Senate confirms new Office of Personnel Management head in mostly party-line vote

The Senate on Wednesday confirmed President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the federal government’s HR agency, which has become central to his efforts to overhaul agencies’ workforces. 

Scott Kupor, a longtime venture capital executive, was confirmed as director of the Office of Personnel Management in a 49-46 vote. 

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, was the lone Republican to join Senate Democrats in opposing the nomination. 

Kupor in his April 3 confirmation hearing said the government must make “tough choices” to stop operating under a budget deficit but generally equivocated when asked about the president’s workforce reduction plans, including the deferred resignation program, mass firings of probationary employees and large-scale layoffs. 

Still, he said the “right way” to restructure is “through communication and respecting the rights and roles of employees.” 

Max Stier, the president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan good government group that has been critical of Trump’s federal workforce reforms, praised Kupor’s nomination when it was first announced in December. 

“In nominating Scott Kupor to lead OPM, President-elect Donald Trump has chosen someone who can bring his extensive private sector experience and business acumen to help make our federal government more effective and to create a more strategic, modernized talent management system,” Stier said in a statement. “We look forward to working with Mr. Kupor and encourage him to partner with the career OPM workforce and key stakeholders to best achieve these goals.” 

In a follow-up statement to Government Executive, Stier expressed some reservations.

“I still think Scott Kupor's extensive leadership in the business world make him a solid candidate for this role. That said, it remains to be seen how he will approach leadership at OPM,” he said.  “The real test will be in his willingness to own the mistakes of the first six months of the Administration and set a very different course based on the centrality of a professional, nonpartisan civil service.”

Under Trump, OPM has sought to make changes to federal hiring, performance standards and remove civil service job protections for tens of thousands of civil servants in “policy-related roles.” Critics have argued these initiatives are an attempt to politicize government employees. 

The National Treasury Employees Union did not have a comment on Kupor’s nomination. The American Federation of Government Employees did not respond to a request for comment.