OMB gets $100M to implement agency reorg plans ‘without obstruction,’ under Senate committee’s proposal – Federal News Network

The Senate committee’s proposal would give $100M to the Office of Management and Budget to oversee and implement the Trump administration’s reorganization plans…
The Trump administration would proceed with plans to downsize the federal workforce and reorganize agencies with minimal interference from Congress, under a Senate committee’s proposal.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, in its contribution to the budget reconciliation package, would allow the Trump administration to proceed with sweeping changes to the federal workforce — including those currently stalled by federal judges — without approval from Congress.
The committee’s section of the “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” which passed the House last month, also sets aside $100 million for the Office of Management and Budget to oversee and implement the Trump administration’s reorganization plans over the next decade.
Much of the legislative text is subject to change as it moves through the Senate. But if these provisions remain in later stages of the One Big, Beautiful Bill, it would give the Trump administration broad authority to downsize the federal workforce “without obstruction” from Congress or federal courts.
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Federal district and appeals courts have temporarily blocked reductions-in-force and reorganizations at many agencies on the grounds that the Trump administration didn’t involve Congress in these plans. That argument would be almost entirely moot, if HSGAC’s provisions make it through to the final version of the bill.
The HSGAC bill text would require the president to submit annual plans to Congress for the next 10 years, “specifying reorganizations of agencies the president finds necessary.”
The bill provision would exempt the president from most sections of the U.S. Code that put limits on the executive branch’s ability to unilaterally carry out agency reorganizations and require Congress to weigh in on those reorganization plans.
“This provision would reestablish the authority for a president to reorganize government, as long as these plans do not result in an increase in federal agencies and the plan does not result in an increase in federal spending,” a committee summary of the bill text states. “Any president should have the ability to clear the waste he or she has identified without obstruction.”
The committee summary states that presidents for much of the 20th century had broad authority to develop plans for “reorganizing, closing, or consolidating portions of the federal government that he identified as wasteful, unnecessary, or duplicative.”
The summary states this presidential reorganization authority was used over 100 times between 1932 and 1984. That reorganization authority expired in 1984, “despite multiple administrations requesting its renewal.”
The committee proposes giving OMB $100 million to prepare, submit and execute the president’s reorganization plans through 2034.
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OMB Director Russ Vought told House appropriators earlier this month that his agency needs more money and staffing in next year’s budget in order to oversee workforce and budget cuts at other agencies outlined in their reorganization plans.
HSGAC still needs to markup the bill, which would then head to the full Senate for a vote. Congressional leaders would later have to compromise on changes between the House-passed and Senate-passed versions of the budget reconciliation plan.
The bill would also set up a “bonuses for cost-cutters” program that would give financial awards to federal employees who identify “surplus salaries and expenses” that agency watchdogs deem “unnecessary.”
The bill would allow agency inspectors general to make cash awards to federal employees who report wasteful spending that “results in cost savings for the agency.”
Agency IGs would be authorized to give federal employees the lower of these two amounts — $10,000 or 1% — of the cost savings attributable to the employee’s disclosure. The bill would give the Office of Personnel Management $100 million over the next 10 years to reimburse agency IG offices for making these awards.
The False Claims Act already allows whistleblowers, including federal employees, to receive financial awards based on disclosures of fraud, waste and abuse in government spending.
HSGAC Chairman Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced versions Bonuses for Cost-Cutters Act in recent years. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) reintroduced the bill in January.
The General Services Administration set up its own “bonuses for cost-cutters” program last month, as part of its goal to cut travel, training and contract spending by the end of July.
The committee also proposes eliminating funds for the Postal Service to purchase a majority-electric vehicle fleet and charging stations. The committee’s bill text would also direct USPS to sell off the electric vehicles it’s already purchased.
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The committee’s summary states this provision would help “reverse USPS’s financial decline” by rescinding over $1 billion in unobligated funding in the Inflation Reduction Act to purchase electric delivery vehicles and charging infrastructure.
USPS received $3 billion for this purpose in the Inflation Reduction Act, but has already submitted purchase orders for both electric and gas-powered delivery vehicles.
“USPS is on the path to financial collapse at the expense of the American taxpayer,” the committee’s summary states. “This provision aims to cut unnecessary costs and focus USPS on delivering mail and not achieving the environmental initiatives pushed by the Biden Administration.”
USPS posted a $6.5 billion net loss in fiscal 2023, and a $9.4 billion loss in fiscal 2024 falling short of “break-even” goals under former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s 10-year “Delivering for America” reform plan. Despite a profitable first quarter, the agency expects to end this fiscal year with another multibillion-dollar loss.
USPS and the Biden administration initially butted heads over USPS adoption of electric vehicles.
DeJoy originally forecasted that 10% of the agency’s Next-Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV) fleet would be electric, but agreed to pursue a majority-electric fleet once the administration gave the self-funded USPS $3 billion to buy more EVs than it could otherwise afford.
The Washington Post reported last December that Oshkosh Defense, the vendor manufacturing the next-generation USPS fleet, is far behind schedule in producing electric vehicles for the mail agency.
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Jory Heckman is a reporter at Federal News Network covering the Postal Service, Department of Veterans Affairs, IRS, big data and technology issues.
Follow @jheckmanWFED

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