Three Democratic lawmakers on Monday called for an internal watchdog to investigate allegations that State Department aides are “marginalizing” career officials perceived as disloyal to President Donald Trump.
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Reps. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) sent a letter urging the State Department’s inspector general, Steve Linick, to investigate “whether any senior officials have violated civil service protections, Department regulations, or federal law in taking personnel actions on the basis of an employee’s perceived ethnicity, nation of origin, political beliefs, loyalty, or affiliations with prior administrations.”
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“Political intrusion into personnel decision making, including forcing people out of the Department, is damaging to the Department, counter to the very idea of a dedicated civil service, and would run afoul of civil service protections,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter. “No employee should work in fear that he or she needs to demonstrate loyalty to a current administration or suffer negative consequences based on work for a prior administration.”
They added: “There should be no political litmus test for civil servants. In fact, our system depends on their willingness to serve the public through multiple administrations and their ability to provide professionalized and expert counsel no matter the party in power.”
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March 12, 2024