FreedomWorks Live Stream on MERIT Act with Congressman Barry Loudermilk

Congressman Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) stopped by FreedomWorks for a Facebook Live discussion on his bill, the MERIT Act, which is FreedomWorks’ bill of the month for February.

In the interview, Rep. Loudermilk told FreedomWorks’ activists that the White House has shown interest in the bill to increase the ability of top officials to fire corrupt and underperforming federal employees.

FreedomWorks CEO Adam Brandon commented, “I am excited to see that there is some interest from the White House in this bill to help drain the swamp. I hope Rep. Loudermilk is able to explain with the president and staff how this bill seeks to make the federal government more accountable to the people.”

The MERIT Act would make it easier to “drain the swamp” by removing federal employees based on poor performance or misconduct. Frequently, it takes a process stretching more than 300 days to formally discharge a federal employee. According to a 2015 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, only 0.18 percent of the federal workforce was fired for poor performance or bad conduct during the previous year.

Due to the grueling process of terminating employees who are underperforming, it is easier for agencies to keep those employees or move them to different agencies.

Visit FreedomWorks’ Facebook page to see the video.