Pappas Joins New Hampshire and Maine Colleagues in Opposing New OPM Rule Weakening Civilian Labor Protections at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard

Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01) joined Senator Jeanne Shaheen (NH), Senator Maggie Hassan (NH) and Angus King (ME), Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander (NH-02), and  Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (ME-01) in raising concerns around a new rule proposed by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Merit Systems Protection Board that would weaken civil service protections and undermine workers’ rights at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY). In their letter, the lawmakers note that the rule would threaten workforce recruitment and retention at the Shipyard—which already needs 700 workers annually to keep pace—and potentially harm U.S. naval readiness.

The lawmakers wrote, in part: “We write in strong opposition to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB)’s proposed rule ‘Promoting Employee Accountability,’ Docket OPM-2025-0012 (RIN 3206-AO91). This proposed rule would weaken longstanding civil service protections that promote merit-based employment, due process and the recruitment and retention of skilled workers. Moreover, as Members of Congress who represent nearly eight thousand civilian workers at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, we are concerned about the proposed rule’s impact on workers essential to our national security.”

They continued: “As you are no doubt aware, the men and women who work at our public shipyards are critical members of our defense industrial base, without whom the ability to repair, retrofit and refuel our country’s submarines would be in jeopardy. In our states, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY) has nearly eight thousand civilian employees, creating more than $1.5 billion in annual economic impact in surrounding communities. [...] PNSY currently needs to hire over 700 workers annually to meet the Navy’s demand – which is an increase from 550 over the past two years. Further, policies that reduce workplace protections risk making federal service less attractive to qualified candidates. Due to civilian hiring quotas imposed by the Office of Personnel Management, PNSY has struggled to onboard workers and cannot risk additional delays or departures. If the Administration intends to retain this political litmus test at our public shipyards, the costs of unnecessarily losing more skilled workers through this proposed rule far outweigh any potential benefit.”

They concluded: “By stripping away the procedures that keep discipline fair for civilian employees doing the work of naval readiness and refusing to consider important factors, the proposed rule introduces costly unpredictability in the workforce and needlessly undermines readiness. We are concerned this will increase attrition in the critical and experienced workforce that keeps our submarine fleet ready, ultimately harming the shipyard’s ability to meet the Navy’s needs and threatening our national security. We, therefore, ask you to withdraw OPM and MSPB’s proposed rule, ‘Promoting Employee Accountability,’ and consider alternatives that preserve federal workers’ longstanding civil service protections.”

A full copy of the letter can be read HERE.

Since President Trump took office, Pappas has worked to protect civilian workers who play a critical role in maintaining U.S. national security. In February 2025, he joined workers from PNSY to discuss the impact of the administration’s job cuts and hiring freezes, which led the Shipyard to pause hiring. 

In March 2025, Pappas led his House colleagues in further sounding the alarm over the Trump administration’s hiring freeze and workforce cuts. Later that month, the U.S. Department of Defense exempted the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard workforce from the civilian hiring freeze. 

In July the New Hampshire Congressional delegation also called on General Steven Nordhaus, Chief of the National Guard Bureau, to exempt critical safety roles, including firefighters and air traffic controllers, from its planned 10.7% reduction to federal civilians at the Air National Guard (ANG). More than half of the civilian employees at Pease Air National Guard Base are civilian emergency personnel and air traffic controllers, and the proposed cuts could devastate the important role Pease plays in supporting emergency services in the region, including at Portsmouth International Airport.

In August 2025, Pappas and Congresswoman Jen Kiggans (VA-02) introduced the bipartisan Protecting Public Naval Shipyards Act. This legislation would exempt the workforces of America’s four public shipyards from recent hiring freezes and mass layoffs. This bipartisan legislation is led in the Senate by U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Angus King (I-ME). Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander (NH-02) is a cosponsor of the House bill. During the conference process for the FY 2026 NDAA, Pappas successfully called on the leadership of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees to include these provisions in their final bill text, which was signed into law on the evening of December 18, 2025.