The bad news from Congress keeps coming

Congress revived a rule that allows individual Congresspersons to target selected government agency staff or even individuals to get them out of the government service.

There's no way that the fire-breathing hard-right wingers in the House of Reprehensibles will abuse this new toy, er, privilege, is there?

Ugh.

House Republicans revive obscure rule that could allow them to slash the pay of individual federal workers to $1

"In light of recent inquiries by the Trump transition team for a list of Energy Department scientists who have worked on climate change, advocates for federal workers say they worry that bureaucrats could be targeted for political reasons.

Jeffrey Neal, former personnel chief at the Department of Homeland Security and now a senior vice president for ICF International, said the rule “creates a lot of opportunity for mischief” because lawmakers could act to reduce the salary or eliminate the job of government officials they don’t like.
...
The revival of the Holman Rule was the brainchild of Rep. H. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), who is intent on increasing the powers of individual members of Congress to reassign workers as policy demands.

Known as the unofficial parliamentarian in the hard-line conservative Freedom Caucus, the four-term congressman sought the rule change out of frustration with an $80 million federal program that pays for the care of wild horses on federal land in the West, which he considers wasteful."

With great power comes great responsibility. And this is irresponsible. But just about what you'd expect from ideologues.