Reclassifying 50,000 Civil Servants Under Schedule F Threatens Democracy

The Office of Management and Budget is proposing a rule titled “Improving Performance, Accountability, and Responsiveness in the Civil Service.” In reality, this rule would reclassify tens of thousands of federal employees under a category known as Schedule F—stripping them of long-standing civil service protections and allowing them to be fired without cause. It opens the door to mass firings based on political loyalty, making these positions far more vulnerable to partisan influence.

This matters because it strikes at the heart of democratic governance. These are career civil servants—experts in law, science, public health, and policy—who are meant to serve the public, not a political agenda.

By stripping them of job protections and making their roles political appointments, the administration can replace qualified professionals with loyalists. This undermines checks and balances, politicizes government functions, and moves us closer to authoritarian rule where truth, law, and public interest take a backseat to power.

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Instructions for Commenting

The public has 13 more days to comment before it becomes much more difficult to undo. (The Deadlines is May 25, 2025 at 11:59 PM EST)

Step 1: Tell the government you oppose this change. 

1. See Comment Template below - copy/edit however you like.
2. Then paste it in the comment section here:  Submit a Comment on OPM-2025-0004-0001
   
3. Note: there's an option to share the comment anonymously
4. For those that want to go deeper you can read the full proposed rule: Improving Performance, Accountability and Responsiveness in the Civil Service
   

Step 2: Share this post.
Help others understand what's at stake so they comment too.

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Comment Template:

Here’s a draft public comment you can submit to the federal portal about the Schedule F proposal (OPM-2025-0004-0001). Copy and paste this into the comment field here.

I am writing to express my strong opposition to the proposed implementation of Schedule F (or any similar reclassification of federal employees under the new “Policy/Career” designation). This rule is a direct threat to the impartiality, stability, and institutional memory of the federal workforce.

Schedule F would allow for the politicization of tens of thousands of career civil servants, undermining the merit-based hiring system that has protected the public interest for over a century. It opens the door to mass firings based on political loyalty rather than competence, experience, or ethical standards.

At a time when our country needs stability, transparency, and trust in public institutions, this proposal would do irreparable harm. Federal agencies require independent, expert staff to carry out laws passed by Congress—not handpicked loyalists who serve the agenda of a single administration.

The return of Schedule F would chill dissent, erode morale, and turn civil service into a partisan battlefield. It is a dangerous step toward authoritarian governance, and it must be withdrawn.

I urge the Office of Personnel Management to reject this proposal and uphold the apolitical integrity of the U.S. civil service.

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Why it's important to comment even if they ignore it.

Even if public comments don’t stop the administration from moving forward with Schedule F, submitting them is still critically important. Each comment becomes part of the official record, which can be used in future legal challenges to show that the policy faced widespread public opposition and lacked informed consent. It’s about laying a foundation for accountability—because when the time comes to fight this in court or roll it back, the paper trail matters.