Jody Hice: “Let me begin by stating clearly that I oppose the underlying bill here. Some of my Democratic colleagues claim that…”

“Let me begin by stating clearly that I oppose the underlying bill here. Some of my Democratic colleagues claim that there is no such thing as a deep state, that there are no problems that we have within our Federal employee system. But there are genuine, valid concerns. Take, for example, a Washington Post story titled: ``Resistance from within: Federal workers push back against Trump.'' In that article: ``Federal workers are in regular consultation with recently departed Obama-era political appointees about what they can do to push back against the new President's initiatives.'' We have a problem, and it is a problem that bureaucrats do not do their jobs in fulfilling the will of a duly-elected President and the will of the American people. Instead, over and over, as time has shown it, they resist the will of the President. This whole title here of H.R. 302, ``Preventing a Patronage System Act,'' a patronage system is designed to get people in the front door. That is not even what we are talking about. We are talking about people who are already in the door who are not doing their job. For crying out loud, it is the back door that needs to be dealt with, when you have poor performers, people who are not doing their job. President Trump dealt with this by instituting schedule F, giving him the authority to do away with policymakers who refused to do their job.…”