The United States has protected veterans in federal employment since 1865. Wounded soldiers coming home from the Civil War were given preference for government jobs as a recognition of their sacrifice. That commitment was strengthened in the Veterans Preference Act of 1944 and has been honored by every administration since. It is now being proposed for dismantling, and the public comment period closes on May 5.

The Trump administration's Office of Personnel Management has proposed a rule that would reorder the criteria used during federal layoffs, making performance reviews the primary factor for determining who gets cut. Under current rules, veteran status and length of service, which benefits many veterans because military time counts toward federal tenure, are prioritized above performance reviews. Under the proposed rule, they would not be. A non-veteran with a marginally higher performance rating could displace a veteran with decades of combined military and federal service.

The Disabled American Veterans said it plainly in a public comment submitted to the Federal Register: in practice, the rule authorizes the displacement of a preference-eligible veteran with substantially greater tenure and length of service by a non-veteran based on minimal rating differentials, an outcome fundamentally at odds with the statutory scheme Congress enacted.

More than 621,700 veterans work in federal agencies. They make up 27 percent of the entire federal civilian workforce. More than half of them are disabled veterans who earned their federal jobs after serving their country, often at great personal cost. They chose careers in federal service in part because of the protections that have been promised to veterans since the Civil War. Changing those protections now, after they have built their careers and their lives around them, is not a reform. It is a betrayal.

The administration has argued that the current system can result in high-performing employees being separated while lower-performing but more senior employees are retained. That concern is legitimate and can be addressed without gutting veteran protections that have existed for 160 years. Performance can be a factor without being the primary factor that overrides military service, disability status, and decades of combined service to this country.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Disabled American Veterans, and the American Legion are all reviewing this rule and have expressed serious concerns. Congress has the authority to block this rule before it takes effect. The public has until May 5 to submit comments demanding it be withdrawn. Both of those levers must be used.

Veterans did not earn their federal employment protections by filling out a form. They earned them by serving, by sacrificing, and in many cases by coming home disabled. The least this country can do is honor the commitment it made to them when they answered the call.

Sign this petition to demand OPM withdraw the proposed rule that would deprioritize veteran status and length of service in federal layoffs, call on Congress to pass legislation protecting the Veterans Preference Act from administrative override, and submit your voice before the May 5 public comment deadline closes.