Daniel Akaka: “Today I rise to discuss the current flexibilities available to agencies in the Federal Government and urge my colleagues…”

“Today I rise to discuss the current flexibilities available to agencies in the Federal Government and urge my colleagues to vote for cloture on this bill. The President has called for flexibility to manage the workforce. I agree and have said repeatedly that we must have the right people with the right skills in the right places. I have long been a proponent of providing agencies with tools they need to better manage their workforce. I agree with the President that agencies need flexibilities to carry out agency missions. However, according to David Walker, Comptroller General of the United States, agencies currently have many of the flexibilities they need. Current law allows managers to remove a Federal employee from his post and suspend him immediately without pay if the head of the agency finds that action necessary in the interests of national security, 5 USC 7532; Swiftly reassign Federal employees to fight terrorism and reassign Federal employees to similarly graded positions or detail them from other agencies or within the Department and the employees who refuse reassignments or details may be terminated, 5 CFR part 335; Retrain, reassign and reshape their workforce; Choose whether to fill a vacant position from the outside or the inside, eliminate positions due to changes in programs, lack of funding, reduction in workload, reorganizations, privatization, 'divestiture,' or contracting out; establish personnel ceilings, or decide to re-employ a return...”