Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, FEDERAL LEGISLATION—Bill would give Congress power to approve agency job cuts, (May 5, 2025)

By Jeff Williams

Waters and Merkley leveled criticism at President Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency under Elon Musk for engaging in “reckless” cuts to the federal workforce.

Citing the “mass firings of federal employees” by the Trump administration, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) have introduced legislation in the House and Senate that they said would “strengthen Congress’ authority to protect workers and override federal staffing cuts implemented without consultation.”

The Reduction in Force (RIF) Review Act (H.R. 3171 and S. 1585) would give Congress the authority to overrule any president’s workforce reduction actions and make reduction in force plans subject to the Congressional Review Act (CRA).

In a press release, Waters, the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, argued that President Trump and Elon Musk—the primary owner of X and the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—are “engaged in a lawless and reckless restructuring” of the federal workforce.

“By firing thousands of federal workers, they are dismantling the infrastructure supporting Social Security, veterans’ healthcare, and our entire government,” Waters said. “Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress are sitting by and refusing to perform their duty under the Constitution to provide a check on this President.”

Merkley, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, said in the release that the “reckless decision" by Trump and “his unelected billionaire sidekick” Musk to “fire tens of thousands of federal employees threatens the critical services that families, veterans, seniors, and children rely on.”

Rather than ensuring fiscal responsibility, the firings are “about cruelly shifting resources away from those who need them most to the very richest among us. Gutting resources and staff from vital programs is not resulting in better services or increased efficiency, but is instead causing pain for folks in Oregon and across the country. Congress must step in and exercise its oversight of the executive branch.”

Review and Reporting Requirements. The RIF Review Act calls for any plan to reduce the workforce of an agency subject to a vote in both houses of Congress under the Congressional Review Act process and would expand reduction in force reporting requirements.

Specifically, the bill states that reports would have to include the “specific reasons” for the reduction in force;” the “anticipated impact” on employees and operations of the agency; any alternatives to workforce reductions that were considered and the reasons those options were rejected; a “summary of consultations” the agency held with employees; and a summary of how the workforce reduction would impact agency employees who are veterans.

The House version is cosponsored by Reps. Gerald Connolly (D-Va.), LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii). The Senate version is cosponsored by Sens Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.).

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