By Humeyra Pamuk
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A plan to overhaul the U.S. State Department and lay off employees is moving into the implementation phase following a Supreme Court decision earlier this week and will be carried out quickly, U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said on Thursday.
“When something is too large to operate, too bureaucratic, to actually function, and to deliver projects, or action, it has to change,” Bruce told a news briefing.
She declined to specify when planned layoffs would start but said it would happen “quickly.”
The State Department is expected to send the first notices of employment termination on Friday, but the plans have been delayed several times over the past month.
U.S. President Donald Trump in February issued an executive order directing Secretary of State Marco Rubio to revamp the foreign service as the Republican president wants to ensure that U.S. foreign policy and the diplomatic corps are aligned with his “America First” agenda.
He has also repeatedly pledged to “clean out the deep state” by firing bureaucrats that he deems disloyal.
The reorganization had been expected to be largely concluded by July 1 but did not proceed as planned amid ongoing litigation, as the State Department waited to see the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on the Trump administration’s bid to halt a judicial order blocking mass job cuts.
On Tuesday, the Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to pursue the job cuts and the sweeping downsizing of numerous agencies, a decision that could lead to tens of thousands of layoffs while dramatically reshaping the federal bureaucracy.
Initial plans to send the notices last month were halted after a federal judge in California temporarily blocked the State Department from implementing the reorganization plan.
Speaking to reporters in Kuala Lumpur, Rubio said the reorganization was being done in “the most deliberate way”. When asked if the number of people who will be laid off would be in line with what was sent to Congress in late May, he appeared to confirm that figure.
“Our plan that we notified to Congress is what we intend to do…The reduction of force is a consequence of the reorg. It’s not a consequence of getting – trying to get rid of people. But if you close the bureau, you don’t need those positions,” Rubio said.
In its plans sent to Congress late May, the State Department had proposed laying off nearly 2,000 employees. It did not specify how many of them would be civil service and how many from the foreign service but said that more than 300 of the department’s 734 bureaus and offices will be streamlined, merged or eliminated.
(Reporting by Humeyra PamukAdditional reporting by David Brunnstrom and Ismail Shakil; Editing by Alistair Bell)
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