As part of the Transportation-Treasury appropriations
bill for fiscal 2006 (HR-3058)—a bill that covers
the Office of Personnel Management, among certain
other larger independent agencies—the House is
attempting to steer certain hiring and other policies,
according to a Congressional Research Service analysis.
The House has passed its version, while the Senate
version is still pending a floor vote. A conference
would follow.
CRS noted language in the committee report accompanying
the bill, the Appropriations Committee told OPM to
continue to implement and refine the new DHS and DoD
personnel systems before “bringing the system” to other
agencies and departments.
Also, a fiscal 2006 operating plan, signed by the OPM
director, must be submitted to the House and Senate
Appropriations Committees within 60 days and include
funding levels for the various offices, centers,
programs, and initiatives in the budget justification.
OPM is to include “clear, detailed, and concise”
information in its budget justification on the funding
and measurement of programs.
OPM and the Office of Management and Budget also would
have to submit a report to Congress within 90 days
after the act’s enactment on: “how many veterans and
disabled veterans are employed in the federal government
by department and agency, including in the Executive
Office of the President, the barriers that exist to
hiring veterans and disabled veterans, and ways to
increase the number of veterans and disabled veterans
employed in the government to the level employed at the
time of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978,” CRS wrote.
It added: ” Notable among the funding recommended by the
committee is $680,000 for OPM to partner with the
Partnership for Public Service ‘to identify successful
recruitment models across different college campuses’
for application to the federal government and a
reduction of $3 million from the Center for Financial
Services because the budget request did not support
costs related to performance management, program
evaluation, and research projects.”
OMB’s statement of administration policy on the
legislation identifies the $3 million funding reduction
and the prohibition on expanding civil service reform
to other agencies at this time as among the provisions
that “would impede” implementation of the President’s
Management Agenda and cautioned that, “if the final
version of the bill were to significantly erode the
PMA, the President’s senior advisors would recommend
he veto the bill.”
