The Scoop
The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is leading a group introducing a new bill designed to force the State Department to notify Congress and employees of upcoming layoffs well before they happen.
The bill, led by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and shared first with Semafor, comes in response to imminent cuts expected to hit the State Department. If passed, the legislation would require any foreign affairs agency planning so-called reductions in force, or RIFs, that affect over 50 employees to submit explanations to both the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee 20 days before the cuts.
The bill also calls for giving impacted employees more notice, and would specifically require the State Department to notify the two committees at least 30 days before altering its Foreign Affairs Manual. (The department recently updated this manual in preparation for its massive reorganization effort.)
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The bill would apply to the State Department, as well as other agencies like the Peace Corps, the US Trade and Development Agency, and the US Agency for International Development, which Trump has already moved to shutter.
Shaheen said in a statement that the new legislation “is crucial to protecting America’s ability to respond to global threats.” A number of Democrats have pushed back on the Trump administration’s efforts to implement deeper cuts, particularly in places like the State Department.
“The Trump administration is systematically dismantling our diplomatic institutions and weakening the workforce we depend on to advance US interests, respond to crises and out-compete adversaries like the People’s Republic of China,” Shaheen said. “At a time of growing instability around the world, from Ukraine to the Middle East, undermining our national security capabilities put Americans at risk and weakens our diplomatic hand.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has argued the cuts, coupled with a broader reorganization effort, are needed to make the department “more agile” and “better equipped to promote America’s interests and keep Americans safe across the world.” The State Department is already preparing to implement its reorganization plan, though it is waiting on an impending Supreme Court decision to move forward with mass layoffs.