The White House is preparing a new personnel rule that would make it easier to dismiss tens of thousands of senior career federal workers involved in policy implementation, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The administration of President Donald Trump is preparing a significant overhaul of federal employment rules that would make it easier to fire career government officials in senior roles, a change that could affect roughly 50,000 federal workers, according to a report published Thursday by the The Wall Street Journal.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the newspaper reported that the Office of Personnel Management is expected to issue a final rule creating a new employment category for high-ranking career officials who are involved in carrying out an administration’s policies. Employees placed into the new category would be exempt from long-standing civil service protections that have traditionally made it difficult to dismiss federal workers.
The rule would apply to senior positions described as policy-determining, policymaking, or policy-advocating in nature, according to the report. OPM officials told the Journal that the change is aimed in part at disciplining or removing federal employees who fail to implement the president’s policies.
Reuters reported that it could not independently verify the Wall Street Journal’s account. The White House and OPM did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
The move follows earlier steps by the Trump administration to reduce the size of the federal workforce during the president’s second term. Trump has repeatedly argued that the federal government is bloated, inefficient, and resistant to accountability, and has said career officials should not be able to obstruct elected leadership.
For decades, the federal government has been viewed as a stable employer, with many workers spending entire careers inside federal agencies under strong job protections. Trump and his advisers have sought to change that dynamic, particularly for senior officials who help shape or execute policy.
OPM Director Scott Kupor framed the broader effort as a matter of performance and accountability. “This effort ensures taxpayer dollars support a workforce that delivers efficient, responsive and high-quality services,” Kupor told Reuters last month.
If finalized, the rule would mark one of the most consequential changes to civil service protections in decades, reshaping how future administrations manage and discipline senior career officials across the federal government.
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