Comer Investigates Outgoing Biden Administration’s Late Term Efforts to Embed Political Hires in the Federal Bureaucracy

Hiring may have been driven not by agency mission needs, but desire to “Trump proof” agencies

Today, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is launching an investigation into the hiring-related personnel actions taken by the outgoing Biden-Harris Administration. In letters to 24 major federal departments and agencies, Chairman Comer raised concerns the Biden Administration deliberately and improperly embedded Democrat political appointees into career civil service positions late in Joe Biden’s presidency, including in its waning days. The Committee is requesting documents and information from all 24 departments and agencies to facilitate oversight of the Biden-Harris Administration’s attempt to exploit loopholes in federal personnel law and obstruct the implementation of President Donald Trump’s agenda. 

“The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating hiring-related personnel actions taken by the outgoing Biden-Harris Administration, especially those occurring after the November elections. We are concerned about job postings and hiring surges not based on actual agency mission needs, but based on political goals, including a desire to ‘Trump proof’ agency staffs by placing personnel opposed to President Donald Trump’s agenda. We are particularly concerned about reported efforts to improperly embed Biden-Harris Administration political appointees into career civil service positions. The Committee requests documents and information to facilitate our oversight of the Biden-Harris Administration’s apparent attempt to impede President Trump’s agenda,” wrote Chairman Comer.

Political appointees in the executive branch can transition into career positions within the competitive service, Senior Executive Service, or excepted service. To ensure fairness and prevent political influence, these conversions must follow strict legal procedures, uphold merit principles, and avoid prohibited personnel practices. Nevertheless, the Biden-Harris Administration may have sought to inappropriately embed political appointees into career roles.

“For example, Ms. Elizabeth Peña, a political appointee in the Biden-Harris White House and Department of Labor (DOL) and a staffer on the Kamala Harris transition team, was just recently hired back by DOL as a non-political ‘term’ position in the Bureau of International Labor Affairs that will carry over into the Trump Administration. Term status enabled DOL to avoid the disclosure of a political appointee hired into a civil service job—a practice known as ‘burrowing in.’ The job Ms. Peña was recently hired for is not one that has historically been advertised as a ‘term’ position. We believe this may not be the only instance in which the outgoing Administration has attempted to exploit loopholes in federal personnel law to embed partisans in civil service positions,” continued Chairman Comer.

Read the letters sent to federal departments and agencies here.