WASHINGTON D.C. – Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ) led his first bill in the U.S. Senate, with Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), to codify the Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Program, which attracts thousands of young, talented professionals into public service. The program, started in 1977, has been used by both Republican and Democratic administrations to strengthen our federal workforce. 

The Training Aspiring Leaders Emerging Now to Serve (TALENTS) Act is a comprehensive overhaul of the federal government’s leadership development pipeline to continue placing hundreds of skilled individuals into public service in government agencies each year. 

“I believe that public service and serving our nation is an honorable pursuit that should inspire and attract the very best talent in our country,” said Senator Kim. “The PMF program has for years operated under both Republican and Democratic Presidents to lift up merit and align skills with opportunity. Even in these divided times, I hope we can show strong bipartisan support for the importance of talent in government and the need to codify this important program in legislation.” 

“I was part of the Presidential Management Fellows Program and know how vital it is to ensure folks from all walks of life can pursue leadership positions serving the American people,” said Senator Merkley. “We should be protecting leadership programs like PMF, but instead, Trump and his co-president Elon Musk, are destroying it as yet another reckless cut to the federal workforce. The PMF program is critical to ensuring government of, by, and forthe people, and I’ll keep fighting to restore it.” 

The PMF Program has been a flagship leadership development program in which a cohort of a few hundred individuals is placed in government agencies each year following a competitive and rigorous process. At the end of their two-year fellowship, many Fellows go on to become high-ranking Federal officials. 

The TALENTS Act would codify the regulations that structured the PMF Program over four decades to prevent it from being eliminated by presidential Executive Orders, make changes to improve the program, and empower Congress’ role to support and protect the program. The legislation is endorsed by the Partnership for Public Service, The Volcker Alliance, and the Presidential Management Alumni Association (PMAA), which represents and supports PMF Program alumni across public, private, and nonprofit sectors. 

“We applaud Sen. Kim for championing the Presidential Management Fellows Program as an important tool forfederal agencies to bring in highly qualified, early career individuals from across the country to work on criticalservices, from modernizing our AI and technical capabilities to working with rural communities to serving our veterans,” said Max Stier, President and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service. “The TALENTS Act recognizes that our government’s ability to develop the next generation of federal leaders is essential for its capacity to deliver for the American people.” 

“As the government’s premier early-career onramp program, the PMF has for almost fifty years launched the careers of our most decorated public servants. Its elimination undermines our nation’s longstanding culture of service and chokes off a key source of high-achieving, talented graduates that agencies need to meet mission. The TALENTS Act is an important step to restoring the PMF program and investing in the next generation of government leaders,” said Sara Mogulescu, President, The Volcker Alliance. 

“The American people deserve public servants who are sought after for their skills, abilities, and commitment to public service – something the critical TALENTS Act prioritizes. PMAA is grateful for Senator Kim’s dedication and leadership in restoring an improved PMF program and protecting its role in developing future generations of federal leaders,” said the Presidential Management Alumni Association. 

“With tools like the PMF Program, our country can recruit citizens among us to lead and manage the levers of governance to assure that all of us benefit equally. The Kim-Merkley TALENTS Act introduced today will attract the best and brightest Americans to public service and build on the foundations of previous professional development programs. It assures that the public interest, not self-interest, is served by fellow citizens to address challenges that are larger than ourselves,” said Sean O’Keefe, Professor at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School, and 1978 Presidential Management Intern alumni.During the program, O’Keefe served at the Navy Department. That experience started a succession of public service appointments including but not limited to serving as the Secretary of the Navy under President George H. W. Bush and as the NASA Administrator forPresident George W. Bush.  

This bill’s introduction comes amidst the Trump administration’s continued assault on the federal workforce and programs that is hindering the government’s ability to properly serve the American people. This includes President Trump’s Executive Order on February 19th directing the Office of Personnel Management to terminate the PMF program. 

Senator Kim participated in the PMF Program at the start of his career in public service working in national security and diplomacy at the White House, State Department, and Pentagon. Prior to being elected to the U.S. Senate, Senator Kim represented New Jersey’s Third Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives where he introduced multiple bills to promote and encourage public service, including through AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps, and pipeline programs into local and federal service. 

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