The Biden administration is setting a booby trap in case a Republican wins the presidency in 2024.
On Friday, the White House unveiled a proposed rule that would make it even harder than in the past for an incoming Republican president to wrestle control of the left-leaning federal bureaucracy and actually implement the conservative policies promised to voters.
Of the 2.2 million federal civil workers, only 4,000 are presidential appointees. The rest stay in their jobs, from one administration to the next, protected by rules that make it nearly impossible to discipline or replace them.
They overwhelmingly favor the Left. A staggering 95% of unionized federal employees who donate to political candidates give to Democrats, according to Open Secrets. Only a tiny 5% support Republicans.
Some federal workers in high positions slow-walk or even derail a Republican president’s agenda — and get away with it.
Why bother to vote if the left-leaning deep state stays in charge no matter who wins the presidency?
GOP candidates Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis are vowing to conquer this obstructionism.
Everett Kelley, union president of the American Federation of Government Employees, claims GOP contenders want to “politicize routine government work.” Nonsense. We’re not talking about mail carriers. It’s time to make lawyers, PhDs and other top-level career bureaucrats implement the president’s agenda, not their own.
After Trump won in 2016, they went to town neutralizing him on almost every policy front, explains James Sherk, special assistant to the White House Domestic Policy Council under Trump.
Career lawyers in the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division flat out refused to challenge Yale University’s discrimination against Asian American applicants. Trump had to recruit lawyers from other divisions. After Joe Biden became president, the DOJ dropped the case. But the same career lawyers who refused to sue Yale made the losing argument in support of affirmative action before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Career health officials like Dr. Deborah Birx circumvented Trump’s instructions to moderate COVID lockdowns. Environmental Protection Agency lawyers pursued cases against fossil fuel producers and withheld the information from Trump appointees.
Trump mandated in a 2020 executive order that new federal buildings be designed to please the public, which prefers classical designs. Instead, General Services Administration architects chose modern designs they like. Trump mentioned as an example the San Francisco Federal Building, the ugliest edifice in the city.
It goes on, including weaponization of the FBI against the president himself.
In October 2020, Trump issued an executive order that federal workers who make policy should be reclassified as at-will employees who can be terminated.
But before it could be implemented, Biden became president. He canceled it immediately, knowing the bureaucrats were on his side.
The rule announced Friday would slow a president’s ability to reinstate Trump’s order. Democrats in Congress are going further, pushing to eliminate the president’s authority to reclassify jobs altogether.
The New York Times announced, “Biden Administration Aims to Trump-Proof the Federal Work Force.”
Ramaswamy vows to go further than Trump, eliminating half or more of civil service positions. “Speaking as a CEO, if somebody works for you and you can’t fire them, they don’t work for you,” he said in a speech on Sept. 12.
New York Magazine facetiously claims holding employees accountable is a threat to good government, and warns that a Republican victory will mean “a new class of federal appointees charged with a partisan agenda.”
Democrats and their media allies falsely romanticize civil service, claiming it protects “merit” over patronage.
Merit was the intention when the civil service was created in 1883 by the Pendleton Act. But merit is largely gone. Scramble those five letters and what you’ve got is the “timer” system. Federal workers get bigger salaries and fatter benefits than private-sector workers doing comparable jobs. And they almost never lose their job, no matter how derelict they are. They put in their time and skate to a gold-plated retirement package.
It’s a gravy train, paid for by John Q Public. That’s sickening enough. But it’s even worse when these civil “servants” put their own leftist leanings ahead of the president and public they’re paid to serve.
Bravo to the GOP candidates pledging to take on the deep state — replete with deadbeats and lefties — and return government to the people. It’s a worthy fight.
Shame on Biden for protecting bureaucracy instead of democracy.
Not in America.
Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York and chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths. Follow her on Twitter @Betsy_McCaughey. To find out more about Betsy McCaughey and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website.
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Simply re-instate Schedule F and the GOP President would have the power to wholesale fire as many federal employees as necessary to bring the federal government to heel. Why do you think one of the first things Biden repealed on Day One was getting rid of Schedule F. That needs to restored, if the administrative state is to be significantly reduced in both size and scope.
It is insane that any person working for a pay check cannot be fired if they are derelict in doing their job- how in the world did this come about?? Taxpayers money should be protected better than this!!
We have heard the term deep state often, but Betsy has specifically identified examples for us to use as we try to educate others just how corrupt the deep state is. DJT knows so much more than he did when he served his first term, and the deep state despises him and are fearful that he will actually drain the swamp if given the opportunity once again. Pray that God will give him courage and wisdom to accomplish great things and return our country to a God fearing nation. My sinful nature wants all those who have participated in this destruction of our nation to be exposed and brought to justice, even it just means losing their jobs. Anyone who opposes their boss needs to find another employer not undermine him.
Very good, important article Betsy, I agree that GOP candidates who pledge to take on the deep state deserve praise and returning government to the people is definitely a worthy fight, a worthy effort. This situation , this strategy you described that would protect the bureaucracy , it indicates a lack of character by those involved in protecting bureaucracy instead of democracy. In the spirit of Honor, Honesty, Integrity, Courage and Loyalty — Loyalty to the ideal that this is the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave — the United States of America. With respect for the principles of Faith, Family and Freedom. The national character is something that should be appreciated, something that should be revived when needed, the national character is something that should be valued . The sense of purpose of the Country is significant, it is of great importance. Let Liberty be the watchword , and may God Bless America.
Trump is smarter than them. This will be a walk in the park for him to fix.
.Ronald Reagan didn’t have that problem, i.e., firing the ATCs when they threatened to strike.
Thank you Betsy for a sweeping article! With so many Americans unaware of how this works for Federal Employees, this wake up call needs to be spread far and wide. The Schdule F indeed needs to be re-instated. President Trump has been reported as saying, he does have a plan for the Schedule F and changing the way Federal Employees will be working.
It is clear the “Merit Based Civil Service” is not working as intended! Federal workers, “Civil Servants” have had it made and they are well aware of this fact. Having been a business owner, we have had the privilege of rewarding great employees and letting go of those that cannot or will not work to the level we expect. Any person wanting work is expected to perform at a certain level. Civil servants are aware that once “allowed into the fold” their situation cannot be ended by a simple, firing.
I hope that any future GOP President will find a way to keep Schedule F in force and make it impossible to be downgraded or removed. It seems to me that all these “Groups” that tell civil service workers that they have their backs and will protect these employees, are nothing more than a form of “mafia” asking for payment and involvement in return to lobby for bills to protect them from being fired. Fees range according to salary, apparently for the NTEU anyway. They appear to the largest of the “Unions” for protecting people who hold Civil Servant positions.
Firing a civil service employee involved a lot of paperwork and a lot of ‘bosses’ weren’t ‘into’ going through all that. Civil Service employees were promoted based on merit before the union came in during the 1960s. It totally went down hill after that to the point the saying was ‘they can’t be fired, so they’re promoted’ just to rid the office of their inept performance.
This is so sad! And it makes me angry to learn more and more everyday as to how democrats and communist/socialists have worked hard to bring down the very country that has given them the good life! Such arrogance is hard to see in action.
It’s not a democracy, it is a constitutional republic. Why can’t conservatives get that right and stop repeating the left’s “democracy” mantra.
Fire all of them! Let the courts work it out it will take years and they won’t have any income. See how long they can last with no money.
At the very least you can slow walk their paychecks they like slow walking stuff. Take 9 to 12 months to process a month’s payroll
We need term limits for civil servants, as well as for politicians. It will ensure that there is less graft, no retirement while on the payroll, and the damage from partisanship, and incompetence will be kept to a minimum. One four year term, two at the max, no special healthcare, no pensions, no unions, no gyms, no investment plans, and no immunity from being fired for incompetence when discovered. Serving Uncle Sam was never supposed to be a career.
One of the first things on day one for President Trump re instate Schedule F and get rid of the socialist, communist government workers. Just spend a day firing the resistance of leftists that oppose all conservatism.
Typical marxist democrat party- destroying America from within.
Protecting an overbloated,useless bureaucracy that MUST be reduced dramatically!
Wake up People, these democrats are BAD for America-Period!
THROW THEM OUT!!!!
You can always give them an option:
Either settle for a non-golden parachute self-retirement (quit) or take on the forced minimum fifteen year assignment up in the Aleutian Islands reporting on the native species of aquatic and bird life within the region using old school typewriters and filling everything out in triplicate!
And, if you think that this idea is too harsh, tell that to the J6 folks who have been unconstitutionally locked away in Pelosi’s gulag for two and a half years now and still counting!
Oh really, can’t be fired or disciplined? Tell that to the air traffic controllers President Reagan fired when they went on strike, union or no union.
Clinton did a similar dirty trick to Bush 41 concerning Arsenic laws. Dirty tricks are just what the Dims do.
Biden has been booby trapping the entire USA since he was sworn in, started on the first day of office. He didn’t just booby trap the Republican Party. Worthless BUM!
I was once a Democrat, but the party is no longer the party it was. It has drifted more and more to a Socialist party. This action by Biden is a prime example of the way a Socialist operates.
“Civil service” should be just that, and NOT a 30 to 40 year career with a cushy pension and other perks not available to the average American worker. Their service should be limited to 8 years or less, and then they must move on to other work. Moreover, Congress should cut funding on order of 50% for these organizations for starters. Federal employees should have conditions no better than the average American enjoys in private industry.
I find it hard to support Vivek Ramaswamy not only because at age 38 he has much to learn but because his entire college tuition was paid by George Soros. Doesn’t that bother anyone else?
Fully agree with the contents of your article. In addition all those bureaucrats make certain their friends and relatives get first opportunity at any open position thus ensuring the continuation of the “agenda”. The only solution is term limits for ALL political positions, and 3 strikes and you’re fired. Same as the private sector.
Anything this clown and merry band of idiots do will be negated as soon as they are found guilty of treason and crimes against humanity! The gig is up! Trump promised to drain the swamp and he is following through!
It’s a gravy train, paid for by John Q Public. That’s sickening enough. But it’s even worse when these civil “servants” put their own leftist leanings ahead of the president and public they’re paid to serve.
It’s all sad but true. My wife retired from the Postal Service and she made twice that of what someone else in the civilian sector would get paid doing the same job. When she retired she also was getting over six weeks vacation every year along with two weeks of sick time. Her sick days never expired, and would roll over to the next year. When she retired she was able to sell back to the Post Office over nine months worth of sick pay.
She said that once an employee passed their six week probationary period, they had nothing to worry about in terms of being fired. She would tell me about people coming into work drunk, or getting drunk while on the clock and nothing ever happening to them. She told me about seeing sex acts that took place in locker rooms or even stairwells, and again, nothing but a slap on the hand if these employees were caught.
She would refer to the Post Office as working welfare because of all the people that showed up and didn’t do anything but collect a paycheck. She would always say there were so many people doing nothing that she thought the Postal Service could easily get rid of one third of all it’s employees and still get the job done.
Gravy train…indeed.
God save the USA.
My disgust for this bunch grows every day. I’ve often wondered how they live with themselves but then I realized that they have no conscience and no consequences to their actions.
Praying we can bring back a government of the people, BY the people and FOR the people.
Their day is coming.
Calvin Coolidge was president from 1923 to 1929 and I was born in 1928 while he was still president so I’ve seen a lot more than most folks. Up till Obama became president, we were all on the same page. We loved our country but with different opinions how to run it, but not anymore because the Democratic Party was cleverly hijacked by George Soros via Obama, who most feel is still really running the show in D.C. Shortly after Trump became POTUS and reached out to Putin, the Dems kept shouting “Russia collusion! Russia collusion!” and he said “Actually I’ve never met the man but I’m sure we can get along”. That’s called “detente”. I believe Trump saw China’s growing influence in the world and was trying to reach out in an attempt to rally the rest of the world’s 6 1/2 billion people to counter China’s 1 1/2 billion, and cause a neutralizing effect. He did do it with N. Korea’s Kim, remember when he walked across the border into N. Korea alone and shook Kim’s hand? That hasn’t been possible since before I served during the Korean War in the early 1950’s! It may already be too late because there still over 15 months left till Biden leaves office so they can do SO much more harm during that period.
F… THIS. CIVIL WAR TIME. LOCK AND LOAD. WE WANT OUR COUNTRY BACK
Plain and simple. Can’t get rid of people? I would simply delete the whole department. Start over. New name, new management, new employees,
It doesn’t matter to me who government employees vote for as long as they support the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. as a Republic. As far as Socialist Progressives are concerned, no Progressive should be allowed to hold any position in U.S. government, whether they were elected, appointed or hired. No one who opposes the U.S. to be as it was intended to be should be paid by tax payers who love the U.S. as a Constitutional Republic with a free capitalist business ideology.
Isn’t handcuffing the federal government and putting us in mega debt sedition? This is purposeful disruption of the government and by handcuffing the administration would fall under Sedition and the current administration and senate majority is in collusion and should be charged with treason and removed from office. If both the President and the Vice President were immediately removed the president would be the speaker , a Republican. It would also prevent those Democrats from serving in government again.
Come on……….Biden did not receive 81 million votes. He is not a legitimate president. There is plenty of proof. Democrats act without looking at the big picture. The charges they have thrown on President Trump require him to show that proof. They didn’t think about that!
If they cannot be fired, cut their pay to one-fourth of what these bloated bureaucrats make now. Then, if that doesn’t help solve the problem, mandate that the thermostat in all federal buildings that don’t house elected officials or the Supreme Court be set to 95 degrees (F) in summer and 34 degrees in winter, with adjustments as needed. Just musing, but the “rule” that these deep state slime-balls cannot be fired is insane.
We MUST get “RID” of the present “Ruler” along with his so-called “Stand-in” for they know NOT what they do!! Please, Dear Lord…Bless America…again…still…!!!
Democrats are dictators, govern as dictators. America is lost by their edicts, it is a coup which we American allow to happen. If we don’t speak up we will all be obeying the so called leftist democrats. No democracy involved.
King Biden does what ever he wants and no questions him. I was a union member for 27 years they got pissed at me for being a registered republican. The democrats of yesteryears are long gone . They were for the workers now it is hooray for me and f&@k you sad to say. Joe Biden is the worst president in my life time Jimmy peanut Carter was bad but this guy has puppet strings coming out his ass . His foreign policy is just terrible. Even Obama didn’t back him for the longest time and I’m not a fan of him . It just seems what ever happens in D.C. there are no consequences.
As usual, DIMMs accuse the GOP of what THEY do! Their bureaucrats are foot soldiers in the Marxist army, carrying out the orders of Barry O, Slow Joe, Schumer, and the rest!
Our next president (hopefully Trump) needs to ship some of these agencies out to flyover country and see how many of these elitists want to live in North Dakota or Mississippi! If he can’t do that get HIS agency heads to transfer the employees to the hinterlands!
Amplifying Vivek Ramaswami’s comment about the inability to fire someone. If you have a job that hasn’t competition, you’ll never have excellence.
Cannot believe what is happening in DC these days, did Senator Shumer really approve that people can wear whatever they want in Senate chambers & that it is okay if Fetterman wears a hoodie & gym shorts? Maybe the Senate will look like the VILLAGE PEOPLE or even worse if they can wear T-Shirts with messages on them. Keep a dress code in place & quit trying to please everyone.
I hope alternate media really beats the drum about Biden and democrats trying to protect career bureaucrats! The mainstream media certainly won’t cover this issue fairly, if at all. There may be some good ones but unfortunately they are all suspect because of how far out of hand the federal bureaucracy has become. They are, if not enemy #1 against good governance, right up there in the top 5! Gotta start over and do what corporations have to do— cut back, reorganize, restructure and for God’s sake demand strict accountability. And remove anything that limits the ability to fire for non-performance. Republicans!! Man up and make it happen!
This is important information every voter should have and consider. There is not sufficient coverage of “Deep State”. Most folks think it is politicians. They are in the limelight. Deep State is the non-elected partisan bureaucrats who make their own policy and hide behind rules to avoid following policy established by the President and others elected by the voters. The results are a 1-2 punch when fraudulent ballots steal elections and elected officials are only permitted to set policy the bureaucrats agree with.
What a conniver and a thief. He doesn’t care about the people that he is supposed to be leading. He cares for himself and his welfare and NOT the people.
socialism at its finest. How can they continue to destroy America and democracy? Big Government becomes even bigger!
Same political party job security at the state level also, especially in TN. It’s sad that qualified workers are overlooked by the “Good Ole Boy” system which operates off of which candidate they supported. Most industry related workers are hired/promoted by their experience, work ethics and what they contribute to the bottom line. Glad I’m retired as I’d have a hard time working with those who don’t contribute and work as a team.
What a scum!
Barry or Soros might lay a booby trap, not Biden. He’s barely capable of laying a turd in the toilet instead of his diaper!
Why can’t laws be made more permanent, requiring a vote of Congress to overturn them, not just a new oval office playing politics? A vote that would be harder to overturn any law, something that would require at least a 2/3rd majority. This should be a requirement of the next conservative Republican Congress when Trump returns. That way “good laws”, which help people, not politicians, cannot be easily changed to comply with other parties’ political agenda. Go Trump, MAGA
DEORT ALL liberals, illegals AND THE ONCE HONORABLE, fbi, cia, doj AND MOST RECENT, THE secret service, TO THE NEW AUSCHWITZ FOR ROAS…….. TO MAGA
Federal employees should never been allowed to unionize in the first place. The first order of business should be to decertify this union. Then, rewrite the terms of their employment.