Trump Signs Executive Order to Fire Top Career Federal Managers Quicker

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump arrives for services at St. John's Church as part of Inauguration Day ceremonies in Washington on Jan. 20, 2025. Scott Olson/Getty Images

Newly inaugurated President Donald Trump signed a detailed executive order late Monday in the Oval Office that’s intended to make it easier to fire poor performers among the managerial ranks of the 2.3 million members of the career federal workforce.

The executive order (EO)—“Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce”—is expected to remove many of the civil service regulations and processes that currently make it a costly and time-consuming ordeal to remove a career employee.

The new EO resurrects and makes multiple amendments to the controversial “Schedule F” EO Trump signed near the end of his first term in the White House. That EO was initiated by his Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director, Russ Vought, but it was issued too late to have any measurable impact on federal workers.

Trump vowed throughout his 2024 campaign to bring back Schedule F, and he nominated Vought for a return engagement as OMB director. The OMB director has authority second only to that of the chief executive in shaping executive branch personnel policy.

The return edition of Schedule F has been renamed “Schedule Policy/Career,” and Democrats in Congress who are steadfast defenders of the present civil service are already moving to nullify the effort.

“The civil servants who make up our federal workforce are the engine that keeps our federal government running. They are our country’s greatest asset. We rely on their experience and expertise to provide every basic government service—from delivering the mail to helping families in the wake of natural disasters,” Rep. Gerry Connelly (D-Va.) said in a Jan. 16 statement announcing a bill to nullify Schedule F.

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) questions witnesses during a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing on March 29, 2023. Cliff Owen/AP Photo

Connelly accused Trump of seeking to replace nonpartisan career employees with political loyalists. Connelly’s “Saving the Civil Service Act“ would bar ”any career position created after September 20, 2020, from being reclassified outside of merit system principles without the express consent of Congress.”

The Connelly proposal is endorsed by all major civil service unions and professional associations, including the American Federation of Government Employees; the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees; and the Federal Managers Association.

The Virginia Democrat is the ranking member of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee and represents a suburban Northern Virginia district with a heavy concentration of federal employees.

One of the major changes in the new EO appears to counter Democratic attacks by declaring that “Employees in or applicants for Schedule Policy/Career positions are not required to personally or politically support the current President or the policies of the current administration.

“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.”

The EO also includes a provision allowing more categories of career civil service positions to be covered by the Schedule Policy/Career provisions.

Trump’s initiative received a boost this past week when a survey conducted by RMG Research found that 42 percent of 500 civil service managers in the Washington region said they would actively oppose the new chief executive’s policies.

“Just 1% said they would at least Somewhat Support the Trump Administration. Only 17% said they would follow a direct order from President Trump,” the survey said.