Thursday, April 18, 2019

BILLS HOLDING FEDERAL EMPLOYEES ACCOUNTABLE FOR MISCONDUCT INTRODUCED

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by: Lloyd Smucker (R-PA, 16th)

Washington, D.C. - April 18, 2019 - (The Ponder News) -- This week, U.S. Reps. Lloyd Smucker (R-Pa.) and Francis Rooney (R-Fla.) introduced legislation to hold federal agency employees accountable for misconduct.

The two introduced the Department of Labor Accountability Act and the Department of Education Whistleblower Protection Act, which give the two departments more authority to discipline or fire employees who have engaged in misconduct and would shorten the appeals process which often lasts several years. The bills also grant the department Secretary the authority to revoke bonuses for underperforming employees and in some cases would reduce the pensions of executive-level employees disciplined by the department.

“Employees deserve proper protections and the freedom to report misconduct – and employees at fault shouldn’t be receiving bonuses after behaving badly,” Smucker said. “This bill is a step to end the bureaucratic status quo resisting reforms and rewarding bad actors for their poor behaviors.”

“We must make sure that federal agencies have the tools to hold their employees accountable in order to safeguard taxpayer dollars against waste and fraud,” Rooney said. “This legislation provides these tools by allowing the Secretaries of Education and Labor to dismiss or discipline bad employees based on performance or misconduct. Our agencies must be able to address the bad actors that are not working in the best interest of the American people.”

Accountability is a priority of President Donald Trump, who has publicly voiced his support for promoting accountability within federal agencies.

Smucker and Rooney previously introduced these bills in the 115th Congress, when the House passed the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act by a bipartisan vote of 368-55. Another bill, the Department of Homeland Security FIRM Act, was included in the DHS reauthorization bill signed into law last year.

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