"Under the leadership of Republican Senator Robert M. La Follette, Sr., the United States Congress enacted the Act with the intention of conferring job protection rights on federal employees which they had not previously had.Prior to the enactment of this language, there was no such statutory inhibition on the authority of the government to discharge a federal employee, and an employee could be discharged with or without cause for conduct which was not protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.