Remember when former President Trump made Schedule F, a policy aimed at making it easier for a president to fire government workers, through an executive order? It looks like the Biden government is trying to make it more difficult for a president to do this. A number of Republican candidates for president have promised to cut the executive office by a lot if they win.
The White House appears to be getting ready for a possible Republican win in 2024. Polls now show that President Biden is statistically tied with Trump, so they might have reason to worry.
“A document filed with the government Register this week says that the Biden administration is attempting to keep unelected government workers from being fired if the Republicans win in 2024.”
“The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which handles all federal workers, suggested a rule that would shield the great majority of career civil servants against being fired without cause while providing them a right to submit an appeal, according to the file. Some Republican contenders for president have promised to fire workers who don’t agree with conservative views if they become president. This rule would stop them from doing that.”
“The 2.2 million full-time civil servants who work for the government today represent the backbone of the overall Federal workforce. These employees swear that they will uphold the Constitution and answer to agency managers and leaders, who in turn answer to the President,” the filing says. “Disagreeing with leadership on its own, without going against lawful orders, is not wrongdoing or unacceptable behavior.”
Getting rid of a government worker is usually about as hard as beating a brick wall at tennis. The Biden government is trying to make it even harder with this move.
Vivek Ramaswamy and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, both of whom are running for president as Republicans, have said that if they won, they would use an axe to cut down the executive branch. They say that the federal government is too biased toward the left. In fact, at least some government workers openly opposed Trump’s plans while he was in office. Who knows about Mr. Lodestar?
During his time as president, Trump signed Executive Order 13957, which led to the creation of Schedule F. This gave the president more freedom to hire and fire government workers. When Biden took office, he got rid of the order. The new plan would give unelected workers more safety, even if they chose to work against what the government wants.
The OPM’s proposed rule might seem like it’s meant to promote continuity and security, but it’s clear that it’s really meant to stop political enemies from firing people who are driven by their beliefs rather than their jobs. Even if this idea becomes the rule, a future president could still change it, just like Biden demonstrated with Trump’s order.
Still, this action shows that Democrats are very worried that Biden will lose in 2024. If this weren’t true, they wouldn’t be trying to make this kind of insurance policy.