House, Senate Pass Workforce Bills; Some Bipartisan, Some Contentious

A slew of legislation that would impact federal workers is in the spotlight in both the House and Senate. The related committees in both chambers have been busy debating and advancing such legislation.

Senate Bills

Over in the Senate, two notable pieces of the legislation, the Telework Transparency Act (S. 4043) and the Dismantling Outdated Obstacles and Barriers to Individual Employment—or DOOBIE Act (S. 4711), both advanced out of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

The Telework Transparency Act passed on an 11-0 vote. The act requires federal agencies to take several actions on telework including publishing telework policies on their websites, analyzing the impact of telework on federal building occupancy rates, and establishing proper systems to track use of telework. 

The DOOBIE Act advanced on a 9-5 vote. The bill makes it easier to hire workers who used marijuana in the past. It codifies prior executive branch changes that removed past marijuana usage as the sole reason for denial of a federal job or a security clearance. The legislation would align federal law with current guidance from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

Contention in the House

Over in the House, it was a much more partisan atmosphere, as Republicans advanced two bills out of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. 

A bill that would require the annual Federal Employees Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) to have specific questions for federal managers prompted some fierce debate, even as it passed the committee 22-18.

The Manager Attitudes and Notions According to Government Employee Responses—or MANAGER Act (H.R. 9593), was pushed by Republicans.

“While that survey is completed by all federal employees, there are no specific questions for supervisors, so the unique views of managers is unaccounted for,” said House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY).

But Democrats, while agreeing that it’s important to hear feedback from managers, questioned the intent and goals of the legislation.

“It’s unclear whether the intent of the proposed legislation is to require a new managerial section to the existing Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, or to require a standalone annual survey of managers,” said Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD). “This basic ambiguity suggests the survey was not designed with practical application in mind. Moreover, the bill prescribes specific questions that are hyper-focused on the punitive responsibilities of senior managers.”

Government Operations and the Workforce Subcommittee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-TX) and bill sponsor suggested that Democrats may be scared the survey may reveal failures of telework and/or Biden Administration policies.

“We in fact did not go for the most negative parts of this addition of words to be added and questions to be asked; we went to the ones managers themselves have provided us,” said Representative Sessions.

Sessions said he was open to working with Democrats on revising the survey questions, but was steadfast in supporting the idea of directly surveying federal managers annually, citing his private sector experience.

Also advancing on a 21-18 vote was the Protecting Taxpayers’ Wallets Act (H.R. 9594). 

The legislation, sponsored by Representative Scott Perry (R-PA), takes aim at unions and official time. It requires federal agencies to charge federal employee unions for the salaries associated with union officials’ use of official time, as well as for office space. Agencies could also decertify a union that doesn’t pay up.

“We’re not saying that bargaining unit activities shouldn’t occur. But that time should be compensated, because you’re not doing what you were really hired for,” said Representative Perry.

Ranking member Raskin called the legislation “simple union busting.”