FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Matt Dorsey
(202) 550-6987
February 5, 2026
Washington, DC – Today, the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE-IAM) denounces The Trump Administration’s rule implementing Schedule PC (“Policy-Career”), a new federal employment classification that strips away long-standing civil service protections designed to prevent corruption, political coercion, and abuse of power.
By creating a pathway to convert large numbers of career civil servants into politically controlled positions, this rule threatens the integrity of the executive branch and undermines the foundations of a democratic republic. Schedule PC would enable the mass politicization of government by allowing political loyalty – rather than merit, expertise, and the law – to determine who serves and who is removed.
For more than 150 years, reforms to the federal civil service have been enacted to curb corruption, end political patronage, and protect taxpayers from systems that reward loyalty over competence. These reforms were born of hard lessons: when employees can be fired for refusing to engage in unethical or unlawful conduct, corruption increases, and public trust collapses.
Schedule PC reverses those lessons. Its inevitable consequences are political patronage, systemic corruption, and unconstitutional actions, placing extraordinary power in the Executive Branch while weakening the checks and balances that protect our institutions and the American people.
Schedule PC serves no legitimate operational or business purpose. Instead, it would:
- Replace tens of thousands of career federal employees with political operatives; and
- Force remaining employees into a vulnerable status where intimidation, coercion, and retaliation become tools of political control.
This risk is especially dire in agencies responsible for law enforcement oversight, financial regulation, food and drug safety, environmental protection, and national security, all of which require independence and professional, impartial oversight.
The Trump Administration has justified this rule by claiming that removing poor performers in government is “too difficult.” That claim is false. Federal employee removal rates are nearly double those of the private sector. Meanwhile, the number of political appointees has already doubled from roughly 2,000 in the 1980s to more than 4,000 today, costing taxpayers billions annually for positions that are often unnecessary, poorly supervised, and driven by political considerations rather than public service.
When civil service protections are dismantled, the consequences are immediate and severe: politicized law enforcement, weakened regulatory oversight, compromised national security, unchecked military action, exploited workers, unsafe food and drug standards, and widespread corruption. Every American and our allies abroad will be impacted by these damaging effects.
“This is a defining moment for the country,” said NFFE National President Randy Erwin. “A choice must be made between a democratic republic governed by law, and an executive system in which power is wielded against the Constitution and the people it serves.
“The labor movement will be taking legal action to challenge this rule and protect our civil service. However, it is also critical that Congress acts immediately to halt the mass politicization of the executive branch. In the 117th Congress, the United States House of Representatives passed legislation to prohibit this abuse. The Senate’s repeated inaction allowed this crisis to unfold.
“The time for delay is over,” continued Erwin. “Emergency legislation is required to halt this corruption and restore constitutional balance. Any vote against stopping Schedule PC is a vote in favor of corruption and political coercion, and a failure to uphold the oath every member of Congress takes to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.”