Weekly Spotlight: Biden Policy Protects the Federal Workforce

Delivered to our subscribers on Saturdays, the Weekly Spotlight is a roundup of POGO's latest work and announcements. Sign up to get this newsletter delivered to your inbox.

Over the past few years, we’ve been raising the alarm about the dangers of a second coming of Schedule F, a Trump Administration-era executive order that would have removed job protections for tens of thousands of merit-based federal employees if President Joe Biden hadn’t rescinded it. The threat was put back on the table for this election cycle, and we’ve been engaging with the Biden Administration on preemptive actions they could take to protect the federal workforce.

We’re happy to report a victory. On Thursday, the Office of Personnel Management finalized a rule that safeguards civil servants’ job protections, making it much harder for any future administration to purge and politicize the nonpartisan workforce.

Schedule F would be far worse than a mass lay-off. If the policy had been put into practice, presidents could have fired federal employees at will. That means qualified, nonpartisan employees who have the knowledge and expertise to do their jobs could have been replaced with partisan loyalists who are more keen on serving a political agenda than the public.

Though it will take legislative action to fully prevent partisan takeovers of the civil service, the rule will serve as a roadblock and make it more cumbersome for a future administration to implement a new version of Schedule F. We applaud the Biden Administration for ensuring that the civil service will continue to serve the public’s best interests, and not the agenda of any party or person in power.

REPORT

2023 Impact Report (Jul.-Dec.)

Read about POGO’s accomplishments and impact in the second half of 2023.

Read More

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“This administration has taken a strong step to reinforce merit system principles, and while it will now be more arduous to reverse this policy change, the threat that a future administration could inflict Schedule F on the people still remains.”

Joe Spielberger, Policy Counsel, in Federal Times