Civil Service Employees

The federal civilian workforce is a main component of our economy -- the Department of Defense (DoD) alone employs roughly 700,000 people. These are the people responsible for ensuring that our troops are supplied with equipment that works properly, and their efforts are vital. I believe that we must stand up for the rights of these workers.

I have taken the lead in Congress to ensure that the DoD civilian employees are treated fairly. I introduced an amendment to HR 4613, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, to prevent Donald Rumsfeld from implementing his plans to weaken civilian defense personnel protections, including collective bargaining rights, rights of appeal, and due process protections. In the end, my amendment was defeated on a close party-line vote in the House. All three Republicans from Washington State voted against the amendment that would have preserved protections for civilian defense personnel at sites like the Bremerton Naval Shipyard and Bangor Submarine Base. Despite the loss, the vote sent a strong message to the DoD that there is significant concern in Congress about the their proposals to strip workers of their rights.

I also offered an amendment to HR 4200, the Department of Defense Authorization Bill, that would have restored key employee protections such as the right to receive veterans' preference in hiring, the right to be free from discrimination based on political opinion or affiliation, the right to overtime pay, collective bargaining rights, and employee appeal rights. Furthermore, my amendment would have strengthened the oversight and notification between the Secretary of Defense and Congress, thus making the changes and adjustments to the rulemaking process more open and transparent. In hearings before the House Government Reform Committee, the DoD witnesses were unable to provide the committee with any justification for the broad waivers of civil service protections the department was seeking. Astonishingly, the House Republican leadership refused to allow a vote on this amendment, choosing instead to run the House of Representatives less like the people's House, and more like a dictatorship.

It is a shame for the administration and the Republican Congressional leadership to gut the civil service protections afforded to DoD employees in the name of national security. I have been continually disappointed by the Republican efforts to include these egregious provisions that undermine worker's rights in what should be a bipartisan effort to help fund our national security apparatus.

Over the course of 2004, I joined many of my colleagues in sending multiple letters to Defense Secretary Rumsfeld asking him to withdraw his proposals to undermine the rights of DoD civilian personnel. I also sent a letter to my fellow Members of Congress alerting them to the flaws in the original legislation and urging them to join me in supporting an amendment that would have removed these anti-worker provisions from the mix. I will continue to fight Secretary Rumsfeld's plans as long as he continues to push them.