Trump strikes swamp bureaucrats with an executive order — they can be fired now

Some career federal employees whose work involves making policy will no longer be hired under competitive procedures. They would lose the civil service protections that protect them from ever being fired. Also, they will no longer be union. This comes about with an executive order that President Trump issued Wednesday.

The order would shift those employees from what is called the “competitive service,” which covers most of the 2.1 million executive branch employees, into the “excepted service.” In general, expected service applies to political appointees below the level requiring Senate confirmation.

These are the swamp critters determining our policies without any accountability. This will make them accountable.

THEY CAN FIRE THE LOSERS

Trump said his order will “give agencies greater ability and discretion to assess critical qualities in applicants to fill these positions, such as work ethic, judgment, and ability to meet the particular needs of the agency.”

They will be kept based on performance and will no longer be a protected class.

Among career employees, the “excepted service” mainly applies to positions in which it is not practical to use competitive processes in hirings. It includes administrative law judges and attorneys. Employees of some entire agencies, such as intelligence agencies, also are in the excepted service.

Agencies are not required to post excepted service vacancies on the central USAJobs.gov recruiting site, although some do. They need not use rating systems required when hiring for competitive service jobs. Also, there is no formal preference for veterans. Unless they are veterans, excepted service employees do not gain appeal rights until after two years of employment, rather than the standard one year.

The order tells agencies to conduct an initial review within three months, and a full review within seven months. It strikes hard a to reducing the huge number of political appointments.

Then, agencies are to ask the Office of Personnel Management to move those positions into a newly created category of the excepted service. There is a list of “prohibited personnel practices” such as discrimination and nepotism would continue to apply to them.”

THOSE AFFECTED

While not defining which occupations would be affected, such duties would include development or advocacy of policy; involvement with writing regulations and guidance; work in an agency component that primarily focuses on policy; supervision of attorneys; work in the agency’s executive secretariat; conducting negotiations with employee unions; or work that includes “substantial discretion to determine the manner in which the agency exercises functions committed to the agency by law.”

There are your career bureaucrats who run things from the swamp.

As expected, the union is angry.

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