You know how we, the average American, are constantly frustrated about the FACT that government employees are very difficult to fire from their positions? Well, it looks as though there’s at least the beginning of a remedy on the horizon.
On Monday, within hours of his inauguration, President Donald Trump signed the Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce executive order (EO). Sure, the title doesn’t roll off the tongue, but what the EO does makes it all the more palatable.
According to the EO on The White House website, the purpose is as follows:
Section 1. Purpose. Article II of the United States Constitution vests the President with the sole and exclusive authority over the executive branch, including the authority to manage the Federal workforce to ensure effective execution of Federal law. A critical aspect of this executive function is the responsibility to maintain professionalism and accountability within the civil service. This accountability is sorely lacking today. Only 41 percent of civil service supervisors are confident that they can remove an employee who engaged in insubordination or serious misconduct. Even fewer supervisors –- 26 percent — are confident that they can remove an employee for poor performance.
Accountability is essential for all Federal employees, but it is especially important for those who are in policy-influencing positions. These personnel are entrusted to shape and implement actions that have a significant impact on all Americans. Any power they have is delegated by the President, and they must be accountable to the President, who is the only member of the executive branch, other than the Vice President, elected and directly accountable to the American people. In recent years, however, there have been numerous and well-documented cases of career Federal employees resisting and undermining the policies and directives of their executive leadership. Principles of good administration, therefore, necessitate action to restore accountability to the career civil service, beginning with positions of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character.
Related: Trump: ‘Only Two Genders’ Is Now the ‘Official Policy of the U.S. Government’
“Accountability.” That word is akin to poison to the ears of wasteful government employees who haven’t feared their dismissal, because they know that the phrase “government accountability” is typically an oxymoron.
Well, no more.
Think about what the EO stated: Only “26 percent” of civil service supervisors “are confident that they can remove an employee for poor performance.” But, if you or I were consistently bad at our jobs, we’d be out on our behinds before you can say ‘work ethic.’
Hopefully, this is a wake-up call for those in government that think they’ve lived on Easy Street, where accountability is a dirty word that doesn’t apply to them.
To those federal government employees, it’s about time that we say, ‘Bye Felicia!’
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— Media Research Center (@theMRC) January 20, 2025