II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 591
To reform the Federal hiring process, to restore merit to Government service,
and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY13, 2025
Mr. S
COTTof Florida (for himself, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH, and
Mr. T
UBERVILLE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Af-
fairs
A BILL
To reform the Federal hiring process, to restore merit to
Government service, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Restore Merit to Gov-4
ernment Service Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
(1) A
DMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-8
trator’’ means the Administrator of the U.S. DOGE 9
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Service Temporary Organization, or the head of any 1
successor organization. 2
(2) A
GENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ means the 3
following: 4
(A) Each of the Executive departments. 5
(B) The Environmental Protection Agency. 6
(C) The Office of Management and Budg-7
et. 8
(D) The Small Business Administration. 9
(E) The Social Security Administration. 10
(F) The National Science Foundation. 11
(G) The Office of Personnel Management. 12
(H) The General Services Administration. 13
(3) E
XECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS .—The term 14
‘‘Executive departments’’ has the meaning given the 15
term in section 101 of title 5, United States Code. 16
(4) P
LAN.—The term ‘‘Plan’’ means the Fed-17
eral Hiring Plan developed under section 4(a). 18
(5) S
ENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE POSITION .— 19
The term ‘‘Senior Executive Service position’’ has 20
the meaning given the term in section 3132(a) of 21
title 5, United States Code. 22
SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 23
Congress finds the following: 24
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(1) The people of the United States deserve an 1
excellent and efficient Federal workforce that at-2
tracts the highest caliber of civil servants committed 3
to achieving the freedom, prosperity, and democratic 4
rule promoted by the Constitution of the United 5
States. 6
(2) As of the date of enactment of this Act, the 7
appointment practices of the Federal Government 8
are broken, insular, and outdated and no longer 9
focus on merit, practical skill, and dedication to the 10
Constitution of the United States. 11
(3) Appointments in the Federal Government 12
should not be focused on impermissible factors, such 13
as a commitment to— 14
(A) illegal racial discrimination under the 15
guise of ‘‘equity’’; or 16
(B) the invented concept of ‘‘gender iden-17
tity’’ over sex. 18
(4) Inserting factors described in paragraph (3) 19
into the Federal appointment process subverts the 20
will of the people of the United States, puts critical 21
Government functions at risk, and risks losing the 22
best-qualified candidates. 23
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SEC. 4. FEDERAL HIRING PLAN. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the 2
date of enactment of this Act, the Assistant to the Presi-3
dent for Domestic Policy, in consultation with the Director 4
of the Office of Management and Budget, the Director of 5
the Office of Personnel Management, and the Adminis-6
trator, shall develop and submit to the head of each agency 7
a Federal Hiring Plan that brings to the Federal work-8
force only highly skilled people of the United States who 9
are dedicated to the furtherance of the ideals, values, and 10
interests of the United States. 11
(b) C
ONTENTS.—The Plan shall— 12
(1) prioritize the recruitment, by agencies, of 13
individuals who are— 14
(A) committed to— 15
(i) improving the efficiency of the 16
Federal Government; and 17
(ii) upholding the rule of law and the 18
Constitution of the United States; and 19
(B) passionate about the ideals of the 20
United States; 21
(2) prevent the appointment, by an agency, of 22
any individual— 23
(A) based on the race, sex, or religion of 24
the individual; or 25
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(B) who is unwilling to defend the Con-1
stitution of the United States or faithfully serve 2
the executive branch of the Federal Govern-3
ment; 4
(3) implement, to the greatest extent possible, 5
technical and alternative assessments described in 6
subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively, of section 7
3304(c)(2) of title 5, United States Code, for use by 8
agencies; 9
(4) establish that the amount of time to appoint 10
an individual to a position in an agency shall be less 11
than 80 days, as measured from the date on which 12
the agency first lists the position; 13
(5) improve communication with candidates for 14
positions in agencies to provide greater clarity re-15
garding application status, timelines, and feedback, 16
including by providing regular updates on the 17
progress of applications and explanations of appoint-18
ment decisions, where appropriate; 19
(6) integrate modern technology to support the 20
recruitment and selection process at agencies, in-21
cluding— 22
(A) through the use of data analytics to 23
identify trends, gaps, and opportunities with re-24
spect to appointments; and 25
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(B) by leveraging digital platforms to im-1
prove candidate engagement; 2
(7) ensure that the heads of agencies, or the 3
designees of those agency heads, are active partici-4
pants in implementing the processes established by 5
the Plan throughout the appointment process; 6
(8) include particularized a plan for each agen-7
cy to improve the allocation of Senior Executive 8
Service positions within the agency to best facilitate 9
democratic leadership, as required by law, within the 10
agency; and 11
(9) provide specific best practices for the 12
human resources functions within each agency, 13
which the head of each agency shall implement with 14
advice and recommendations, as appropriate, from 15
the Administrator. 16
SEC. 5. ACCOUNTABILITY AND REPORTING. 17
The Director of the Office of Personnel Management 18
shall— 19
(1) establish clear performance metrics to 20
evaluate the success of the Plan; 21
(2) on a regular basis, request analysis from 22
the heads of agencies in order to perform the evalua-23
tions required under paragraph (1); and 24
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(3) consult with the heads of agencies, labor or-1
ganizations, and other stakeholders to monitor 2
progress with respect to the implementation of the 3
Plan and ensure that the Plan is meeting the needs 4
of candidates and agencies. 5
SEC. 6. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 6
(a) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 7
may be construed to impair or otherwise affect— 8
(1) the functions of the Director of the Office 9
of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, 10
administrative, or legislative proposals; or 11
(2) the functions of the Board of Governors of 12
the Federal Reserve System or the Federal Open 13
Market Committee relating to the conduct of mone-14
tary policy. 15
(b) I
MPLEMENTATION.—This Act shall be imple-16
mented consistent with applicable law and subject to the 17
availability of appropriations. 18
(c) N
OCREATION OFRIGHTS ORBENEFITS.—This 19
Act is not intended to, and does not, create any right or 20
benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or 21
in equity by any party against the United States, any 22
agency of the United States, any employee of the United 23
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States, any agent of the United States, or any other per-1
son. 2
Æ
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