Lawmakers Look to Work With Musk to Codify Into Law DOGE’s Efforts to Rein in Bureaucracy

Legislation in the U.S. House and Senate to rein in the federal bureaucracy and allow poor performers to be fired or disciplined would “codify” the efforts of the Trump administration’s new Department of Government Efficiency initiative, said Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga. 

Loudermilk, along with Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., in the Senate, proposed similar versions of legislation to hold federal bureaucrats accountable for misconduct and poor performance, as most are largely shielded from firing or discipline under current civil service protections. The bill in both chambers is called the MERIT Act, an acronym for Modern Employment Reform, Improvement, and Transformation. 

“We’ve had feedback from the White House and DOGE and are having staff-to-staff communication,” Loudermilk told The Daily Signal.

The MERIT Act would update the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act and permit agencies to remove a senior executive from the civil service for performance reasons rather than to merely demote the individual. 

The act would also authorize agencies to recoup individuals’ bonuses and other awards when performance or conduct issues were discovered and the bonus or award would not have been paid had the issues been known at the time.

Loudermilk said he discussed the legislation with Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur taking the lead on DOGE.

“I met with Elon early on, and he was excited about the legislation,” Loudermilk said. 

With Congress focused on budget reconciliation, the best hope for action on the MERIT Act is likely late spring, he said. 

“The White House is in overdrive, and the House is getting out of ‘park,’” Loudermilk joked.  

As the White House and DOGE are looking for ways to trim spending and the bureaucracy, Loudermilk said the “idea is to codify these reforms” into permanent law. He said that the MERIT Act would go a long way in that effort. 

Loudermilk said he’s hopeful for some bipartisan support, noting it was a senior Cabinet official under President Barack Obama who brought the out-of-control bureaucracy to his attention. 

In 2015, as a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, Loudermilk talked to then-Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson about what seemed to be an unusual $385 million budget item. 

“Jeh Johnson brought this to my attention. He said, ‘I’m glad you asked about that,’” Loudermilk said. “He said this was $385 million to pay employees not to work.”

At the time, the security clearances of several Department of Homeland Security employees were revoked over misconduct, but because of civil service protections, the employees couldn’t be fired, Loudermilk recalled. 

Further, the congressman said he’s talked to federal managers who said they have to promote some of the worst employees to get them out of their current jobs because it’s easier than firing them. 

“Morale and efficiency will work better” with the MERIT Act,  Loudermilk said. “The employees who do their jobs will be rewarded. This used to be bipartisan. It should be again.”

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment for this story.

The American Federation of Government Employees, the nation’s largest federal employee union, did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story. In past sessions of Congress, the union said similar bills would violate federal employees’ right to due process to keep their jobs. 

The post Lawmakers Look to Work With Musk to Codify Into Law DOGE’s Efforts to Rein in Bureaucracy appeared first on The Daily Signal.