President Donald Trump wants to transform the federal bureaucracy’s personnel office by folding it into the government’s housekeeping agency, but Democrats in Congress are up in arms over a proposal they reject as a return to the old “winner takes all” spoils system.
“The administration wants to take over the merit policy-making functions and put them into the highly politicized environment of the White House, away from direct congressional oversight and inspector general review,” Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) said May 21, at the opening of a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on government operations.
