REDUCE Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 248 To provide for a limitation on the number of civilian employees at the Department of Defense, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 4, 2019 Mr. CALVERT (for himself, Mr. LAMALFA, and Mr. NUNES) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To provide for a limitation on the number of civilian employ- ees at the Department of Defense, and for other pur- poses. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rebalance for an Ef- 4 fective Defense Uniformed and Civilian Employees Act’’ 5 or the ‘‘REDUCE Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES IN THE 7 DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE. 8 (a) LIMITATION ON FTES.— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Jan 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H248.IH H248 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 248 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding the re- 1 quirements of section 129 of title 10, United States 2 Code, and consistent with the requirements of sub- 3 section (d), in each of fiscal years 2025 through 4 2029, the number of full-time equivalent civilian po- 5 sitions in the Department of Defense may not be 6 greater than 85 percent of the number of such posi- 7 tions at the Department as of September 30, 2019, 8 as determined by the Director of the Office of Per- 9 sonnel Management. 10 (2) SES.—Of the positions permitted pursuant 11 to paragraph (1) for fiscal years 2025 through 2029 12 at the Department of Defense, not more than 1,000 13 may be career appointee (as defined in section 14 3132(a)(4) of title 5, United States Code) positions 15 within the Senior Executive Service. 16 (b) VOLUNTARY REDUCTIONS.—To achieve the re- 17 ductions in personnel required by subsection (a), the Sec- 18 retary of Defense may exercise the authority provided 19 for— 20 (1) voluntary separation incentive payments 21 (subchapter II of chapter 35 of title 5, United 22 States Code); and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Jan 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H248.IH H248 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 248 IH (2) voluntary early retirement payments (sec- 1 tions 8336(d)(2)(D) and 8414(b)(1)(B) of such 2 title). 3 (c) INVOLUNTARY REDUCTIONS.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on October 1, 5 2020, if voluntary reductions are inadequate to 6 achieve the limitations provided in subsection (a), 7 the Secretary of Defense shall separate employees 8 using involuntary measures, including reductions in 9 force. 10 (2) RIF APPLICATION.—Notwithstanding any 11 other provision of law, rule, or regulation, when ap- 12 plying retention factors with respect to any employee 13 during any reduction in force under paragraph (1), 14 the Secretary of Defense shall assign greater weight 15 to the performance factor over the other factors if 16 such employee has a summary rating level of ‘‘fully 17 successful’’ or better. 18 (d) ADJUSTMENT OF LIMIT.— 19 (1) DETERMINATION.—As soon as practicable 20 after the start of each of fiscal years 2025 through 21 2029, the Secretary of Defense shall determine the 22 difference (if any), expressed as a percentage, be- 23 tween the permanent active duty end strength min- 24 imum levels in effect under section 691(b) of title 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Jan 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H248.IH H248 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 248 IH 10, United States Code, for the current fiscal year 1 and the preceding fiscal year. 2 (2) ADJUSTMENT.—On the date that the deter- 3 mination is made under paragraph (1), the Sec- 4 retary shall adjust the limitations provided under 5 subsection (a) with respect to the number of total 6 full-time equivalent positions and Senior Executive 7 Service positions by a percentage equal to the per- 8 centage determined under paragraph (1). 9 (3) ACHIEVEMENT OF ADJUSTMENT.—After 10 any adjustment under paragraph (2), in order to 11 achieve the adjusted limitation for the applicable fis- 12 cal year, the Secretary (as the case may be)— 13 (A) may hire individuals to occupy full- 14 time equivalent positions; or 15 (B) shall separate employees occupying 16 such positions using the involuntary procedures 17 provided under subsection (c). 18 (4) LIMITATION ON ADJUSTMENT.—No adjust- 19 ment may be made under this subsection that would 20 result in the number of full-time equivalent positions 21 and Senior Executive Service positions to be greater 22 than the limitations on the number of such positions 23 provided under subsection (a). 24 (e) REPORTS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Jan 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H248.IH H248 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 248 IH (1) SECRETARY OF DEFENSE.—The Secretary 1 of Defense— 2 (A) shall include a report in the Sec- 3 retary’s annual budget request for each of fiscal 4 years 2021 through 2029 on the progress and 5 impact of the requirements of this Act; and 6 (B) may, in addition to the report required 7 under subparagraph (A), report to Congress on 8 the impact of such requirements at any time 9 throughout any of such fiscal years. 10 (2) GAO.—Not later than 3 years after the 11 date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator 12 of General Services shall submit to Congress a re- 13 port examining the progress and impact of the re- 14 quirements of this Act. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Jan 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H248.IH H248 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS