Trump's executive order targets federal worker protections
Donald Trump has signed an executive order to weaken protections for federal workers. His decision is likely to be challenged in court.
President Donald Trump wasted no time in signing an executive order aimed at increasing his control over the federal workforce, which he has long referred to as the "deep state", an alleged secret power said to govern the United States and the world.
The order seeks to overturn a rule introduced by former President Joe Biden last year and will probably face many legal challenges.
Return to plans from years ago
The new order echoes one Trump signed just before the 2020 election, creating the category "Schedule F," which simplifies the dismissal of federal employees involved in politics. Biden quickly reversed this order and finalised a new rule that further strengthened protections for career federal employees.
However, Trump's latest order instructs the Office of Personnel Management to undo any changes that might hinder or affect the implementation of Trump's 2020 directive.
Trump also nullified his predecessor's 2021 executive order, which repealed the original Schedule F order—an expected move.
Legal complications?
Like the 2020 executive order, Trump's new directive will probably end up in court swiftly. Traditionally, reversing or changing a rule requires the introduction of new regulations, which is a process that can take months and cannot be accomplished by executive order, experts say.
Trump's 2020 order left many federal employees worried about their jobs. It would give him and his appointed agency officials more freedom to hire and fire federal employees deemed disloyal. Critics argue this politicises the civil service and could lead to the ousting of career officials for political reasons and replacing them with individuals loyal to the president.
Threats to federal employees
Initial estimates suggest that it would affect about 50,000 employees, although experts believe the order could impact many more people.
- President Trump's order is a blatant attempt to corrupt the federal government by eliminating workers' rights to due process so that they can be fired for political reasons – said Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 750,000 workers, in an interview with CNN. - This will remove hundreds of thousands of federal jobs from an impartial, professional civil service and make them accountable to the whims of one man - he added.
Trump's renewed efforts to reshape the federal government and its workforce aim to ensure loyalty to him and his policies in order to avoid the obstacles he believed blocked his ability to implement key initiatives during his first term.
Source: CNN
