Schedule F – FAQs
The issue is Competence vs Cronyism.
What is Schedule F?
The bottom line: Schedule F creates a new federal employment category, which will move many federal employees from competitive status (subject to civil service examinations) to political appointees.
“Schedule F” is the name of the new employment category created by executive order.
The administration claimed the authority to create Schedule F based on statutory language that exempted certain positions “of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character” from employment protections. Previous administrations and Congress always understood the language to apply only to a smaller number of positions traditionally filled by political appointees.
The Federal Government consists of three types of services, the Competitive Service, the Excepted Service, and the Senior Executive Service. The competitive service consists of all civil service positions in the executive branch of the Federal Government with some exceptions.
In the competitive service, an individual must go through a competitive process (i.e. competitive examination) which is open to all applicants. This process may consist of a written test, an evaluation of the individual’s education and experience, and/or an evaluation of other attributes necessary for successful performance in the position to be filled.
Appointments to the Excepted Service are civil service appointments within the Federal Government that do not confer competitive status. (Political appointees)
SOURCE: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/competitive-hiring/
What is the impact of Schedule F?
Potential Impacts of Implementing Schedule F Hiring Authority:
1. Unlimited Political Appointments
Current law limits political appointees in the Executive Branch to approximately 4,000
under Schedule C. Schedule F would remove this cap, enabling unlimited appointments.
This will cost taxpayers billions annually in unnecessary political salaries.
2. Permanent Political Appointees
Political appointees are currently limited to temporary roles tied to a presidential
administration. Schedule F would make these appointees permanent, allowing them to
remain regardless of changes in political leadership.
3. Unaccountable Political Operatives
By law, political appointees are not subject to oversight, discipline, or performance
evaluations by career civil servants. Schedule F would embed these unsupervised
individuals in the Executive Branch, enabling them to pursue unchecked personal or
political agendas, including actions that could benefit third parties or foreign
adversaries.
4. Erosion of Civil Service Integrity, if Not the Civil Service Itself
Schedule F threatens the independence and protection of civil servants. Professional
employees could be reclassified as political appointees, stripping them of legal
safeguards against retaliation. This reclassification could discourage reporting of fraud,
waste, abuse, or unethical practices, undermining oversight, transparency, and
accountability within the government.
SOURCE: https://nffe.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Schedule-F-Brief-to-Congress-December-2024-1.pdf
What is the history of Schedule F?
Schedule F is a provision that was introduced by President Donald Trump via an Executive Order (EO) in October 2020.
President Biden rescinded Schedule F via executive order in his first days in office.
President Trump reinstated Schedule F via executive order. Schedule F was featured in Project 2025.
Supporters of Schedule F have proposed converting 50,000 career civil servants into political appointee status. That is a massive degree of additional politicization and the most fundamental change to the civil service system since its inception in 1883. Increasing the number of political appointees would create a new venue where political polarization would undermine the quality of governance by replacing moderates with extremists.