James Sherk: How Unelected Bureaucrats Sabotaged Trump’s Policies—and What to Do About It | TEASER

“It is just a nightmare trying to fire a federal employee,” says James Sherk, director of the Center for American Freedom at the America First Policy Institute. During the Trump administration, unelected federal bureaucrats delayed, blocked, or subverted much of Trump’s agenda, he says. But firing a federal bureaucrat often requires costly litigation. “More often than not, they get reinstated. … And you’re going to have to cover their attorney’s fees and give them back pay,” Sherk says. Sherk was deeply involved in efforts during the Trump administration to give presidents the ability to fire powerful bureaucrats that engage in insubordination or intransigence, most notably in the drafting of the Schedule F executive order. “They have no accountability to the American people … It's a huge problem in a country founded on the principle of government by the consent of the governed,” Sherk says.