Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, HOUSE NEWS—Oversight Committee marks up, favorably reports ‘Reorganizing Government Act of 2025’, (Apr 2, 2025)

By Pamela Wolf, J.D.

But would H.R. 1295 give the Trump Administration and Elon Musk “unprecedented filibuster-proof authority to eliminate federal departments and agencies and statutory protections…?”

On March 25, 2025, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform marked up and favorably reported out H.R. 1295, the “Reorganizing Government Act of 2025,” introduced by Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.). The bill would amend the Reorganization Act Amendments of 1984 to renew and extend through December 2026 the authority of the President to propose a government reorganization plan of which Congress must consider through an up or down vote on a joint resolution of approval within 90 calendar days, according to proponents.

But it’s not quite that simple. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) pointed out that the bill would “surrender congressional power to the executive branch by expanding the administration’s statutory reorganization authority, encouraging further attacks on the nation’s civil service.” The union contends that under this bill, “Trump’s mass firings and shutting down of agencies would only need a simple majority instead of the usual 60-vote threshold.”

Committee mark up. At the markup of the legislation, Democratic Committee Leader Gerald Connelley (D-Va.) opposed the legislation, saying it is not about reorganizing the government but about dismantling it. He also said Republicans have finally admitted that President Trump and Elon Musk do not have the legal authority to delete whole federal agencies or to take other actions they have taken—actions that Republicans know would be difficult to do through regular order of Congress. According to Connelley, H.R. 1295 would give the Trump Administration and Elon Musk “unprecedented filibuster-proof authority to eliminate federal departments and agencies and statutory protections…”

“The federal government has expanded dramatically since the early years of our Republic,” said Chairman James Comer. “This bill is not some abusive or unprecedented power grab as the Democrats would like us all to believe. Renewing this special reorganization authority—requiring Congress to take an up or down vote on reorganizations proposed by the President—will help facilitate needed improvements in government operations.”

However, when pressed by Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) to point to the language under which Congress retains its constitutional authority to rein in the Executive Branch under H.R. 1295, Comer was unable to do so. Stansbury said the language of the bill gives discretion to the Executive Branch “to eliminate the operations to be determined unnecessary for the execution of constitutional duties.”

Comer said that Stansbury was reading the bill wrong, and that Congress would still retain its oversight role—reorganization plans would still have to be submitted to Congress.

Amendments. Several amendments were offered and defeated. Representative Shontel Brown (D-Ohio), who offered one of them, said that H.R. 1295 would remove “critical job protections that keep our government running.” It would permit civil servants to be dismissed for political reasons. She offered an amendment that would require a list of data accessed by DOGE and the Administration with the aim of protecting the privacy American personal information.

Unlikely to pass. Several sources, including Government Executive, have predicted that H.R. 1295 is unlikely to pass for lack of the 60 votes necessary in the Senate to succeed.

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