Fedweek

In the new Congress that starts in January the leadership is set to change on the two main committees handling federal employment matters. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., will have to give up chairmanship of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee due to term limits on the length of committee chairmanships. The most likely replacement is Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah, chair of the subcommittee on national security; another possibility could be Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., chair of the government operations subcommittee and a former chair of what was then called the civil service subcommittee. One federal employment measure Chaffetz has pushed in particular would require the firing of federal employees found to be seriously delinquent on their taxes. He also sponsored the House version of the administratively uncontrollable overtime reform bill. Elections always set off a reshuffling of assignments and it could be some time until the complete lineups of the full committees and their subcommittees are set.