Ryan Zinke Announces FEAR Act as First Piece of Legislation

For Immediate Release
August 17, 2022
Contact [email protected] 
 
 

Ryan Zinke Announces FEAR Act as First Piece of Legislation 

The 10-point Federal Employees Accountability and Reduction Act would put the fear of accountability in the hearts of bad actors and root out corrupt government employees, returning power to the people
(WHITEFISH, MT) Today, the Honorable Ryan Zinke, Republican nominee for Montana’s western congressional district and former U.S. Secretary of the Interior and former Montana Congressman, announced his intent to introduce the 10-point Federal Employees Accountability and Reduction (FEAR) Act as his first piece of legislation should he be elected again by the people of Montana. The framework legislation would target the career bureaucratic class in Washington, D.C., and other major regional areas and bad actors at all levels, while empowering local decision making and serving the taxpayer. This legislation would stop the gravy train for reckless, ineffective, and criminal bureaucrats who bilk taxpayers without putting the will of the American people at the forefront of their work.  
 
Specifically, the 10-point FEAR Act would:
  1. Create a clear pathway to remove government employees for cause
  2. Cap the number of years a person can work for the federal government (non-military, non-law enforcement)
  3. Cap government salaries so no government employee, like Dr. Anthony Fauci, can make more than the President of the United States
  4. Eliminate preferred hiring practices for non-veteran government employees and eliminate expedited agency-to-agency hiring which allows managers to fill jobs with their unqualified friends
  5. Prevent political appointees from “burrowing in” to career government employee positions
  6. Require the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to electronically post salaries and titles of all political appointees every quarter
  7. Create a pathway to downsize the federal government through attrition, defunding, and repealing recent actions to expand the IRS and DOJ
  8. Create an automatic trigger law stripping current and former federal government employees of their benefits if they are convicted of violent or federal crimes or any crimes they are able to commit because of access to victims or information from their employment
  9. Require certain federal agencies to relocate out of the Washington, D.C. metro area and closer to the customers they serve
  10. Require the General Services Administration (GSA) to sell unused office buildings in certain oversaturated urban centers like Washington, DC, Denver and San Francisco
Statement from former Secretary Zinke:
“There’s nothing a bad government employee fears more than losing their free ride. I’ve been in the belly of the Washington beast and I personally saw how difficult it was to fire or even take disciplinary actions against federal employees who abuse their position of trust without it being sidelined by complacent cronies, process appeals, or lawsuits. It has to stop.
 
“This is about making government accountable to the American people and making sure their hard-earned taxpayer dollars aren’t squandered on inefficient or irresponsible bureaucrats who don’t have We The People’s best interest at heart. I was successful in firing or reprimanding more than two dozen employees guilty of sexual harassment, abuse of power or intimidation, but the fact that it was a fight is absurd, and there were so many more who should have been removed for offenses like abuse of power, insubordination or general incompetence but were protected by the web of paperwork, bureaucracy and cronyism that the agency’s lawyers wouldn’t pursue it.
 
“I also know for a fact that the federal government is too big and unelected bureaucrats are too powerful. As a whole Washington, DC, is concerned with one thing above all else, how to keep its pet projects and special interest funding going. No more. This legislation would force the government to downsize via attrition and would defund and repeal recent expansions of the IRS, DOJ and other agencies.” 
Background
  • Senator Steve Daines has been working for years to address the issue of convicted felons receiving federal pensions. He introduced the “Denying Pensions to Convicted Child Molesters Act,” but his efforts are blocked by Democrats beholden to white collar government unions. (See additional background)
  • In 2017 then-Secretary Ryan Zinke introduced a budget plan to eliminate roughly 4,000 employees from the Department of the Interior through attrition and was sharply criticized by DC media and deep state insiders.
  • As Secretary, Zinke fired or removed two dozen employees for sexual harassment, discrimination or other inappropriate behavior as government employees
  • In 2017, then-Secretary Zinke announced the Bureau of Land Management would move HQ out of DC to a western state with significant BLM managed lands. In 2019, BLM HQ was moved to Grand Junction, CO, located in Mesa County which is 62% federal land. The move was cheered by westerners who live with the BLM in their communities.
  • In 2018, Zinke announced the U.S. Geological Survey would relocate much of its mineral labs and scientists to Golden, CO.
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