Former President Donald Trump recently dropped a bombshell. His biggest announcement involved public, career government employees who work more on the policy side being given a new classification. In a statement shared on social media last Friday, Trump revealed that these employees will now be classified as “schedule policy/career.” This new classification is intended to ensure that policy is prioritized over personnel and that civil service rules are bent in service of the President’s policy priorities.
The U.S. government’s civil service human resources agency will take the lead on implementing these changes to civil service regulations. This announcement marks an important shift in the generally accepted practice of classifying career public servants. It particularly hurts the people that produce and execute policy-making innovations that serve the public best.
Career employees who are directly focused on making policy will now be tracked separately. This new designation recognizes their critical importance and their unique responsibility to influence government policies that create disparities. This decision is consistent with a larger plan. Its stated purpose is to better align the government workforce with the current administration’s goals.
This provision significantly expands the President’s ability to control the civil service workforce. It increases their leverage over where and how policy is shaped and carried out. The administration agencies identify these workers in the schedule policy/career category. This step deepens their pledge to the administration’s equity-centered policy agenda and reduces confusion and redundancy in decision-making across government agencies.
This significant alteration to civil service employee classification is expected to impact a substantial number of career government employees who are directly involved in policy matters. The reclassification would pave the way for a more connected body of governance to exist and would help the administration prioritize their initiatives in an impactful way.
The announcement has garnered attention as it signifies a shift in the traditional framework governing civil service employment. Critics say such moves would further erode the independence of career civil servants. At the same time, proponents argue that this practice allows for more responsive, accountable governance focused on the priorities of those who voters elected to lead.