Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB591 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 591
5	5	To reform the Federal hiring process, to restore merit to Government service,
6	6	and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	FEBRUARY13, 2025
9	9	Mr. S
10	10	COTTof Florida (for himself, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH, and
11	11	Mr. T
12	12	UBERVILLE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
13	13	referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Af-
14	14	fairs
15	15	A BILL
16	16	To reform the Federal hiring process, to restore merit to
17	17	Government service, and for other purposes.
18	18	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
19	19	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
20	20	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
21	21	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Restore Merit to Gov-4
22	22	ernment Service Act of 2025’’. 5
23	23	SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
24	24	In this Act: 7
25	25	(1) A
26	26	DMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-8
27	27	trator’’ means the Administrator of the U.S. DOGE 9
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31	31	Service Temporary Organization, or the head of any 1
32	32	successor organization. 2
33	33	(2) A
34	34	GENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ means the 3
35	35	following: 4
36	36	(A) Each of the Executive departments. 5
37	37	(B) The Environmental Protection Agency. 6
38	38	(C) The Office of Management and Budg-7
39	39	et. 8
40	40	(D) The Small Business Administration. 9
41	41	(E) The Social Security Administration. 10
42	42	(F) The National Science Foundation. 11
43	43	(G) The Office of Personnel Management. 12
44	44	(H) The General Services Administration. 13
45	45	(3) E
46	46	XECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS .—The term 14
47	47	‘‘Executive departments’’ has the meaning given the 15
48	48	term in section 101 of title 5, United States Code. 16
49	49	(4) P
50	50	LAN.—The term ‘‘Plan’’ means the Fed-17
51	51	eral Hiring Plan developed under section 4(a). 18
52	52	(5) S
53	53	ENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE POSITION .— 19
54	54	The term ‘‘Senior Executive Service position’’ has 20
55	55	the meaning given the term in section 3132(a) of 21
56	56	title 5, United States Code. 22
57	57	SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 23
58	58	Congress finds the following: 24
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62	62	(1) The people of the United States deserve an 1
63	63	excellent and efficient Federal workforce that at-2
64	64	tracts the highest caliber of civil servants committed 3
65	65	to achieving the freedom, prosperity, and democratic 4
66	66	rule promoted by the Constitution of the United 5
67	67	States. 6
68	68	(2) As of the date of enactment of this Act, the 7
69	69	appointment practices of the Federal Government 8
70	70	are broken, insular, and outdated and no longer 9
71	71	focus on merit, practical skill, and dedication to the 10
72	72	Constitution of the United States. 11
73	73	(3) Appointments in the Federal Government 12
74	74	should not be focused on impermissible factors, such 13
75	75	as a commitment to— 14
76	76	(A) illegal racial discrimination under the 15
77	77	guise of ‘‘equity’’; or 16
78	78	(B) the invented concept of ‘‘gender iden-17
79	79	tity’’ over sex. 18
80	80	(4) Inserting factors described in paragraph (3) 19
81	81	into the Federal appointment process subverts the 20
82	82	will of the people of the United States, puts critical 21
83	83	Government functions at risk, and risks losing the 22
84	84	best-qualified candidates. 23
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88	88	SEC. 4. FEDERAL HIRING PLAN. 1
89	89	(a) I
90	90	NGENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the 2
91	91	date of enactment of this Act, the Assistant to the Presi-3
92	92	dent for Domestic Policy, in consultation with the Director 4
93	93	of the Office of Management and Budget, the Director of 5
94	94	the Office of Personnel Management, and the Adminis-6
95	95	trator, shall develop and submit to the head of each agency 7
96	96	a Federal Hiring Plan that brings to the Federal work-8
97	97	force only highly skilled people of the United States who 9
98	98	are dedicated to the furtherance of the ideals, values, and 10
99	99	interests of the United States. 11
100	100	(b) C
101	101	ONTENTS.—The Plan shall— 12
102	102	(1) prioritize the recruitment, by agencies, of 13
103	103	individuals who are— 14
104	104	(A) committed to— 15
105	105	(i) improving the efficiency of the 16
106	106	Federal Government; and 17
107	107	(ii) upholding the rule of law and the 18
108	108	Constitution of the United States; and 19
109	109	(B) passionate about the ideals of the 20
110	110	United States; 21
111	111	(2) prevent the appointment, by an agency, of 22
112	112	any individual— 23
113	113	(A) based on the race, sex, or religion of 24
114	114	the individual; or 25
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118	118	(B) who is unwilling to defend the Con-1
119	119	stitution of the United States or faithfully serve 2
120	120	the executive branch of the Federal Govern-3
121	121	ment; 4
122	122	(3) implement, to the greatest extent possible, 5
123	123	technical and alternative assessments described in 6
124	124	subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively, of section 7
125	125	3304(c)(2) of title 5, United States Code, for use by 8
126	126	agencies; 9
127	127	(4) establish that the amount of time to appoint 10
128	128	an individual to a position in an agency shall be less 11
129	129	than 80 days, as measured from the date on which 12
130	130	the agency first lists the position; 13
131	131	(5) improve communication with candidates for 14
132	132	positions in agencies to provide greater clarity re-15
133	133	garding application status, timelines, and feedback, 16
134	134	including by providing regular updates on the 17
135	135	progress of applications and explanations of appoint-18
136	136	ment decisions, where appropriate; 19
137	137	(6) integrate modern technology to support the 20
138	138	recruitment and selection process at agencies, in-21
139	139	cluding— 22
140	140	(A) through the use of data analytics to 23
141	141	identify trends, gaps, and opportunities with re-24
142	142	spect to appointments; and 25
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146	146	(B) by leveraging digital platforms to im-1
147	147	prove candidate engagement; 2
148	148	(7) ensure that the heads of agencies, or the 3
149	149	designees of those agency heads, are active partici-4
150	150	pants in implementing the processes established by 5
151	151	the Plan throughout the appointment process; 6
152	152	(8) include particularized a plan for each agen-7
153	153	cy to improve the allocation of Senior Executive 8
154	154	Service positions within the agency to best facilitate 9
155	155	democratic leadership, as required by law, within the 10
156	156	agency; and 11
157	157	(9) provide specific best practices for the 12
158	158	human resources functions within each agency, 13
159	159	which the head of each agency shall implement with 14
160	160	advice and recommendations, as appropriate, from 15
161	161	the Administrator. 16
162	162	SEC. 5. ACCOUNTABILITY AND REPORTING. 17
163	163	The Director of the Office of Personnel Management 18
164	164	shall— 19
165	165	(1) establish clear performance metrics to 20
166	166	evaluate the success of the Plan; 21
167	167	(2) on a regular basis, request analysis from 22
168	168	the heads of agencies in order to perform the evalua-23
169	169	tions required under paragraph (1); and 24
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173	173	(3) consult with the heads of agencies, labor or-1
174	174	ganizations, and other stakeholders to monitor 2
175	175	progress with respect to the implementation of the 3
176	176	Plan and ensure that the Plan is meeting the needs 4
177	177	of candidates and agencies. 5
178	178	SEC. 6. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 6
179	179	(a) R
180	180	ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 7
181	181	may be construed to impair or otherwise affect— 8
182	182	(1) the functions of the Director of the Office 9
183	183	of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, 10
184	184	administrative, or legislative proposals; or 11
185	185	(2) the functions of the Board of Governors of 12
186	186	the Federal Reserve System or the Federal Open 13
187	187	Market Committee relating to the conduct of mone-14
188	188	tary policy. 15
189	189	(b) I
190	190	MPLEMENTATION.—This Act shall be imple-16
191	191	mented consistent with applicable law and subject to the 17
192	192	availability of appropriations. 18
193	193	(c) N
194	194	OCREATION OFRIGHTS ORBENEFITS.—This 19
195	195	Act is not intended to, and does not, create any right or 20
196	196	benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or 21
197	197	in equity by any party against the United States, any 22
198	198	agency of the United States, any employee of the United 23
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202	202	States, any agent of the United States, or any other per-1
203	203	son. 2
204	204	Æ
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