The First Step: Creation of Schedule F
On October 21, 2020, President Trump signed an executive order establishing Schedule F as a new classification of federal employees. Created near the end of his first term, this executive order laid the groundwork to reshuffle the federal bureaucracy, giving the president more oversight to ensure bureaucrats carry out the exact intent behind federal policies. Reactions to the change differed greatly, with the White House touting the order as a way to ensure that bureaucrats will “faithfully implement the law.” Alternatively, the National Federation of Federal Employees believes it would do the exact opposite, requiring political loyalty to the executive office, and claims that it “defies merit principles.”
Upon entering office, President Biden signed an executive order repealing Schedule F to stop the conversion of positions. Due to the quick reversal, Schedule F was not fully implemented before it was repealed.
Understanding Federal Hiring Classifications
The majority of employees in federal agencies are career civil servants who work in non-political roles and are hired and promoted based on merit rather than political affiliation. However, there are a few categories of federal positions that differ from career civil service, and more of these have been introduced under President Trump.
Schedule C Appointment
This level of appointment is for positions that are exempt from competitive service, as they are either of a confidential nature or have a policy-determining character. These are not typical merit-based positions. Schedule C requests are only made under specific circumstances, including:
- The position makes or approves significant policy recommendations.
- The work required by the position can only be done by someone with specific knowledge of the goals of an official who has a special relationship with the president or agency head.
These types of positions have existed for decades, serving as a special classification of federal employees.
Schedule F Appointment
Schedule F, first introduced in a 2020 executive order, created a new class of employees within the federal government. Positions deemed to have some influence over policy were instructed to be moved into this new classification, making them functionally at-will employees who can be fired for any reason or no reason at all. This reassignment, renamed Schedule Policy/Career, also means that employees in these positions lose their union protections.
Schedule G Appointment
Schedule G, introduced in July 2025, represents a classification of positions related to policy that are typically changed when a new president enters office. People in these positions are expected to resign after a presidential transition.
Saving the Civil Service Act (H.R. 492 and S. 134)
The Saving the Civil Service Act, a bill designed to limit a president’s power to make changes to the structure and nonpartisanship of the federal workforce, was introduced in 2024. The bill aimed to establish new restrictions on federal job classifications, such as limiting how many employees can be changed from competitive to excepted service during a presidential term. It also mandates that agencies receive consent from their employees and the federal Office of Personnel Management before they can switch the classification of a position. The bill was introduced explicitly to prevent the recreation of Schedule F during President Trump’s second term.
In December 2024, Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) attempted to pass the “Saving the Civil Service Act” by unanimous consent after Donald Trump was elected. This effort was halted by Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO), and the bill was not passed.
Executive Order: Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce
Signed on January 20, 2025, this executive order essentially reinstates the previous order that created Schedule F at the end of President Trump’s previous term. Notably, this order renamed Schedule F to Schedule Policy/Career. The order cites a lack of accountability in the civil service as the reason for this change. To rectify this accountability deficit, this order supposedly makes these bureaucrats more accountable to the president, who is, in turn, responsible to the American people. It is expected that around 50,000 positions will ultimately be shifted to this new classification, which accounts for about two percent of the federal workforce.
Executive Order: Creating Schedule G in the Excepted Service
This executive order, signed on July 17, 2025, once again creates a new classification of federal employees known as Schedule G. Schedule G creates new appointed positions relating to policy-making and policy advocacy, with the intention of growing the number of people carrying out the will of the president. Uniquely, people in these positions are expected to resign after a presidential transition, meaning that their sole purpose is to aid the presidential administration when they are appointed. This also means that they will be much easier to fire if they do not follow the president’s intentions.
Future Implications
Schedule F
The White House argues that this new classification allows federal agencies to remove workers who are performing poorly without the administrative hurdles that previously existed under union and employment protections. They also state that it will now be easier and more expedient to remove people subject to misconduct or corruption, arguing that some bureaucrats purposely implement their own agendas and ignore presidential policies. These positions remain merit-based, so the White House argues that these positions do not require loyalty to the president but rather faithful implementation of the law.
Those concerned about Schedule F appointments argue that it leads to a politicized workplace with decreased incentives for career bureaucrats to do well in their workplace. This reclassification also undermines accountability and weakens legislative power, as more members of the federal bureaucracy answer to the president’s intent rather than congressional intent when implementing policy changes. A major concern is that, above all else, loyalty to the president is rewarded.
Schedule G
The White House, in describing the purpose of Schedule G, views these non-career positions as a way to enhance government efficiency. They also view it as a way to staff up agencies to carry out the President’s agenda better. The people hired to these positions will be hired with the intent of aiding the sitting administration and will be expected to resign when that administration leaves office.
Critics of the new classification, including Don Moynihan of the University of Michigan, raise concerns about the intent behind Schedule G. He highlights that Schedule G expands the number of high-level positions available to presidential loyalists, since these appointments are primarily intended to carry out the president’s agenda. There are no limits on how many people can be hired under this classification, and—similar to Schedule F—this raises concerns about increasing partisanship within the federal bureaucracy. Others, such as Max Stier of the Partnership for Public Service, believe that these new positions simply complicate an already complicated system. These new positions also have the potential to create redundancies, which makes the federal bureaucracy less effective.
Conclusion
These most recent changes in 2025 represent massive shifts in the inner workings of the federal government. Through changing classifications of federal employees, some positions have been reclassified and others have been created, further complicating the federal bureaucracy. Proponents of these changes argue they will increase efficiency in a bogged-down system, while critics are concerned about the influence of partisanship and executive control in traditionally merit- and expertise-based federal agencies. With changes and layoffs under the Department of Government Efficiency, at least 148,000 federal employees have already left the workforce under the second Trump term. These new adjustments to federal hiring classifications will take time to implement and represent significant structural changes in a shifting federal labor landscape.