Bills for non-defense agencies allow less money than was allowed under the recently enacted debt ceiling law. Image: DCStockPhotography/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffEarly action by House Republicans on spending bills for the upcoming fiscal year signal fights ahead over federal personnel policies.
The Appropriations Committee has started advancing, on party-line votes, spending bills that for example would bar enforcement of a series of Biden administration executive orders on diversity, equity, inclusiveness and accessibility, including one directed specifically at the federal workplace.
Similar language is in each of the bills cleared through the subcommittee level or full committee level so far, affecting agencies including DoD, DHS, VA, Agriculture and Energy. The measure on DoD further prevents that department from carrying out its DEIA strategic plan or to “execute activities that promote or perpetuate divisive concepts related to race or sex, such as the concepts that one race or sex is inherently superior to another, or that an individual’s moral character or worth is determined by their race or sex.”
Similar language encompassing all agencies likely also will be included in the general government appropriations bill, which has not yet advanced.
The bills that have emerged so far also contain other provisions virtually guaranteed to stir opposition from the White House and congressional Democrats such as:
* The DoD bill denies a funding request for increasing the size of that department’s civilian workforce while ordering an assessment to ensure that employment is focused on “areas that directly serve the warfighter, like depots and shipyards,” in the words of a summary. It further would remove language barring numeric ceilings on civilian jobs.
* The bill covering VA would eliminate funding for that department’s office of public affairs in a dispute over how a press release from that office characterized the initial House Republican bill on the debt ceiling and asserting that the release crossed the line into political advocacy.
* The bill covering Energy would prevent that department from carrying out the administration’s “Justice40” initiative which seeks to have 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain grants and other government spending flow to “historically disadvantaged” communities.
Another point of contention is that the bills for non-defense agencies allow less money than was allowed under the recently enacted debt ceiling law, reflecting the view of many House Republicans that that law should have been more restrictive. Already there have been warnings of a potential partial government shutdown starting in October in a dispute over those funding levels. That law contained a mechanism to prevent a shutdown at the end of the current and next calendar years, but not at the end of the fiscal years.
Shutdown Meter Ticking Up a Bit
Judge Backs Suit against Firings of Probationers, but Won’t Order Reinstatements
Focus Turns to Senate on Effort to Block Trump Order against Unions
TSP Adds Detail to Upcoming Roth Conversion Feature
White House to Issue Rules on RIF, Disciplinary Policy Changes
Hill Dems Question OPM on PSHB Program After IG Slams Readiness
See also,
How Do Age and Years of Service Impact My Federal Retirement
The Best Ages for Federal Employees to Retire
