Schedule G
A central pillar of Project 2025, a plan for a potential second Trump administration published by the Heritage Foundation and other conservative groups, was to fire potentially thousands of federal workers and replace them with politically loyal staff. The plan relies on a controversial interpretation of the unitary executive theory, arguing for near-total presidential control over the executive branch and its agencies.
“President Trump is committed to recruiting the most patriotic and capable Americans for federal service,” OPM Director Scott Kupor said. “Schedule G brings needed f lexibility to the process of appointing noncareer policy roles across government, to ensure key policy-determining and policy-advocating positions are staffed in alignment with the administration's priorities. OPM will work closely with agencies and the White House to implement this authority.”
For decades, there have been roughly 4,000 political appointees in the federal government. With Schedule G, the Trump administration is apparently trying to increase the number of political appointees in senior roles without requiring Senate confirmation and further decrease the influence of career officials within the agency.
Schedule G is a new hiring authority in the excepted service for political appointees whose roles are of a policy-making or policy-advocating character. Schedule G appointees do not require Senate confirmation, and there is no regulatory limit on their numbers. OPM’s guidance indicates all appointments require White House approval. Creating Schedule G fills this gap and facilitates appointments of non-career federal employees who will serve temporarily and implement the policy agenda prescribed by the American people through our elections. This will improve operations, particularly in agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs, by streamlining appointments for key policy roles.
Under an Executive Order 14317 issued 17 July 2025, Positions of a policy-making or policy-advocating character normally subject to change as a result of a Presidential transition shall be listed in Schedule G. It means positions whose appointees are expected to leave when a new presidential administration takes over, often because their selection is tied to presidential or White House personnel decisions. Positions of a confidential or policy-determining character normally subject to change as a result of a Presidential transition shall be listed in Schedule C. Career positions of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character not normally subject to change as a result of a Presidential transition shall be listed in Schedule Policy/Career.
“Schedule G employees will be hired to help faithfully implement the President’s policy agenda,” states the White House fact sheet. The administration’s argument is there was a “gap”: noncareer positions that are policy-making or policy-advocating (but not just policy-determining or confidential) and that are expected to change with a President change, were not explicitly covered under Schedule C or Policy/Career. Schedule G fills that.
One published estimate (Federal News Network, citing OPM) says roughly 50,000 federal employees are expected to lose civil service protections (in context of Schedule Policy/Career) or be otherwise affected by new authorities. But that refers more to Schedule Policy/Career (formerly “Schedule F”) than purely to Schedule G. For Schedule G, there is no reliable number yet, though some reports suggest it could “impact tens of thousands” of policy-focused roles if broadly applied.
Some see Schedule G as expanding the number of political appointees (noncareer positions) in the government, allowing greater ability for the President to staff “policy-aligned” roles without requiring Senate confirmation. There are concerns about erosion of the merit system, politicization of what were traditionally career roles, and possibly weakening protections for civil servants (though Schedule G is explicitly for non-career roles).
One potential motivator for creating Schedule G is to circumvent regulations which govern the creation and tracking of Schedule C positions, which impose procedural checks. These regulations also specify that Schedule C positions are revoked when vacated and that Schedule C positions cannot be created for the purpose of detailing to the White House. Schedule G does not include any of these constraints. It is simply another mechanism to increase the number of Trump loyalists throughout our government, and could be a way to fill roles normally occupied by career employees.
The Congress recognized that effective Government administration requires excepting some positions from the competitive service based on their confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character. Existing excepted service schedules make partial use of this authority. Schedule C of the excepted service authorizes appointments to noncareer excepted service positions of a confidential or policy-determining character. Schedule Policy/Career of the excepted service authorizes appointments to career positions of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character.
There was, however, no excepted service schedule for noncareer positions of a policy-making or policy-advocating character. Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 3302(1), conditions of good administration, including eliminating this gap in excepted service schedules and improving the operations of the Department of Veterans Affairs, made necessary creating a new Schedule G in the excepted service for noncareer positions of a policy-making or policy-advocating character.
The phrase “normally subject to change as a result of a Presidential transition” refers to positions whose occupants are, as a matter of practice, expected to resign upon a Presidential transition and includes all positions whose appointment requires the assent of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel. Appointments of individuals to positions of a policy-making or policy-advocating character normally subject to change as a result of a Presidential transition shall be made under Schedule G of the excepted service, as established by section 4 of this order.
OPM has issued guidance for agencies about how to use Schedule G. Agencies must document Schedule G appointments using certain codes (Table 11-A, rules 52-55 of the GPPA) and use an authority code (“ZLM”) for Schedule G. All Schedule G appointments require review/approval through OPM’s Executive and Schedule C System (ESCS), and via the White House Office of Presidential Personnel through each agency’s White House Liaison.
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