Washington, D.C. —Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman and Civil Service Strong Managing Director Rob Shriver joined U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Tim Kaine, U.S. Representatives Steny Hoyer, James Walkinshaw, and Suhas Subramanyam, and union and coalition partners at a press conference on Capitol Hill today as they launched the Congressional Federal Workforce Caucus, a new bipartisan, bicameral effort formed after months of collaboration with advocates, labor leaders, and experts on government and dedicated to defending and strengthening the nation’s nonpartisan federal workforce.
The launch comes at a moment when career civil servants are facing unprecedented political attacks, mass demoralization, and efforts to weaken long-standing protections that ensure the federal government serves the public, not any particular administration. The co-chairs said the caucus will work to safeguard merit-based hiring, protect whistleblowers, modernize civil service systems, and ensure federal workers can do their jobs free from political interference.
“The nation’s civil servants who work on behalf of all of us as Americans – ensuring our communities and borders are safe, our veterans are cared for, our air and water is clean, and that people in America have access to essential services – have been unnecessarily attacked, targeted, and used as political pawns since the Trump-Vance administration sought to decimate the workforce last year,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward in remarks at the event. “The Trump-Vance administration’s tactics haven’t made the government more efficient nor has it made it more effective. Instead, it has harmed hundreds of millions of Americans. Over the past year, people and communities have protested, lawyers have sued, and courts have issued orders to protect our civil servants. It is an honor today to mark the establishment of a bipartisan, bicameral congressional caucus to support the people who work for all us – our nonpartisan, merit-based civil service. The Congressional Federal Workforce Caucus could not come at a more pivotal time. As the Trump-Vance administration and its allies escalate threats to our nation’s elections, our nation’s communities, and our nation’s civil servants, it is time to use all tools our democracy provides to push back and move forward. We are grateful to these lawmakers for taking an important step to protect and strengthen the civil service not just for today, but for the ability to build the people-centered government we all will need in the future.”
Over the past several months, Democracy Forward has worked closely with the co-chairs, drawing on its deep experience defending the civil service in court, in Congress, and in communities nationwide. Democracy Forward has consistently warned that attacks on federal workers are attacks on the public itself, and that defending a nonpartisan, merit-based civil service is essential to functional democracy.
Since the Trump-Vance administration took office, Democracy Forward has taken more than 400 legal actions to stop executive branch excesses, including filing more than 150 lawsuits, initiating more than 250 public records investigations, filing numerous supportive friend-of-the-court briefs, and filing more than 1,700 Freedom of Information Act requests.
The organization has led landmark legal challenges to defend merit-based hiring, due process, and basic workplace protections for civil servants, winning before judges appointed by presidents of both parties, including President Trump.
In December 2024, the organization launched Civil Service Strong, led by former Acting Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Shriver, a collaborative effort by civil society, non-partisan good government and watchdog organizations, lawyers, and unions to ensure our nation’s civil service is able to continue to serve the American people and our Constitution, deliver for our nation, and support our communities.
Democracy Forward has also launched Democracy Works 250, led by former Senior Advisor to the Director at OPM Kyleigh Russ, an innovative effort to reimagine and build foundations for a people-centered government and democracy, including through a nationwide listening project to catalogue the expectations and experiences of people in America and through optimizing the expertise of former civil servants and fired federal workers to contribute to plans to rebuild government.
That work relies on the support of congressional leadership, one of the many reasons this new congressional caucus is such an important announcement.
The Federal Workforce Caucus will convene regularly with labor unions, watchdog groups, experts, and impacted workers to develop legislative proposals and oversight strategies aimed at strengthening and modernizing the civil service.
