WH: Bill would prevent the replacement of qualified experts with political loyalists. Image: Orhan Cam/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffWith the House now having again acted to bar creation of a future Schedule F by executive order, attention has turned to the Senate, with several potential courses open for a bill that is now a high priority for Democrats to get enacted into law this year.
The House vote last week on a freestanding bill (HR-302) follows a July vote on an amendment to the DoD authorization bill (HR-7900) to prevent an order like the one that President Trump issued in October 2020. That essentially would have turned such positions into politically appointive positions by removing appeal and union representation rights and ending the requirement for competition in filling those positions. President Biden revoked that order as one of his first actions.
After the latest House voting – which included defeating a Republican amendment that would have done the opposite of the bill’s intent and put a Schedule F into law – federal employee organizations and several Senate Democrats urged the Senate to take up and pass its own version (S-4702). The White House also supported enactment, saying the bill “would help preserve federal employee due process rights and civil service protections, while also preventing any administration from firing qualified experts and replacing them with political loyalists.”
However, in both House votes, the language passed with support from only a half-dozen Republicans, making it doubtful there would be the needed 10 votes from Republicans under Senate rules for passing most individual bills. A more likely route to approval may be as part of the defense spending bill, which is considered an annual “must-pass” and that commonly becomes the vehicle for proposals that would not pass as individual bills.
The Senate version of that bill has cleared the committee level but scheduling for floor voting is uncertain, with Congress expecting to recess at the end of this month until a post-election session from mid-November through December.
Backers of the language to block another Schedule F could offer it as an amendment that would need only a simple majority, with Vice President Harris available to break a potential tie. Or, the Senate members of a conference with the House that would be needed to resolve differences between the two bills could accept the House language in producing a final bill that would be brought to another round of voting.
The final version of the defense spending bill typically passes both chambers with ease even though it may contain provisions objectionable to one party or the other.
Another option would be to attach language to another needed measure, such as one to fund the government through fiscal 2023, which starts October 1. Senate sponsors of a Schedule F ban included such language in a draft appropriations bill for the entire year but only a stopgap bill is expected to pass before the November elections.
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