The government바카라s chief human resources agency issued a new rule on Thursday making it harder to fire thousands of federal employees, hoping to head off former President Donald Trump바카라s promises to radically remake the workforce along ideological lines if he wins back the White House in November.
The Office of Personnel Management regulations will bar career civil servants from being reclassified as political appointees or as other at-will workers, who are more easily dismissed from their jobs. It comes in response to Schedule F, an executive order Trump issued in 2020 that sought to allow for reclassifying tens of thousands of the 2.2 million federal employees and thus reduce their job security protections.
President Joe Biden nullified Schedule F upon taking office. But if Trump, a Republican, were to revive it during a second administration, he could dramatically increase the around 4,000 federal employees who are considered political appointees and typically change with each new president.
In a statement issued Thursday, Biden, a Democrat, called the rule a 바카라step toward combatting corruption and partisan interference to ensure civil servants are able to focus on the most important task at hand: delivering for the American people.바카라
The potential effects of the change are wide-reaching since how many federal employees might have been affected by Schedule F is unclear. The National Treasury Employee Union used freedom of information requests to obtain documents suggesting that workers like office managers and specialists in human resources and cybersecurity might have been among those subject to reclassification.
The new rule moves to counter a future Schedule F order by spelling out procedural requirements for reclassifying federal employees and clarifying that civil service protections accrued by employees can바카라t be taken away, regardless of job type. It also makes clear that policymaking classifications apply to noncareer, political appointments.
바카라It will now be much harder for any president to arbitrarily remove the nonpartisan professionals who staff our federal agencies just to make room for hand-picked partisan loyalists,바카라 National Treasury Employees Union President Doreen Greenwald said in a statement.
Good government groups and liberal think tanks and activists have cheered the rule. They viewed cementing federal worker protections as a top priority given that replacing existing government employees with new, more conservative alternatives is a key piece of the conservative Heritage Foundation바카라s nearly 1,000-page playbook known as Project 2025.
That plan calls for vetting and potentially firing scores of federal workers and recruiting conservative replacements to wipe out what leading Republicans have long decried as the 바카라deep state바카라 governmental bureaucracy.
Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, which has led a coalition of nearly 30 advocacy organizations supporting the rule, called it 바카라extraordinarily strong바카라 and said it can effectively counter the 바카라highly resourced, anti-democratic groups바카라 behind Project 2025.
바카라This is not a wonky issue, even though it may be billed that way at times,바카라 Perryman said. 바카라This is really foundational to how we can ensure that the government delivers for people and, for us, that바카라s what a democracy is about.바카라
The final rule, which runs to 237 pages, is being published in the federal registry and set to formally take effect next month. The Office of Personnel Management first proposed the changes last November, then reviewed and responded to 4,000-plus public comments on them. Officials at some top conservative organizations were among those opposing the new rule, but around two-thirds of the comments were supportive.
If Trump wins another term, his administration could direct the Office of Personnel Management to draft new rules. But the process takes months and requires detailed explanation on why new regulations would be improvements 바카라 potentially allowing for legal challenges to be brought by opponents.
Rob Shriver, deputy director of the Office of Personnel Management, said the new rule ensures that federal employee protections 바카라cannot be erased by a technical, HR process바카라 which he said 바카라Schedule F sought to do.바카라
바카라This rule is about making sure the American public can continue to count on federal workers to apply their skills and expertise in carrying out their jobs, no matter their personal political beliefs,바카라 Shriver said on a call with reporters.
He noted that 85% of federal workers are based outside the Washington area and are 바카라our friends, neighbors and family members,바카라 who are 바카라dedicated to serving the American people, not political agendas.바카라
