New Year, New Opportunities for Compromise
The prompt for this round of the FEDforum is New Year, New… Tell us what is new for your organization this year!
It is easy to look at the newly divided Congress with pessimism, but at the Senior Executives Association (SEA), we see it as a new opportunity. When the House and Senate are ideologically divided, lawmakers must find areas of agreement to get anything done. This year, SEA is focusing on highlighting bipartisan opportunities to support federal career leadership.
Civil service modernization should be a bipartisan prerogative: regardless of how large or small the government should be, it needs to work on behalf of the American people. Core good government principles are also mutually agreeable, such as building a workforce based on merit, transparency, and accountability. While many agree significant change is needed to bring these ideals back to reality, the current political climate indicates that large, systemic change to federal governance is too politically complicated to be actionable. So, in this new Congress, SEA will get back to basics and advocate for discrete yet meaningful reforms to improve the federal workforce.
Hiring reform presents an optimistic area for bipartisan action. For example, there is already strong interest in the Chance to Compete Act, H.R. 159. This bill would improve the candidate evaluation process by allowing agencies to share assessments with other agencies, expanding use of subject matter experts in hiring, and shifting focus to an individual’s relevant experience and skills rather than self-ratings and degrees.
This bill garnered bipartisan, bicameral support in the last Congress and the House has already prioritized the bill for consideration in this Congress, with a vote as early as Tuesday.
While this bill will not fundamentally transform federal hiring entirely, it presents a seismic shift for improving competitive service hiring and a bright spot for necessary reform. Along with the recent Office of Personnel Management (OPM) guidance on expanding internship pathways, these reforms will assist agencies in recruiting the next generation of civil servants.
Small victories and strong compromises will be the name of the game this Congress, and SEA is ready to work with any lawmaker who will work with us to make these happen.
Additionally, SEA has identified several other legislative items introduced last Congress with bipartisan support that present opportunities for success in the 118th Congress, among these:
Governmentwide Executive Councils Administration and Performance Improvement Act, providing statutory authority for the Office of Executive Councils, which resides within the General Services Administration (GSA) to assist with governmentwide policymaking entities including the Chief Acquisition Officers Council, the Chief Human Capital Officers Council, and the Performance Improvement Council.
Improving Government Efficiency and Workforce Development through Federal Executive Boards Act of 2022, codifying Federal Executive Boards focus on strengthening the management and administration of agency activities and coordination among local federal officers to implement national initiatives in that geographic area.
Honoring Civil Servants Killed in the Line of Duty Act, increasing and equalizing benefits to survivors of federal employees who die in the line of duty.
Preventing a Patronage System Act – stopping Schedule F. While we know the chances of codifying legislation to prevent a president from reclassifying federal workers into essentially at-will employment are low in this divided Congress, we will continue educating members about why it was important, and will continue engaging the bipartisan cosponsors in the House in that effort.
SEA remains confident that, amidst the noise, the new Congress will open new doors for partnership, compromise, and bipartisanship. We look forward to leading this opportunity on behalf of Senior Executives.
The column from the Senior Executives Association is part of the FEDforum, an initiative to unite voices across the federal community. The FEDforum is a space for federal employee groups to share their organizations’ initiatives and activities with the FEDmanager audience.
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