President Donald Trump created a new classification of Federal workers on Thursday to “help faithfully implement the President’s policy agenda” – the latest effort from the Trump administration to restructure the Federal government.
The new “Schedule G” classification is for Federal employees who serve in “policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating” roles and are not career employees, allowing them to be hired and fired at will, according to an executive order signed by President Trump.
According to a fact sheet from the White House, those hired under Schedule G will “generally be expected to leave” when a president’s term ends, and the new classification will not apply to career positions or career employees.
“President Trump believes creating non-career Schedule G positions will enhance government efficiency and accountability and improve services provided to taxpayers by increasing the horsepower for agency implementation of Administration policy,” said the White House.
Aside from allowing a presidential administration to have more control over Federal employees, the White House said it was creating the classification to close a loophole in current classifications, saying that Schedule C – which are political appointments for confidential or policy roles – doesn’t include policy-making or advocating roles.
The White House said in its order that the new classification will especially benefit the Department of Veterans Affairs “by streamlining appointments for key policy roles.”
Currently, there are no details on how many employees could fall under Schedule G.
Schedule G is the latest effort by Trump to have greater control of the Federal government. In January, he signed an order that reinstated his Schedule Policy/Career classification to remove civil service protections for high-level Federal workers, formerly known as “Schedule F” from his first administration.
Former President Joe Biden had canceled the order, citing it as a “pathway to burrow political appointees into the civil service.”
Other changes Trump has made to install political allies throughout agencies included removing the “career reserved” designation for chief information officers after claiming that the role plays too significant a role in policy-making compared to other roles.