AGA Today
New Congress
Expected to Scrutinize Government Management
By Stephen Barr
The Washington Post
Thursday, November 9, 2006; D04
The new
Congress will take a more skeptical view of the Bush administration's
approach to managing the federal government, in particular efforts to
contract out federal jobs and link employee pay raises more closely to
job performance.
Those were the
post-election predictions offered by a number of public policy experts,
union leaders and Democrats yesterday.
Policy analysts
said they expected that the Democratic takeover of the House and
possible capture of the Senate would lead to more-rigorous oversight to
root out waste, fraud and abuse in government. Federal union leaders saw
the election results as an opportunity to roll back some of the
administration's workforce initiatives.
Key members of
Congress from both parties traditionally put aside partisan differences
and work closely with one another on civil-service issues. More than
likely, the same House and Senate members will continue to cooperate on
issues important to federal employees, such as pay, benefits and
retirement.
Rep. Henry A.
Waxman (D-Calif.) is in line to take the chair of the House Government
Reform Committee, replacing Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.). Before the
election, Waxman said his priorities would be to tighten restrictions on
lobbyists, clean up federal contracting, improve whistle-blower
protections for federal employees and reduce cronyism in political
appointments.
Some employee
groups said yesterday that they expect to see Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)
serve as a bridge between Waxman and Davis on federal employee issues.
Van Hollen said he "would be happy to work with both of them," adding
that he hopes to find "some long-term resolution" that ends annual
legislative fights over contracting out of federal work.
Outsourcing
efforts "have demoralized people throughout the federal workforce," Van
Hollen said. "The amount of time, energy and anxiety spent going through
this process has far outweighed any benefit."
If the Senate
changes party control, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, a career
Democrat who won as an independent, seems likely to take the helm of the
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
The committee
is chaired by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), and she and Lieberman have
enjoyed a collegial relationship on a number of issues, including how to
restructure the Federal Emergency Management Agency after the
administration's sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina.
The shift to a
divided government could make it difficult for either side to launch
initiatives that directly affect federal employees, analysts said.
"Federal
employees should expect that things will go slow on the president's
agenda, and they have gotten a two-year break in the action," said Paul
C. Light , a New York University professor who studies public-service
issues.
George
Nesterczuk , a Republican policy adviser on civil-service issues, said
the election results would not stop the White House from continuing with
its management changes inside agencies. Still, he added, "Quite frankly,
I don't see much happening in the next two years."
Robert M. Levi
, director of government relations at the National Association of
Postmasters, noted that a number of moderate Republicans lost Tuesday,
raising the prospect that the next Congress may be more interested in
fiscal discipline.
"When the House
considers whether it wants to reduce the budget deficit, what are they
going to look at, and how are federal and postal employees going to be
impacted by the desire to reduce the budget deficit?" Levi asked.
But
congressional aides said Washington area advocates for federal employees
will resist any deficit solutions that carve into federal benefits.
Those members
include Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), who may be the next majority leader
of the House, Reps. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.),
Van Hollen and Davis and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.).
John Gage ,
president of the American Federation of Government Employees, and
Colleen M. Kelley , president of the National Treasury Employees Union,
said they would redouble efforts to block contracting plans at agencies
where they represent workers.
Gage and Ron
Ault , president of the Metal Trades Department, AFL-CIO, said defense
unions will lobby the next Congress to repeal the new National Security
Personnel System, which overhauls pay and workplace rules for Defense
Department civilians.
"We need to
kill NSPS once and for all," Ault wrote to union leaders yesterday.
Light and
others said they doubted Congress would abolish a personnel system only
two years after authorizing its creation. But Light said the election
means the NSPS will continue "at a much slower pace" and under more
rigorous oversight by Congress.