FMA Urges Action to Prevent a Return of Schedule F
As Congress prepares to come back for the ‘lame duck’ portion of the 117th Congress, FMA urges swift action to protect the civil service for years to come: Passing a legislative block for a future return of Schedule F – or any plan like Schedule F.
A short primer: In October 2020, the Trump Administration created Schedule F for the excepted service via an executive order. Schedule F was a new category of federal positions, ostensibly to expedite the hiring and removal of employees “in confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating positions.” FMA staunchly opposed the E.O. as a harmful assault on the non-partisan civil service, and we celebrated when President Biden revoked the E.O. that created it two days after his inauguration in January 2021. However, right now, there is nothing to prevent any future administration – Democratic or Republican – from bringing it back via another E.O. That is why, with less than two months remaining in the current session of Congress, we continue to call on Congress to protect the merit system, due process, and federal managers, and prevent a return to the patronage spoils system.
FMA expressed deep concern with Schedule F, which would take all political neutrality out of the leadership of the civil service. The unacceptable elimination of due process for terminating employees leaving them solely at the whim of politicians is intolerable under any administration. FMA National President Craig Carter said, “a hallmark of America’s civil service is the foundational, fundamental understanding that federal employees swear an oath to the Constitution and provide services to all Americans, regardless of political party. The federal government cannot function effectively without this nonpolitical civil service capable of preserving institutional memory and competence across administrations.”
The only way career civil servants can effectively carry out their critical missions is by remaining free of political concerns. The value of having a competence-based civil service devoted only to doing their jobs, ensures that said jobs will be done far more effectively than if they had been forced to conform their statements to transient political concerns or face firing. The value senior civil servants bring to multiple administrations over decades, and the institutional knowledge they provide are far too important to the competent running of our country.
FMA strongly supports legislative efforts the House of Representatives has already passed, including the stand-alone Preventing a Patronage System Act (H.R. 302), as well as language included in the House-passed version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). We also support efforts in the Senate, including similar language in the draft Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill, and the PPSA Act (S. 4702). While many efforts to prevent a return of Schedule F are simultaneously underway, and the House has passed language in three separate votes, we still need both chambers of Congress to agree, hopefully in bipartisan fashion. Congress needs to provide oversight and a check on any future administration seeking to seemingly circumvent the merit system of the civil service.
Managers need to have better tools to improve hiring and address poor performers in the federal workforce, but it cannot be at the complete elimination of due process and the merit system. That is why we stand opposed to Schedule F – or a similar type plan – and urge Congress to prevent its return.
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The views reflected in this column are those of FMA and do not necessarily represent the views of FEDmanager. To learn more about the Federal Managers Association (FMA), visit their website: FedManagers.org.