Oversight Democrats Highlight Role of OMB in Empowering Federal Workforce, Delivering Vital Services to Americans

Washington, D.C. (May 1, 2024)—Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, led Committee Democrats in supporting the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) efforts to ensure that the federal government delivers for the American people.

“What we’re talking about today is the essential mechanics of how the federal government works and how it should work:  how to ensure that government services reach all eligible recipients;  how to prevent, detect, and reduce improper access to federal programs;  and how to recruit—and ensure the safety of—the two million-plus people across this nation who comprise the largest and most diversely talented and skilled workforce in the country,” said Ranking Member Raskin in his opening statement.  “Under the Biden-Harris Administration, OMB has made excellent strides in modernizing and revitalizing a federal government that was demoralized and gutted after four years of undermining and mismanagement of the federal workforce by Donald Trump.”

The hearing included testimony from Jason Miller, Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget.

Committee Democrats explained the Biden-Harris Administration’s celebrated overhaul of the long-flawed federal grantmaking process, increasing access to billions of dollars in vital, lifesaving federal funding. 

• Ranking Member Raskin pointed out:  “The government distributes $1.2 trillion a year in grants and loans through thousands of different programs that go out to the states and localities and tribal governments.  All of us have constituents who benefit from federal grant money going to fire safety, health care, domestic violence programs, after school programs, and so on.”

• In response to a question from Ranking Member Raskin about making the uniform federal grants process more transparent and accessible, Deputy Director Miller said, “We should give out dollars to the organizations that can best deliver on outcomes, not the organizations that can afford experts who can best fill out the paperwork to apply for those grants.”  He continued, “We think the simplification of the process will open the door to more organizations.  We like to say, we want the dollars to focus on outcomes, not overhead.”  

• Rep. Summer Lee emphasized, “We know that improvements to infrastructure, affordable housing, STEM innovation, clean air and clean water, good paying jobs, food insecurity and so much more can be addressed—or at least we can begin to address them—through federal grants.”

• In response to a question from Rep. Lee about how changes to the grant process will improve how recipients access grant money, Deputy Director Miller explained:  “Ultimately, our approach is to make sure that we’re getting more efficiency out of the dollars that we’re spending.”

Committee Democrats detailed how the Biden-Harris Administration’s OMB rebuilt the federal government after the Trump Administration’s four-year assault on agencies’ infrastructure, integrity, personnel, and use of science.

• Rep. Jasmine Crockett explained that former President Trump’s plan to replace career officials in policymaking roles with political appointees, known as Schedule F, “would have effectively gutted civil service job protections for workers across the federal government.  Trump would have created politically charged firings of potentially thousands of federal workers and made these public servants subject to the whims of a political dictator and his posse rather than the adherence of the tenets of our Constitution.”

• In response to Rep. Crockett’s questioning about the Trump Administration’s attempts to implement of Schedule F, Deputy Director Miller testified:  “If we were to go down the path that you outlined where there were arbitrary or political decisions made instead of decisions made around expertise and experience, it would deeply harm the institutional knowledge in our agencies, but it would also deeply harm our ability to recruit talent going forward into organizations that we want to organize around performance.”

• Rep. Melanie Stansbury emphasized the Biden-Harris Administration’s immediate actions in addressing the Trump Administration’s attempts to gut the federal government, stating that, “In October of 2020, then-President Trump issued an executive order that sought to turn our federal workforce into partisan loyalists.  Thankfully, Democrats in Congress worked to prevent implementation, and the Biden-Harris Administration revoked this order almost immediately when they came into office.”

• In response to a question from Rep. Stansbury highlighting how crucial it is that political appointees do not occupy every role in the federal government, Deputy Director Miller underscored the importance and value of civil servants, stating that:  “The institutional knowledge and the expertise of our civil servants is critical to the well-functioning of our government.  Whether that’s providing good customer experience at a call center, or that’s delivering relief after a disaster—having our civil servants know that they are there based on their merit is critical to well performing organizations, irrespective of who is in the White House.”

Committee Democrats underscored how the Biden-Harris Administration is dedicated to recruiting and retaining a diverse, talented, resilient federal workforce.

• During her questioning, Rep. Shontel Brown emphasized:  “The Administration has a significant amount of leverage to promote changes in the workforce, making it more reflective for people of all backgrounds.  Opportunities like remote or telework help increase diversity in the federal workforce for people who face all types of barriers like access to transportation, taking care of an aging relative, or having to pick up their children from school.”  Deputy Director Miller responded, “One of the ways that we are doing that is by trying to broaden the access to broader pools—broader talent pipelines across all of the country.  If we’re leaving some of the country on the bench and not giving them access, we’re missing out on potential skills and expertise that could serve the American people in these roles.”

• In response to a question from Rep. Stephen Lynch about lessons from the private sector indicating the value and efficiency of telework, Deputy Director Miller said:  “In crafting our government wide governance, we have followed very closely the research and actions by the private sector.  Ultimately, we need to compete for talent.  Right now, we have a major effort underway in trying to implement AI and strengthen our use of AI in the federal government.  That’s going to require competing with the private sector for talent.”

• In discussing the millions of private and public sector employees who currently hold security clearances, Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost explained:  “Each of these individuals underwent comprehensive and extensive background investigations to clear their credentials.  Improving personnel vetting and onboarding for the most sensitive government positions is key to our national security.”