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NARFE: Schedule P/C Implementation Will Undermine Government Accountability [1]

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Date: 2026-06-04  

Alexandria, Va. – In response to the White House executive order reclassifying 8,000 career federal positions into Schedule Policy/Career, a new employment category without adequate protection against politically motivated employment actions, NARFE National President William Shackelford issued the following statement:

“This action will undermine the effectiveness of the civil service in carrying out government operations on behalf of the American people. It paves the way for this and future administrations to remove more than 8,000 competent, nonpartisan, professional civil servants and replace them with political cronies who are more apt to be incompetent or corrupt. The executive order does so by moving federal positions into a new category without the civil service protections that provide the core procedural and substantive safeguards necessary to prevent removals that are not based on actual performance.

“This threatens expanded political cronyism, increasing the risk that executive actions will be decided by the size of political contributions rather than the faithful execution of the law. That increases the risk of politically motivated enforcement of laws, threatening individual liberty; politically determined tariff exceptions and contract and grant awards, threatening greater corruption and waste of taxpayer dollars; and politically selective provision of services, threatening failure of government operations for disfavored groups or localities.

“The nonpartisan, merit-based civil service provides continuity through changing administrations and ensures public servants’ primary allegiance is to the Constitution and laws of the United States rather than the individual temporarily holding the office of President. Schedule P/C’s evisceration of this practice for a large subset of federal employees weakens our civil service, and our democracy.

“Not only do we believe this is a disastrous policy for our nation, but we also believe it is contrary to the Civil Service Reform Act and illegal. Our attorneys will continue to make that case in court.

“We also continue to urge Congress to pass the Saving the Civil Service Act, H.R.492/S.134, to leave no doubt about its directive to maintain a nonpartisan civil service.”

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As the only organization solely dedicated to the general welfare of all federal workers and retirees, NARFE delivers valuable guidance, timely resources and powerful advocacy. For more than 100 years, NARFE has been a trusted source of knowledge for the federal community, Capitol Hill, the executive branch and the media.

CONTACT:

Jenn Rafael

NARFE Senior Director of Communications and Technology

jrafael@narfe.org | (571) 483-1270

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[1] Url: https://www.narfe.org/blog/2026/06/04/narfe-schedule-p-c-implementation-will-undermine-government-accountability/

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