American people.
While we can breathe a sigh of relief that federal workers escaped direct harm in the bill, our fight to defend the civil service and those who work for it is far from over. We still face significant and grave challenges with respect to regular FY2026 government funding when the current fiscal year ends on Sept. 30 and the anti-civil service executive orders that remain subject to lawsuits.
Here’s a quick look at what we have prevented in the bill:
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