On the recordJuly 6, 2016
I look forward to working with my friend from Colorado to fight terrorism in this country. We have bill after bill after bill after bill that we are working on collaboratively here. We need go no further than the Defense Appropriations bill, which we all know needs to move across this floor. We know NDAA is a perennial challenge that we work on together and collaboratively in order to give folks the tools that they need. And certainly not to diminish the role this body has in fighting terrorism, this body also has a role in governing the civil service system. This happens to be a civil service bill today. Instead of bringing seven different rules on seven different bills and taking up all of that floor time talking about the civil service, we have combined them all into one bill so that we can move expeditiously and we can take care of the business that is important to do. Far from taking tools away from the civil service, this bill adds tools to the civil service. Instead of a 1-year probationary period, it is 2. Instead of having to demote someone, you have a possibility of removing someone. If the behavior is egregious, this is an addition of tools to the civil service arsenal. We heard testimony in the Rules Committee last night, Mr. Speaker, of a survey of Federal Government employees who themselves said it is too difficult in the current system to get rid of underperformers in their midst.…
