Press Releases

Today, U.S. Representative Gerald E. Connolly (D-VA-11) and U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) released the following statement regarding President Donald Trump’s move to revive ‘Schedule F,’ a policy he pursued during his first term to strip protections from federal workers to make it easier to carry out politically motivated firings. The Biden Administration reversed the Executive Order that created Schedule F and also finalized a regulation strengthening protections for the civil service.

“Anyone who cares about our national security, or receives Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, or any other critical service administered by the federal government, has a vested interest in protecting our merit-based federal workforce. President Trump has made it clear that he wants the power to hire and fire these workers based on their politics, not their qualifications—and that makes all of us less safe. We have long fought for legislation to protect the federal workforce from this kind of attack. To our colleagues who will hear from their constituents if government services continue to decline because of this decision: you were warned.”

The lawmakers previously introduced the Savingthe Civil Service Act, legislation that would prevent any position in the competitive service from being reclassified to Schedule F.