As President Donald Trump tries to reopen the country after more than a month of lockdown, Democrats say the government’s top human resources office is stonewalling their efforts to understand how and when the federal government itself will return to normal.

Specifically, the Office of Personnel Management is refusing to brief Capitol Hill on the status of the agency and federal employees’ teleworking arrangements, Democrats say.


“Congressional oversight isn’t an optional exercise to be left up to the Trump administration,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), chairman of the government operations subcommittee of the House Oversight and Reform Committee. “Our committee has serious questions about OPM’s decision-making related to Covid-19, including unclear telework guidance; a lack of actions taken to protect federal employees; and now we learn, guidance or standards to reopen government that abdicate any leadership responsibility. This lack of accountability from OPM will not be tolerated.”

OPM is essentially the federal government’s HR department: It guides the 2-million-strong federal workforce, which makes up a disproportionately large percentage of employees across the Washington, D.C. area. And decisions about how to deploy federal workers are more firmly in the control of the president -- who is eager to get the U.S. economy humming again -- than are those of America’s governors and mayors.

The requests for updates have come from a number of congressional committees, including Connolly’s subcommittee and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. But in the last three weeks, Jonathan Blyth, the head of OPM’s congressional affairs shop and the former chief of staff at the agency, has twice declined the requests, citing “a very dynamic situation with our response to covid19.”

“Congressional oversight isn’t an optional exercise to be left up to the Trump administration,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.).

“It has always been difficult to get information from this administration, but the refusal to provide Congress with a basic briefing during a pandemic is especially egregious,” said a Democratic Senate aide. “We’ve never been denied a briefing like this before.”


Blyth didn’t respond to a request for comment for this article, but an OPM spokesperson noted that his boss, the agency’s acting director, has spoken with Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), chairman of the financial services and general government subcommittee on Appropriations.

More generally, Trump officials reject Democrats’ broader criticism of the administration's handling of federal personnel issues during the crisis, stressing that the government remains open and essential services are still flowing.

“Now as conditions warrant across each state, federal agencies will be able to return operations to normal,” said a spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget. “This administration remains committed to serving the American public. Our federal workers have shown tremendous fortitude in keeping the U.S. strong.”

But Democrats’ frustrations with OPM are boiling over as the agency -- which sets HR guidelines and policies across the federal workforce -- and the Presidential Personnel Office -- which places political appointees into jobs across the administration -- are in the throes of upheaval.


Former officials and others have expressed concern in interviews that OPM’s new leadership favors sweeping changes to the federal workforce -- in ways that would fundamentally change the nature of government service.

At the same time, other top officials are seeking to align the federal workforce more squarely with President Trump’s political agenda, rankling longtime civil servants. The drive has been spearheaded by John McEntee, the 29-year-old head of PPO and a fierce Trump loyalist.

OPM is currently headed up by acting director Mike Rigas, who assumed the role in mid-March after the abrupt resignation of Dale Cabaniss, who stepped down because of alleged poor treatment by several Trump appointees. Rigas has worked as the deputy director of OPM for the last two years and is also an alum of the Heritage Foundation.

“The refusal to provide Congress with a basic briefing during a pandemic is especially egregious." A Democratic Senate aide

Rigas is holding down two jobs at the moment: He also was named late last month as the acting deputy director of management at the Office of Management and Budget.

Since taking charge, Rigas has put his stamp on OPM’s front office and is bringing George Nesterczuk on board as a senior adviser, according to two people familiar with the matter. He previously did organizational and HR consulting for government contractors and management consulting firms.

Nesterczuk had been Trump’s first choice to head up OPM but withdrew in August 2017 after criticism from federal employee unions who didn’t like the role he played in trying to enact a pay system based on performance at the Defense Department and raised questions about his work for the Ukranian government. He served two stints at OPM during both the Reagan and George W. Bush administrations and has also worked on Capitol Hill and at the Departments of Transportation and Defense.

Rigas has told colleagues that he questions the constitutionality of the 1883 Pendleton Act, which codifies using merit to pick government officials, and believes that all executive branch employees should be political appointees, according to a person who has discussed the matter with him.

The arrival of Rigas comes amid a push by McEntee and his allies to install other Trump loyalists across the executive branch.


McEntee is working in concert with Paul Dans, OPM’s new White House liaison and senior adviser, whose rapid efforts to consolidate his control over other agency appointees has irritated some officials.

Dans has also castigated other OPM officials for relying on career employees he suspects are Democrats, according to two people familiar with the interactions. He also has been asking how many policy jobs the government can shift from career officials to political appointees, a line of inquiry the people saw as an effort to install Trump loyalists in key posts.

Dans had no comment, but an OPM spokesperson said: "All employees in the executive branch have an obligation to carry out administration policy at the direction of the president, who is elected by the American people."

Other recent conversations inside the personnel office have raised further hackles. For instance, the Trump administration has had discussions on creating a new “schedule,” which regulates how agencies hire people, so they could make more jobs “excepted service” to make it easier to hire and fire people who are involved in policy jobs.

PPO is also trying to assert more control over who gets hired into political appointee jobs at some Cabinet departments, including the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services and a number of defense agencies, according to a former Trump administration official. Depending on the position, Cabinet agencies have typically had more latitude in choosing lower-ranking political hires.

But starting a few weeks ago, before some agencies fill a job, they now have to submit the opening to PPO to see if the White House has someone to place into the position. If they don’t have anyone, only then can the agency submit a name, the former official said. The result has left the personnel office “much stronger than they ever have been before,” this person said.

With greater authority has come a new round of clashes between various parts of the executive branches over personnel, with veteran officials in Cabinet agencies accusing McEntee of installing unqualified appointees in key posts.

PPO recently brought on a fourth college senior to be a Trump administration official, after previously hiring a George Washington University senior to be one of McEntee’s right-hand man, an Iowa State University senior to be deputy White House liaison at the Department of Commerce and a University of Virginia senior to temporarily help with paperwork for DOD appointees.


The fourth college senior is Jordan Hayley, a Liberty University senior majoring in history and international relations who started in February as PPO’s external relations director. In that role, her job is to conduct outreach and build relationships with agencies, potential hires and outside organizations. She will receive her undergraduate degree in May upon finishing one last class, according to a senior administration official.

“The White House is proud to have such a capable young woman for this position,” the official said.

Working for the White House is Hayley’s first permanent job; according to her LinkedIn profile, she is a former intern for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the American Foreign Policy Council and also worked in student government at Liberty.

In recent weeks, PPO required some Cabinet departments to fill out a new form for political appointees of the Senior Executive Service who want pay raises, promotions or a job change to fill out, according to a Trump administration official.

The form asks appointees: “What have you done to advance the president’s agenda? What steps have you taken to excel in your role? How long has it been since your last raise?” and also instructs agencies’ White House liaisons to fill out a portion of the form, including asking about what the person did to “advance the president’s priorities.”

PPO also has started abruptly re-assigning some Trump appointees without giving them much of a heads-up, according to the official. One administration official was recently told, “Hey, here’s your new position. You’re being transferred on Monday.”

