'McCarthyism all over again'? Plan to target federal workers prompts fears [View all]
Source: Roll Call
Posted October 30, 2024 at 4:33pm
Donald Trump has made many campaign promises, and replacing career bureaucrats with political loyalists is far from the loudest. The Republican nominee has drawn more attention for his pledges to round up and deport scores of immigrants, prosecute his rivals and deploy soldiers against the “enemy from within.”
But the worry of civil servants shouldn’t be ignored, some Democratic lawmakers say. “The idea of turning federal civil servants into political loyalists is frightening, whether a president is Democratic or Republican,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who has helped lead the charge against a possible return of “Schedule F.”
Trump has vowed to revive that controversial plan, which he established during his presidency with an executive order. To rid the executive branch of “rogue bureaucrats,” he argues, he needs greater authority to hire and fire.
Issued in October 2020, the executive order defined Schedule F as a new employment category for federal workers in “confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating” positions, stripping them of their civil service protections and making them easier to fire. The order, which was revoked by President Joe Biden days after he took office, could have affected tens of thousands of career civil servants, according to some estimates.
Read more: https://rollcall.com/2024/10/30/trump-schedule-f-plan-federal-worker-fears/
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