Broad Reform Plan Bears Watching

The near future may determine the prospects, at least for this year, of enacting broad personnel policy changes advocated by the Bush administration. The administration last year released a proposal dubbed the “working for America act” seeking to change hiring, pay, promotion, appeals rights and many other policies generally along the lines of the special authorities already granted to the Homeland Security and Defense departments. However, the proposal still hasn’t been introduced formally as legislation and if progress toward enacting such a plan isn’t made early in the year, chances of enactment may be slim, in an election year in which Congress plans a shortened work schedule. Civil service leaders on Capitol Hill have been cool toward the administration’s proposal, at least until more is known about the DoD and DHS systems. However, both of those systems are the subject of court disputes that could result in indefinite delays of at least parts of those systems. The next best opportunity for the White House to get its plan moving will be the fiscal 2007 budget proposal, which is still several weeks away.