State Department Says Reorganization Plan to Move Ahead Quickly After Supreme Court Ruling

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the workforce reduction plan was being carried out ‘in the most deliberate way of anyone that’s done one.’

The seal of the United States Department of State in Washington on Jan. 26, 2017. Joshua Roberts/Reuters

The State Department will move forward with its reorganization plan following a recent Supreme Court ruling, a department spokesperson said on Thursday.

The move comes after the Supreme Court on July 8 lifted a lower court ruling that had blocked the Trump administration from proceeding with mass layoffs of federal workers and an overhaul of federal agencies.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said on July 10 that the reorganization plan has been approved by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and is now “moving into implementation.”

Asked by a reporter during a press briefing when the first reduction-in-force notices would go out, Bruce said she would not comment on anything moving through the legal system other than to say, “The Supreme Court decision has allowed us to commence, and that’s what we’re doing.”

“This will happen quickly. We understand that there has been a delay, not to our interests but because of the courts,” Bruce said, while declining to provide a specific timeline for when layoffs will occur. “It’s been difficult when you know you need to get something done for the benefit of everyone. So it will be, it will be quickly. I cannot give you the timing.”

Speaking to reporters in Malaysia on July 10, Rubio said that the department will likely move forward with the reorganization plan it submitted to Congress in May.

He said that the upcoming layoffs are “a consequence of the reorganization,” rather than an effort to eliminate workers.

“Understand that some of these are positions that are being eliminated, not people. Some of them are unfilled positions for potential, or positions that someone took early retirement, and therefore are now, or about to be unfilled,” Rubio said.

“We took a very deliberate step to reorganize the State Department to be more efficient and more focused. That’s been publicly noticed to Congress months ago; we’ve been prepared to implement it,” he added.

Rubio said the workforce reduction plan was being carried out “in the most deliberate way of anyone that’s done one,” noting that officials “went very specifically through and reorganized” the department.

“When you reorganize the State Department, there were certain bureaus we wanted to empower, the regional bureaus, and there were certain bureaus, these functional bureaus, that were closed,” he said.

The reorganization plan includes eliminating the role of a top official for civilian security, democracy, and human rights, along with offices in charge of monitoring war crimes and global conflicts, according to the congressional notification the department sent to Congress. The department had previously proposed laying off nearly 2,000 workers.

Reuters contributed to this report.