The battle for the future of the federal workforce February 23 Members of Congress are fundamentally divided on how best to improve the federal civil service. (bowie15/Getty Images) Both Democrats and Republicans agree that the federal government’s workforce management practices as they currently stand aren’t good enough to meet the needs of the American people. But as demonstrated at a Feb. 23 House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing, they have radically different ideas of how to fix things. Those two stances are well-exemplified in the policies advocated for by the most recent presidents from each party. During his four years in office, President Donald Trump placed his focus on making it easier to get rid of poor-performing federal employees and restructuring pay to better match private sector competition and performance metrics.