Congress may be running out of time to prevent Donald Trump -- or any other president -- from politicizing the federal government by stocking civil service agencies with loyalists.
Trump issued an executive order in the final days of his presidency that strips civil service protections, giving him the power to fire almost any federal employee at will, and he has vowed to enact that order if he's re-elected -- although Congress still has a chance to block him, reported The Daily Beast.
“What you’re talking about is politicizing the civil service and doing away with objective, impartial, nonpartisan government service … in favor of a 2 million-person workforce that is potentially more loyal to a politician than the Constitution,” said Walter Shaub, a former director of the Office of Government Ethics. “That should terrify people.”
The House of Representatives passed legislation Thursday codifying civil service protections, with six Republicans and all Democrats voting in favor, but the Senate bill would require 10 GOP senators to vote with the majority, which seems highly unlikely.
IN OTHER NEWS: Trump lawyer quietly settles workplace hostility lawsuit alleging racist conduct: report
“There’s a culture of the Senate that does not truly appreciate the threats to democracy right now,” Shaub said.
Democrats may not feel a sense of urgency because Joe Biden is president, but the House bill's sponsor, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), said lawmakers in both parties should sign onto the measure to limit executive power.
“I do not believe it’s an impulse that will go away, and there are other authoritarian figures potentially more lethal than Trump,” Connolly said. “We have to fix this in law.”