Sixty Democratic lawmakers told Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday to refrain from moving ahead with mass layoffs of State Department employees and to lift a hiring freeze at a time of widening global crises.
In a letter to Mr. Rubio, the lawmakers said they were concerned about reported plans to fire about 700 career diplomats, known as Foreign Service officers, based mainly on the fact that those employees are currently posted in the United States rather than overseas.
Diplomats spend much of their career abroad but rotate through Washington and other U.S. posts such as the United Nations, so firing people who happen to be currently on assignment in the country is seen as arbitrary and unfair by many State Department employees, as well as by the lawmakers.
“Hiring and assignment freezes as well as mass firings of these diplomatic experts leave the U.S. with limited tools to engage as a leader on the world stage during this critical juncture,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter, which Representative Donald S. Beyer Jr., Democrat of Virginia, helped to organize.
Information indicating that diplomats could “be penalized for their present duty domestic stations is especially concerning, and not conducive to a thoughtful, priorities-driven reorganization process that retains the best talent and recognizes the unique nature of the Foreign Service.”
The lawmakers also said they disapproved of Mr. Rubio’s freezing the administering of the Foreign Service officer test, which had been done three times a year and has been critical for hiring new diplomats. The lawmakers asked him to reinstate the test.
In April, Mr. Rubio released what he called a reorganization plan, which includes cutting more than 100 offices — including those focusing on global criminal justice, women’s issues, and democracy and human rights — and firing hundreds of employees working in the United States.
In a statement at the time, Mr. Rubio said the plan would address a “bloated, bureaucratic” department “beholden to radical political ideology.” His department later sent a memo to Congress with more details, including plans to fire about 2,000 people.
A U.S. official said about 1,300 of those expected to be fired are Civil Service employees, who spend their career mainly in the United States, and 700 are career diplomats, who rotate among overseas and domestic posts on tours.
A federal judge in California on June 13 ordered the State Department to pause the planned firings.
The ruling froze the departure of about 40 Civil Service employees who worked in a State Department office on countering foreign disinformation that Mr. Rubio and Darren Beattie, a political appointee, had ordered to be shut down. Eight career diplomats in that office were being moved elsewhere in the department.
The decision to shut down that office drew criticism from some congressional officials, including aides of Senate Republicans.
The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to block the judge’s orders on the agencies. The justices are expected to rule on the request soon, as tens of thousands of federal employees anxiously await word about layoffs.
The union that represents Foreign Service officers issued a statement on Wednesday demanding that the State Department observe the court order and hold off on any layoffs.
“Sources inside the department tell us that layoffs will be announced as soon as the end of this week or early next week,” Tom Yazdgerdi, the president of the American Foreign Service Association, said in the statement. “Unless the Supreme Court intervenes, the department is legally barred from taking any action outlined in its reorganization plans.”
“What we are hearing about the planned layoffs would constitute a serious breach of the rule of law,” Mr. Yazdgerdi added. “This not only threatens the integrity of the Foreign Service but also undermines the effectiveness of U.S. diplomacy.”
The State Department said on Thursday that it “has no plans to violate a court order” when asked about the union’s statement and the possibility of imminent mass firings.
On Monday, the department made changes to a section on “reduction in force” policies in the Foreign Affairs Manual, which has terms of employment for career diplomats. That move ignited anxiety among thousands of employees. The changes make it easier for the department to fire diplomats posted in the United States and without taking into account merit, employees said.
The State Department released an internal memo on Thursday that said the changes to the manual would allow it to make “Foreign Service reductions” among “specific offices which are duplicative, noncore or where organic efficiencies can be found.” The New York Times obtained a copy of the memo.
To many officials in the Trump administration, the State Department is an arm of what they see as a “deep state” bureaucracy intent on thwarting President Trump’s agenda.
In February, Mr. Trump issued an executive order titled “One Voice for America’s Foreign Relations” directing the secretary of state to “implement reforms in recruiting, performance, evaluation and retention standards” to “ensure a work force that is committed to faithful implementation of the president’s foreign policy.”
Eileen Sullivan contributed reporting.
Edward Wong reports on global affairs, U.S. foreign policy and the State Department for The Times.
Michael Crowley covers the State Department and U.S. foreign policy for The Times. He has reported from nearly three dozen countries and often travels with the secretary of state.
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