WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) slammed the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) final rule that will allow the Trump Administration to reclassify and fire federal employees without cause or appeals rights. Schedule Policy/Career, previously known as Schedule F, is a policy that President Donald Trump pursued during his first term to strip federal workers of their protections and carry out politically motivated firings.

“For decades, our nonpartisan civil service has set us apart from other countries and enabled us to have stability and continuity no matter who is in the White House. The Trump Administration’s move to reclassify federal employees to make it easier to fire them for political reasons will hurt these workers and their families, threaten our national security, and make it harder for Americans to access the services they need. If we want to continue to lead the world, then we must have a federal workforce based on merit, not politics. We will continue to do everything we can to protect these dedicated public servants, many of whom live in Virginia.”

Warner and Kaine, members of the Federal Workforce Caucus that launched earlier this week, have strongly pushed back against the mass firings and politicization of the federal workforce. Last May, Warner and Kaine sent a letter opposing OPM’s rule change. The senators previously introduced the Saving the Civil Service Act, legislation to protect the merit-based federal workforce system and prevent any position in the competitive service from being reclassified to Schedule P/C.