Lawmakers Calls to Defund and Block Schedule F Grow

Members of Congress and employee groups are asking for President Trump’s Executive Order on Creating Schedule F in the Excepted Service to be blocked in the next spending bill.

In a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, more than a dozen House Democrats wrote, “We write with great urgency to request that the forthcoming continuing resolution or omnibus spending bill include language that reverses the implementation of this executive order and requires the immediate return of any federal employee reclassified pursuant to it.”

Agencies are currently under 90-day deadlines to send a list of positions for reclassification to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has reclassified 88 percent of its positions into the new Schedule F category, according to media reports.

Many good government groups and federal employee associations also support blocking the Schedule F order. In a letter to Congress, a coalition including the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE), Partnership for Public Service, Project on Government Oversight, the Senior Executives Association (SEA), and others stated “The need for Congress to act is urgent, especially as we are in the midst of a transition. Failing to act will set a dangerous precedent, signaling congressional indifference to a substantial expansion of executive power.”

Governmental Affairs Committee Ranking Member Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) and forty other lawmakers introduced legislation last week that would nullify the Schedule F executive order and deprive it of funding.

The current government funding bills expire on December 11, 2020.