President
The changes, outlined in a proposed rule by the
“Moving forward, career government employees, working on policy matters, will be classified as ‘Schedule Policy/Career,’ and will be held to the highest standards of conduct and performance,” Trump said in a post to his social media network. “If these government workers refuse to advance the policy interests of the President, or are engaging in corrupt behavior, they should no longer have a job.”
Trump’s January executive order was similar to one he signed just before the 2020 presidential election, which created a new classification of federal workers which he first called “Schedule F.” It was immediately revoked by former President
The directive adds a new rung of federal employees sitting between presidential appointees and the senior executive service, the top level of career federal employees. The new classification includes “confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating” jobs in the federal government — positions that don’t usually change from one administration to the next.
“Policy-making federal employees have a tremendous amount of influence over our laws and our lives,” said acting OPM director
The reclassified positions won’t be political appointments, the new rules emphasize. But Trump will be able to promote — and possibly fire — career employees he sees as undermining his agenda.
“They are not required to personally or politically support the current President or the policies of the current administration,” the proposed rule says. “They are required to faithfully implement administration policies to the best of their ability, consistent with their constitutional oath and the vesting of executive authority solely in the President. Failure to do so is grounds for dismissal.”
OPM estimates that 50,000 positions would ultimately move into the Schedule Policy/Career category — about 2% of the federal workforce. Unlike Trump’s first attempt to overhaul civil service, he’s reserved for himself the authority to determine which positions will be included.
The measure is one that Trump aides have said is essential to implement a policy agenda they believe was undermined by career federal employees during the president’s first term.
The administration is already facing four lawsuits disputing the legality of the overhaul, all pending in district courts. The
Pendleton Act
While civil service laws dating back to the 1883 Pendleton Act require most federal jobs to be awarded on merit and not political affiliation, it’s not always clear for which positions those laws apply. Adding to the confusion, many political appointees will “burrow in” to civil service jobs just before the White House changes parties.
Just before Trump retook office, the Biden administration tried to throw a legal roadblock to his reclassification of federal employees. A little-noticed opinion from the Office of Legal Counsel advised federal agencies that presidential appointments must “exercise significant authority pursuant to the laws of the United States,” as opposed to the “broad swath of federal employees” who do not wield that authority and are protected from political firings.
Anne Joseph O’Connell, a professor at
According to the Plum Book, which serves as sort of a job-shopping list for incoming members of the new administration, there are more than 8,000 patronage jobs in the federal government. Those include more than 1,100 top positions that the president fills with Senate confirmation, and more than 500 other presidential appointments that don’t need Senate approval. Others include agency-level policy advisers, lawyers and confidential aides who support top government officials.
(Updates with details on the proposed rule. An earlier version corrected the name of the agency codifying the directive.)
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Meghashyam Mali, Justin Sink
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