GOP's attacks on government workers draw fire from critics: 'Weaponization is their purpose'
Matthew Chapman
February 27, 2023

Jim Jordan speaks during CPAC Texas 2022 conference. (Shutterstock.com)

House Republicans are using their new majority to try to strip various civil service protections from government workers and target individual officials and employees in retribution for policies they don't like — and it's drawing increasing outrage from their fellow lawmakers, reported The Washington Post on Monday.

"In recent weeks, House Republicans have passed legislation requiring federal employees to return to the office, arguing that pandemic rules have bled into a permanent state that diminishes productivity," reported Lisa Rein and Jacqueline Alemany. "Lawmakers have voted to rescind $80 billion for the cash-starved IRS to hire 87,000 employees in customer service, technology and audit roles to increase tax compliance of those earning more than $400,000 — claiming the extra staff will unfairly target taxpayers. They’ve allowed House members to reduce or eliminate federal agency programs or slash the salaries of individual employees on a quick vote."

All of this comes as Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who now chairs the Judiciary Committee, has sent a wave of subpoenas to agency heads without even asking for their voluntary cooperation first. President Joe Biden, for his part, is almost certain to veto all these bills, and his administration "has signaled that it won’t cooperate with GOP efforts to involve career employees in the hearings."

“Essentially, they want to wage war on the federal workforce — with the possible exception of certain parts of the military,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) to the Post. He added, that, despite thier formation of a new committee targeting what they claim to be "weaponization" of government, “Weaponization of the government is not their target — weaponization of the government is their purpose.”

Former President Donald Trump himself tried to radically restructure the civil service to make all workers serve at his pleasure, instituting a provision called "Schedule F" that would reclassify most government workers in a way that allows them to be fired at any time, including for political reasons. Biden rescinded this upon taking office, and Republicans in the House have so far not made any effort to force this provision to be reinstated.