Why It Matters
The federal civil service is divided into three categories with different rules for hiring, pay and adverse actions. President Trump has used executive orders to reclassify approximately 8,000 positions into Schedule Policy/Career, where employees face different adverse-action procedures, according to a new Congressional Research Service (CRS) report. The report says that if more positions move into the excepted service, "questions could arise about the continued application of merit principles."
The executive branch employs an estimated two million civilian workers, the majority in the competitive service, where hiring runs through Office of Personnel Management (OPM) examinations and employees who complete probation receive at least 30 days' advance written notice before removal, with appeal rights to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB).
The Big Picture
The excepted service accounts for about one-third of executive branch workers, based on a July 2018 OPM report, and is divided into seven schedules with varying appointment and adverse-action rules.
Executive Order 14171, issued in January 2025, established Schedule Policy/Career for career positions of a "confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character." In June 2026, President Trump reclassified approximately 8,000 positions into that schedule under Executive Order 14410, subjecting those employees to different adverse-action procedures than competitive service workers face. A separate order, EO 14317, created Schedule G in July 2025 for policy-making positions normally subject to change at a presidential transition, intended to "fill the gap" between Schedule C and Schedule Policy/Career, according to a White House fact sheet the report cites.
The Senior Executive Service (SES) had approximately 6,647 members as of April. Career SES appointees who complete a one-year probationary period may be removed only for specified reasons; noncareer and limited appointees may be removed at any time. Beginning in 2025, the administration revised the SES performance appraisal system to add a "faithful administration of the law and the President's policies" factor, per an OPM memorandum the report cites.
The report cites the Saving the Civil Service Act as an example of bills that would limit the president's power to except positions; H.R. 492 has reached floor consideration, while its Senate companion, S. 134, sponsored by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), was last acted on in January 2025, when it was referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
The Bottom Line
Congress could maintain the status quo; legislate new pay systems outside the General Schedule; adjust the president's authority to except positions; and conduct oversight of the excepted-service schedules. Other options include an OPM report to Congress, an OPM-led task force, or a National Academy of Public Administration study.
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