Today, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent letters to the heads of 24 federal agencies requesting documents and information regarding their response to guidance from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on agency reductions in force (RIF) and reorganization plans following a February 26, 2025, memo.
“The actions outlined in this memo will further enable the Administration’s political purge of dedicated civil servants from federal agencies. The Administration has already engaged in illegal RIFs, deep funding cuts that endanger many of our government’s life-saving missions, and the unlawful wholesale dismantlement of congressionally authorized federal agencies. This memo seeks to accelerate and expand these actions across the government.”
The letter follows a string of Committee efforts to fight back against Elon Musk’s DOGE efforts to illegally terminate federal workers, undermine the nonpartisan civil service, and dismantle the services Americans rely on:
On February 3, 2025, Ranking Member Connolly led all Committee Democrats in sending a letter to President Donald Trump, requesting documents and information regarding his “deferred resignation” offer sent en mass to the federal workforce, and urging him to rescind the offer.
On that same day, Ranking Member Connolly led all Committee Democrats in sending another letter to President Donald Trump, demanding the President cease his purge of nonpartisan civil servants, including career professionals and independent government watchdogs.
On February 22, 2025, Ranking Member Connolly sent a letter to OPM demanding a clarification that nonresponse to the “What did you do last week?” email that was sent to all federal workers does not constitute resignation and a clarification that Elon Musk does not, in fact, speak for OPM.
On March 3, 2025, Committee Democrats sent a letter to OPM requesting documents and information regarding the Trump-Musk Administration’s efforts to purge non-partisan, civil servants in probationary status and reinstate all whom were unlawfully terminated.
On March 4, 2025, Ranking Member Connolly and Rep. Kweisi Mfume, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, led Committee Democrats in introducing a Resolution of Inquiry to investigate the Trump-Musk Administration’s unprecedented attacks on federal workers.
On March 6, 2025, Ranking Member Connolly led 141 House Democrats in sending a letter to OPM urging the agency to reinstate all unlawfully terminated probationary status federal employees and cease plans to carry out RIFs.
Ranking Member Connolly concluded, “I request that you submit to the Committee any materials your agency develops responsive to the February 26 memo. Please provide these materials to the Committee concurrent with submission to OMB and/or OPM.”
