John Mica: “Although a majority of the House voted for the bill, we fell short of the two-thirds required to suspend the rules and…”

“Although a majority of the House voted for the bill, we fell short of the two-thirds required to suspend the rules and pass this legislation. Unfortunately the controversy centered on section 201 of that legislation and that version which we have deleted in this amendment. Under that section, the current rules on reduction in force would have been changed to give greater weight to job performance in determining which employees are retained. It would have been easier for the agencies, in fact, to keep their best employees when they downsize. Taxpayers and talented, conscientious Federal employees, I believe, would have benefited from this change. However, yesterday, Mr. Speaker, on this floor we did not get the two-thirds necessary to pass that provision.”