A group of House Democrats, led by Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia, introduced two pieces of legislation today to rebuild the federal workforce and protect federal workers.
The REHIRE Act would make it easier for federal employees wrongfully fired by the Trump Administration to be rehired, while the PREP Act would codify rules governing probationary status for federal employees to prevent future abuses like the mass firings illegally directed by Trump and Elon Musk.
“Donald Trump and Elon Musk are doing unprecedented damage to the federal workforce and the services they provide which the American people depend on. Congress should lose no time in working to repair that damage and pass laws to stop it from happening again. My bills would pave the way to rehire many of the federal workers who devoted their careers to serving the American people, and bringing their essential expertise and experience back to public service. They would also make reforms that would prevent future mass purges like those employed by Trump and Musk, by clarifying and codifying protections in law. Congress allowed this disaster to happen, and Congress must lead in fixing it,” Beyer, who represents a Northern Virginia congressional district with one of the largest concentrations of federal workers in the U.S., said.
The REHIRE Act would address the reckless and nonsensical firing of much-needed and skilled employees with exemplary standing. The bill extends the hiring preference to career federal employees that have been involuntarily removed from their positions in the competitive service during the Trump Administration.
The REHIRE Act is cosponsored by Reps. Gwen Moore of Wisconsin, Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Steve Cohen of Tennessee, Sarah Elfreth of Maryland, Terri Sewell of Alabama, David Scott of Georgia, Chellie Pingree of Maine and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton of Washington, D.C.
The PREP Act would reform the probationary process which impacts both new hires and feds with new jobs or recent promotions to prevent future executive misuse. No across-the-board probationary timeline exists that all agencies must adhere to. The bill will provide clarity to agencies with probationary periods standards within the competitive service and will remove agency discretion from retroactively reclassifying permanent employees as probationary at the will of the executive. The bill will also codify into law the following probationary timelines: one year for new hires and six months for non-new hires (existing feds with new jobs or promotions).
The PREP Act is cosponsored by Reps. Gwen Moore of Wisconsin, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Steve Cohen of Tennessee, Sarah Elfreth of Maryland, Terri Sewell of Alabama, David Scott of Georgia, Chellie Pingree of Maine and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton of Washington, D.C.
The REHIRE Act and PREP Act are endorsed by the American Federation of Government Employees, the National Treasury Employees Union, the National Federation of Federal Employees, the Service Employees International Union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, and the Endangered Species Coalition.
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Rebecca Barnabi
