April 9, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging members of the House to cosponsor H.R. 559, the Modern Employment Reform, Improvement, and Transformation Act of 2017 or the MERIT Act of 2017 offered by U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) and the House to pass it:

“Every House Member should support the MERIT Act, which would expedite the removal of federal employees who have engaged in misconduct or are simply not performing, while limiting appeals to 30 days. Under current law it can take multiple years to remove an employee. A system that was initially designed to stop political manipulation of the civil service has become an unhealthy protection of bad behavior. Many Americans wonder how civil servants at the Justice Department who abused their power still have their jobs. The reason is because of antiquated civil service protections. Congress has already managed to reform this problem at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and it’s working, now it needs to be allowed to work for all the other departments and agencies to hold federal employees accountable for their actions. This is a bill whose time has come.”

Attachments:

“Inside the uncivil service,” By Don Todd, July 28, 2014 at http://dailytorch.com/2014/07/inside-uncivil-service/

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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