Senior Executives Association Releases Policy Agenda for the 120th Congress

Board-approved agenda offers bipartisan recommendations on the Senior Executive Service and the broader civil service

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, October 27, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Senior Executives Association (SEA) today released A Policy Agenda for the 120th Congress. The agenda offers recommendations to strengthen the capability and accountability of the career Senior Executive Service (SES) and the federal workforce that senior executives lead. SEA's Board of Directors approved the agenda unanimously.

SEA is releasing the agenda before the November 3 midterm elections so members of Congress and their staff have it while they set priorities for the next session. Whatever the outcome of the election, SEA will work with members of both parties to strengthen the career civil service and to put in statute the reforms that should continue from one administration to the next.

“Our members have served administrations of both parties, and the Board’s unanimous vote reflects that experience,” said Mary Kate Whalen, President of SEA. “Senior executives carry out the laws Congress passes and the priorities of the President in office. These recommendations are meant to give them stable rules for doing that work, whichever party holds the majority in January.”

The agenda has two parts. Part One covers the SES. It asks Congress to define in statute which senior management positions are career reserved. It also calls for faster and clearer processes for addressing executive performance and misconduct, with due process protections intact, and for renewed investment in the pipeline of future senior leaders. Part Two covers the broader civil service. Its recommendations include preserving the independence of the Merit Systems Protection Board, modernizing federal hiring, addressing pay compression among senior employees, and ensuring federal employees are paid on schedule during a lapse in appropriations. The agenda also proposes a nonpartisan National Commission on Government and Civil Service Modernization.

“We wrote these recommendations so that members of either party could support them,” Whalen said. “We look forward to offering the committees that oversee the federal workforce the practical experience of career executives, beginning in the first weeks of the new Congress.”

The full agenda is available at https://www.seniorexecs.org/legislative-policy-platform

About the Senior Executives Association
The Senior Executives Association has represented the federal government’s career Senior Executive Service since 1980. SEA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit professional association that supports a career leadership corps that is highly qualified, accountable, and focused on helping agencies meet their missions. Learn more at seniorexecs.org.

Robert Shea
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