Do No Harm Submits Public Comment Urging Reform of Health Agency Bureaucracy

On Friday, Do No Harm submitted a public comment to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) stressing the importance of having an “accountable and responsive federal workforce” to carry out President Trump’s executive orders targeting DEI, racial discrimination, and gender ideology in the federal government.

Do No Harm submitted the comment in reference to a proposed rule, “Improving Performance, Accountability and Responsiveness in the Civil Service,” that seeks to increase accountability within the federal bureaucracy. 

Specifically, the rule permits agencies to “quickly remove employees from critical positions who engage in misconduct, perform poorly, or undermine the democratic process by intentionally subverting Presidential directives.”

Earlier this year, President Trump issued several executive orders that, among other things, cut off taxpayer funding for child sex change interventions, prevent the distribution of federal funds on the basis of race, and prohibit racial discrimination in hiring and recruiting.

Do No Harm’s comment explains how accountability and oversight of the federal bureaucracy’s efforts to carry out these orders is essential for the orders to have their intended effect.

“Do No Harm fears that its efforts to eliminate DEI, youth transgender treatments, and other identity-based practices will suffer if the executive orders—which accomplish exactly that—are not carried out by the appropriate federal officials, including civil servants,” the comment states. 

“For example, if the orders are not enforced and federal grant recipients are free to use taxpayer money to implement race-conscious policies under the guise of ‘DEI,’ Do No Harm’s members will continue to face discrimination in their applications for employment and educational opportunities,” the comment continues.

Additionally, the comment points out that during President Trump’s first term, federal bureaucrats resisted and undermined his agenda.

“By the end of the administration, many political appointees reported that some career staff used several tactics to impede, delay, and block administration policies they didn’t like,” the comment states. “Those tactics included ideologically motivated refusal of work assignments, leaking sensitive information, withholding information from political appointees, misrepresenting facts, delays and slow-walking, unacceptable work product, insubordination, and hiring ideologues into career positions.”

A rule enhancing accountability of the federal bureaucracy is essential to ensure that executive orders targeting DEI and gender ideology are faithfully carried out.

For these reasons, Do No Harm supports the proposed rule.