President Trump makes the government responsible again
In the midst of all talking about definitions, commercial wars and tax discounts, the media missed news that President Trump mainly turned the federal workforce for the better. In April, his administration began implementing its plan to make senior civil employees politically responsible.
This step will benefit the heads of the two parties and millions of federal workers. Most of all, it will make Washington, DC, do better to present it to the American people.
Trump responds to a crisis – the one that was afflicted during his first term and threatens to determine his second term. Basically, many federal bureaucrats who oversee the organizational process have used their authority to prevent president’s priorities from becoming a policy. There are many documented examples from the first Trump administration. Before the Trump administration started the second Trump, a poll found that 75 percent of federal managers who voted in favor of Kamala Harris were planning to disobey the instructions they did not like.
In the private sector, these workers will be expelled for their refusal to do their work. But in the federal government, it is almost impossible to remove it, even when they ignore or undermine a democratic elected president.
This makes this more than just Donald Trump’s crisis. It is a crisis for all America. While Democrats exceed the number of Republicans to one to one in the federal bureaucracy, conservative job officials can also refuse to implement the liberal president’s agenda – over anything from education to energy to economic policy.
Regardless, the result is the same: the elected president, according to the rules, cannot do what people have taken to do. The lack of accountability ultimately undermines the democracy itself, giving unleashed bureaucrats the ability to ignore the will of the American people.
Enter Trump’s repair.
His administration formulated a list that would make senior civil service employees “at the will”, like most workers in the private sector. Finally, about 50,000 professional bureaucrats will be affected by the proposed base – about 2 percent of the federal workforce. If these senior employees refuse to follow a legal matter or fail to do their job, it will be easier to shoot them. The list is currently open to comment from the audience, and when it is completed, this will make it difficult for the bureaucrats to resist the president – be it Donald Trump or anyone else.
Only the most important professional officials will be covered. They are managers, lawyers and other bureaucrats – in every federal agency – who mostly affect the policy -making process. It is important, that the new reform will not affect millions of government workers who implement federal policies. Think about border patrol clients, wage and watch inspectors, and countless other jobs that keep the federal government to operate. None of them will be at risk of losing their jobs.
But every federal employee will benefit from this reform. Most of them work for the government because they want to serve the American people, which is more difficult when senior officials stand in the way of presidential priorities. Once these great bureaucrats are removed for a good reason – or as soon as they stop resistance or refuse to do their work – real public officials in America will find it easier to do their work as well.
In other words, this reform will lead to a better federal government in general. In the states that have already moved to this system – including Georgia, Arizona, Texas and Florida – reports show that government employees are happier and better.
But the American people will benefit more than everything. They need a more efficient and effective government and most of all it is responsible – and it is a government that provides the agenda that voters supported in the ballot box. Trump’s reform will help to make this vision a reality, which makes it easier for him and the presidents in the future for both parties for their priorities and present them to voters.
This is no less than the federal government’s transformation. It may be the most important thing Donald Trump.
Karen Harding is the president of Harned Strategies LLC and a senior colleague at the American Worker Institute.F. Vincent Fernochio is the head of the American Worker Institute.
