Rep. Jody Hice has demanded an investigation into the Biden administration's alleged attempt to break the law by creating a patronage system and targeting career employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) who served under President Donald Trump in order to install their own staff, Fox News reported Tuesday.
The Georgia Republican, who is a member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, has requested that Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve and CFPB inspector general Mark Bialek open a probe into the matter.
Civil service law states that career employees can only be removed for cause, unlike political appointees, who serve at the pleasure of the president.
Government Executive, a news outlet covering the public sector workforce, reported last month that the Biden administration has targeted at least six top senior-level career employees at the CFPB in order to install their own staff.
Government Executive said the CFPB has used both hard ball and softball tactics in an attempt to achieve this aim, including early retirement to permit non-Biden administration hired employees to access their pension.
The bureau also allegedly launched an internal probe into another employee who was placed on paid administrative leave, with multiple sources describing the investigation as "frivolous and intended only to push the employee aside."
Hice criticized the moves by saying that "it seems they believe any career civil servant who worked under President Trump at CFPB must be replaced with hires selected by Biden administration officials" and pointing out that "the federal government is not a patronage system. It is supposed to be merit-based. The inspector general must launch an investigation to stop this abuse."
CFPB spokesperson Michael Robinson denied the accusations, saying that "the CFPB takes its responsibilities as a federal employer seriously and complies with all applicable laws concerning federal personnel. The CFPB values and upholds the merit systems principles that undergird the fair treatment of career civil service employees."
He added that "We cannot speak to any specific investigation, but more generally, agencies have an obligation to investigate after receiving complaints from staff about serious management misconduct. The CFPB takes such allegations seriously. Such an investigation would be directed by civil service employees, in line with what any other federal agency would do."
In his letter to the inspector general, Hice noted that Democrats accused Trump when he was president of trying to harm the civil service system.
"After the baseless rhetoric regarding President Trump's supposed efforts to create a patronage system and to damage the federal workforce, this stands out as a monument to hypocrisy," Hice wrote. "Purging career employees who happened to serve under a previous administration specifically because they served under the previous administration could not be more counter to merit-system protection principles."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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