U.S. Rep. Francis Rooney, R-Fla., is once again working with U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker, R-Penn., to hold federal employees accountable on performance and misconduct.
Last month, Smucker brought out the “Department of Labor Accountability Act” with Rooney as the main cosponsor. For his part, Rooney introduced the “Department of Education Whistleblower Protection Act” with Smucker supporting it.
According to Rooney’s office, the bills would “give the two departments more authority to discipline or fire employees who have engaged in misconduct and would shorten the appeals process which often lasts several years" and “grant the department secretary the authority to revoke bonuses for underperforming employees and in some cases would reduce the pensions of executive-level employees disciplined by the department.”
Smucker weighed in on the proposals this week.
“Employees deserve proper protections and the freedom to report misconduct – and employees at fault shouldn’t be receiving bonuses after behaving badly,” Smucker said. “This bill is a step to end the bureaucratic status quo resisting reforms and rewarding bad actors for their poor behaviors.”
“We must make sure that federal agencies have the tools to hold their employees accountable in order to safeguard taxpayer dollars against waste and fraud,” said Rooney on Tuesday. “This legislation provides these tools by allowing the secretaries of Education and Labor to dismiss or discipline bad employees based on performance or misconduct. Our agencies must be able to address the bad actors that are not working in the best interest of the American people.”
The two Republicans had championed similar legislation last year but mostly had little luck when it came to the Education and Labor Departments. However, they were able to include their “Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act” into a bill reauthorizing the U.S. Department of Homeland Services (DHS).
Both bills were sent to the U.S. House Education and Labor and the Oversight and Reform Committees. So far, there are no companion bills over in the U.S. Senate.
