{"id":25550,"date":"2023-02-14T19:17:48","date_gmt":"2023-02-14T19:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/02\/14\/kaine-introduces-senate-companion-bill-to-stamp-out-schedule-f\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:53:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:53:21","slug":"kaine-introduces-senate-companion-bill-to-stamp-out-schedule-f","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/2023\/02\/14\/kaine-introduces-senate-companion-bill-to-stamp-out-schedule-f\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaine introduces Senate bill to stamp out Schedule F in civil service"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Senate Democrats are joining efforts to advance a legislative ban on the reclassification of federal employees to an unprotected job class without the approval of Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This concept was first put forth by former Republican President Donald Trump, whose Schedule F plan would\u2019ve excepted groups of federal employees from job protections otherwise guaranteed by the merit-based civil service. Two agencies submitted requests<\/a> to the White House\u2019s Office of Personnel Management to reclassify. Ultimately, Schedule F never took effect, but it was enough to motivate Democratic lawmakers to draft legislation barring future attempts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Feb. 14, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine,<\/a> D-Va., introduced the Saving the Civil Service Act as a companion bill<\/a> to one introduced in the House. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur dedicated federal workers help keep our government running, protect our national security, and provide essential services to Americans like administering Social Security benefits,\u201d said Kaine in a statement. \u201cI\u2019m introducing legislation to protect the merit-based federal hiring system and help ensure our federal workers are hired based on their qualifications, not their politics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill forbids a position in the competitive service from being placed in any new schedule and would also require the permission of the Office of Personnel Management and the employee affected. It also stipulates that during a presidential term, an agency may not transfer more than 1% of its employees or five total employees to the excepted service, whichever is greater.<\/p>\n\n\n\t