NSPS Scenarios

As Alex and I reported yesterday, Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H., is set to introduce an amendment today that would set the stage for a rollback of the National Security Personnel System. In conjunction with the review of that system that's already underway, I can see several scenarios for how progress on NSPS might move forward.

Scenario One: The Obama administration is committed to rolling back NSPS, but needs to look like it's giving the program a hearing to placate Congressional Republicans, like Sen. George Voinovich, who have wanted a more rigorous examination of NSPS. The review continues, but no one intervenes with Shea-Porter, and her amendment is able to move forward, carried ahead on a wave of Democratic resentment of the Bush administration's largest personnel experimen. The Obama administration looks warm and fuzzy and considerate, and still gets rollback of a program it doesn't really like.