Short-Term Fixes

At first glance, contract negotiations, telework policy and federal hiring mechanisms don't appear to have much in common. But all are areas the Obama administration considers ripe for improvement, and it is prepared to act, with or without the help of Congress. If lawmakers are dragging their feet on legislative remedies, then the president's team will force changes through executive orders. The only problem with this approach is eventually, the administration will need Congress' help if it wants the reforms to stick.

Take contract negotiations between the National Air Traffic Controllers Association and the Federal Aviation Administration. House and Senate lawmakers agreed last year during discussions over the FAA reauthorization bill that they ought to prevent the agency from imposing its final contract offer on unions, as it did in 2006 when negotiations with NATCA stalled. But they could not agree on whether that change should be retroactive so it would apply to the 2006 talks. The Obama administration made that a moot point when Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood appointed a team of arbitrators to reopen contract discussions between the union and FAA. It did not, however, resolve the broader issue, and unions are likely to continue pushing for legislative changes to prevent the FAA administrator from imposing pay and work rules in the future.

Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry also took work off lawmakers' plates in April when he announced a new governmentwide telework policy that would encompass many of the provisions in bills introduced by Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., and Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii. For instance, it would establish a council to set performance metrics and best practices for telework and encourage agencies to designate coordinators.

But Berry's ability to implement elements of the bills administratively doesn't mean lawmakers should stop trying to pass them, at least from Sarbanes' point of view. Sarbanes said he wanted to see Berry's changes codified in law so they could not be reversed by subsequent administrations.

That same concern about the mutability of presidential executive orders and other executive branch directives animates other calls for legislation.

The National Treasury Employees Union and the American Federation of Government Employees want Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to declare that Transportation Security Administration employees have the right to bargain collectively. They also would like to see a law passed to establish that right in case Napolitano's successor disagrees with her.

Similarly, some federal employee unions want President Obama to issue an executive order re-establishing mandatory labor-management partnership councils but moreover, they are hoping Congress will pass a law so that the councils are no longer subject to the whims of the administration in power. President Clinton established such councils through an executive order, but President George W. Bush issued another order disbanding them.

Some political appointees acknowledge the limits of their power. Berry said during a recent Senate hearing that he would reform the hiring process even absent congressional action, but noted that he could have trouble enforcing new policies, joking that OPM might as well be called the "Office of Personnel Recommendations." A law would lend teeth to policies.

As the Obama administration moves forward on personnel reforms, it must balance the competing desires to act quickly and find a lasting solution. Agency heads, and the president himself, could move faster than Congress. But congressional action is critical to making long-term changes.