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House Republicans are pushing forward with a number of bills that, if enacted, would bring significant changes for federal employees.

During an Oversight and Government Reform Committee mark-up last week, several GOP-led bills advanced favorably out of the committee along party lines.

Here are four bills to watch that would impact federal employees — and the federal workforce at large.

Reorganizing Government Act

The Reorganizing Government Act, a GOP bill led by House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), aims to let President Donald Trump fast-track his plans to reorganize executive branch agencies.

Under the legislation, Congress would have 90 days to vote on any of Trump’s agency reorganization plans, while bypassing filibuster rules. The bill aims to grant the broader authorities to the Trump administration until December 2026.

“The federal government has expanded dramatically since the early years of our Republic,” Comer said in a statement. “Renewing this special reorganization authority — requiring Congress to take an up or down vote on reorganizations proposed by the President — will help facilitate needed improvements in government operations.”

A similar authority has been used in prior presidential administrations in efforts to reshape certain agencies and federal offices. In the past, for example, the temporary authority has allowed for the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Federal Emergency Management Agency.

House Democrats, however, criticized the newest version of the bill for what they said would be an overreach of presidential powers. According to Democrats, the resurrected version of the bill removes limitations that were in place in past administrations. Notably, previous versions of the authority still prohibited the abolishment, transfer or consolidation of whole executive departments or independent regulatory agencies, the lawmakers said.

Democrats warned that the Reorganizing Government Act would create “an enormous expansion of presidential power by removing these limitations and guardrails.”

In a fact sheet, Democrats said the legislation would also allow for “purging federal employees, and eliminating key regulatory protections that President Trump and Elon Musk deem ‘unnecessary and burdensome.’”

Despite the pushback, the bill advanced out of the Oversight committee in a vote along party lines. There is a Senate companion bill, but given the strong Democratic pushback, the legislation appears unlikely to get the 60 Senate votes needed to pass.

Preserving Presidential Management Authority Act

Several other bills that Oversight Republicans pushed forward would also significantly change collective bargaining at agencies. The bills come at the same time as Trump signed an executive order to cancel collective bargaining at a majority of federal agencies.

Similarly, one bill the committee advanced last week along party lines seeks to heighten the President’s authority in overseeing collective bargaining at agencies.

The GOP-led Preserving Presidential Management Authority Act would let agencies ignore any provisions in collective bargaining agreements that conflict with an executive order or a memo from the President.

“A President should not be constrained by a union deal with federal employees made by the prior administration,” Comer said.

The American Federation of Government Employees, however, pushed back strongly against the Republicans’ efforts.

“Such a move would undermine the entire system of collective bargaining and make federal workers’ negotiating rights meaningless,” AFGE acting Legislative Director Daniel Horowitz said in a statement. “This bill would destabilize labor-management relations and irrevocably weaken agreements that otherwise provide for workplace fairness, health and safety, and opportunities to address problems.”

The legislation would also allow Trump to terminate any collective bargaining agreement at an agency. The bill aligns closely with an executive order Trump signed in January to cancel all union contracts signed during the last month of the Biden administration.

“Midnight CBAs should not interfere with a duly elected President and his mandate from the American people,” Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas), who introduced the legislation, said.

Protecting Taxpayers’ Wallet Act

In another effort impacting federal unions, the Republican-led Protecting Taxpayers’ Wallet Act advanced out of the Oversight committee along party lines last week. Under the bill, federal unions would be required to pay a fee to agencies for their use of any employee time and agency resources.

Currently, unions are allotted, by law, specific and limited amounts of agency time and resources to conduct activities on “official time,” which is generally used to resolve employee disputes with management and negotiate union contracts.

But Republicans in support of the bill have described official time as “taxpayer-funded union time.”

“Look, that’s fine if you want to do that on your own time with your own money. But it’s not fine when you’re doing it with taxpayer money,” said Rep. Scott Perry. “If federal employees and resources are going to be used for union tasks, the union should have to foot the bill.”

Federal unions, however, have argued that view of official time is anti-union and falsely portrays what official time actually is.

“Official time is often used to engage in projects that improve efficiency and productivity,” Oversight Ranking Member Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) said. “Many federal workers in my district have said that it’s used for management trainings to increase productivity in departments, and it’s used to resolve office conflicts, to make sure employees can do their jobs effectively.”

House Democrats also raised concerns that the legislation would have broader consequences for federal employees.

“If we continue to attack the workplace of the federal government, how can we expect to retain any talent and compete with the private sector? How can we expect to get rid of waste, fraud and abuse?” Connolly said. “This isn’t about government efficiency. This is yet another example of targeting our federal workers.”

Paycheck Protection Act

Another bill that the committee advanced, called the Paycheck Protection Act, would bar agencies from deducting union dues from employees’ paychecks.

The legislation, introduced by Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), advanced out of the Oversight committee along party lines last week.

“This is about freedom of choice,” Burlison said. “The Paycheck Protection Act is going to help unions be more accountable to their members and give federal workers greater control over their finances.”

AFGE, however, argued that the legislation would directly harm federal unions, which rely on dues to effectively represent federal employees.

“This bill targets payroll deduction for union dues, making it harder for employees to choose to pay dues voluntarily,” Horowitz said. “The bill singles out union dues for restrictions that do not apply to other voluntary payroll deductions, such as charitable contributions or routine bill payments.”

In testimony submitted to the committee, AFGE warned of negative effects of the four bills, particularly in combination.

“Taken together, these four bills would have a profoundly negative impact on federal workers and their ability to organize and have a voice in the workplace,” Horowitz said. “They would undermine workplace fairness, disrupt labor-management relations and strip employees of their rights to freely associate and represent one another.”