1. United States
2. Mo.
3. Letter

I am writing to once again demand that you speak out against Russell Vought and this administration’s systematic dismantling of the professional, nonpartisan federal workforce. The implementation of Schedule Policy/Career, formerly known as Schedule F, should alarm every member of Congress who claims to believe in accountable government and the rule of law. Thousands of career federal positions are being stripped of longstanding civil service protections, making it significantly easier to remove employees without the normal requirements for advance notice, an opportunity to respond, or an appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board. This is not ordinary government reform. This is a deliberate weakening of the safeguards that protect career civil servants from political pressure, retaliation, favoritism, and arbitrary dismissal. The administration may insist that employees cannot simply be fired for any reason because certain statutory protections remain. But that does not erase the enormous significance of removing the procedural protections that give employees a meaningful opportunity to challenge unjust actions in the first place. Even more concerning is that this may only be the beginning. Agencies are expected to continue reviewing their workforces for additional positions that could be placed into this category. That creates the potential for an ever expanding portion of the career civil service to lose protections that have helped preserve an independent and professional federal workforce for generations. Russell Vought has made his hostility toward the federal workforce and the institutions of government abundantly clear. This administration’s actions follow a disturbing pattern: weaken unions, eliminate employee protections, expand presidential control, make it easier to fire career professionals, and concentrate more power in the hands of political appointees. Federal employees are not supposed to serve at the personal pleasure of a president. They serve the American people. Career civil servants must be able to enforce laws, provide honest information, administer programs, and carry out their duties without fearing that their careers can be destroyed because they refuse to demonstrate political loyalty. Congress has a responsibility to act as a check on executive power. Remaining silent while this administration systematically dismantles civil service protections is a choice, and your constituents will remember who chose to defend these institutions and who stood by while they were weakened. I am asking you to publicly condemn Russell Vought’s agenda and this administration’s continued assault on federal workers. I am also asking you to support legislative action that protects the merit based civil service and prevents any administration, Republican or Democratic, from turning career government positions into a political loyalty system. This is bigger than one administration or one political party. Once these protections are destroyed, the damage to an independent civil service could last for generations. Please stand up for the federal employees who serve this country and for the democratic institutions that protect all Americans from abuses of political power.