Process Remains a Long One

The House Armed Services panel’s action is a key development in the DoD personnel reform debate, since the provisions are now attached to a bill that is “must-pass” legislation, and that could come to a full House vote quickly. The action follows approval of a measure (HR-1836) by the House Government Reform Committee, the main panel handling civil service issues in the House, containing many of the same provisions as well as numerous additional changes (see items below). Thus, both House committees with jurisdiction over the issues now have consented to the ideas. However, the counterpart Senate committees have taken no similar action; the pending Senate DoD authorization bill is silent on civilian personnel matters. Amendments may be offered in Senate floor voting, although it appears that the details may not be settled for a number of months, following what often is a long conference between the House and Senate on the DoD authorization measure.