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The House of Representatives has taken a major step toward improving the nation’s security by approving a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that provides no money for the imposition of regressive, morale-breaking personnel rules on its employees.

“This important decision recognizes that DHS employees are a critical element in the ability of this agency to meet its mission,” said President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), which is the exclusive representative of employees in the DHS Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Earlier, the Senate Appropriations Committee also signaled its opposition to the DHS rules, cutting to only $5 million fiscal 2008 funding for use by DHS in connection with the new personnel regulations.

The House action took the form of its approval of the fiscal 2008 DHS appropriations bill, a measure that not only zeros out funding for implementation of its new personnel system, but also would provide law enforcement officer (LEO) status—with its early retirement option—to CBP Officers; and provides for an additional 250 CBP Officers in the coming fiscal year. The House also included $3 million for a human capital survey.

The House, in a bipartisan vote, turned back an effort to strike language in the DHS appropriations bill that precludes the spending of any money in the fiscal year for human resource projects related to the personnel system, formerly called MaxHR, until any litigation with respect to the system is resolved. In a Statement of Administration Policy, the White House objected to the provision on the grounds that it could prevent the administration from implementing aspects of its proposed personnel system due to “concerns over potential litigation.”

The zero funding level is a testament to NTEU’s work to educate members of Congress on the impact of the new DHS personnel rules on the already low morale of its employees, President Kelley

said, noting that in the past two years, NTEU has succeeded in winning substantial reductions in annual funding for implementation of the rules.

An NTEU federal court suit resulted in an injunction preventing implementation of portions of the regulations that would have severely impacted employees’ collective bargaining, due process and appeal rights.

Despite that, DHS has made clear its desire to put in place segments of the rules that were not enjoined by the courts. “House approval of zero funding for implementation is a clear message to DHS that it should simply not go ahead, and instead begin to respect and work with its employees and NTEU to make the nation more secure,” Kelley said.

While the NTEU leader also welcomed the long-denied approval of LEO status for CBP Officers prospectively, she noted NTEU will continue its efforts to improve that portion of the bill as it moves through Congress. The NTEU leader called the House support for LEO status a “breakthrough,” noting, “these front-line homeland security officers clearly deserve law enforcement status.”

NTEU has led the fight for LEO status not only because of the law enforcement nature of the work performed by front-line border employees, but because it would provide a significant boost to DHS’s ability to recruit and retain a high-quality staff.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing more than 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.