Trump vows to fire bureaucrats. Here鈥檚 why Biden is trying to stop him.
| Washington
For decades, American presidents routinely offered government jobs to political allies 鈥� and expected those employees would do their bidding in return.
Then in 1881, a campaign supporter who did not win such a favor assassinated President James Garfield. That proved to be a tipping point, spurring the creation of a civil service mostly staffed by nonpartisan workers selected on merit, not on political allegiance.听
Nearly a century and a half later, the two presidential front-runners are debating whether to keep it that way.
Why We Wrote This
Both Democrats and Republicans have declining confidence in the civil service 鈥� the 2.2 million workers who keep the government running from one administration to the next. The two presidential front-runners disagree on whether the workers are nonpartisan, and if they should be.
Former President Donald Trump has thousands of 鈥渞ogue bureaucrats鈥� if he wins the election this fall, as part of his plan to dismantle what he calls 鈥渢he deep state.鈥� In response, the Biden administration has issued , which goes into effect this month,听shielding the civil service against 鈥�.鈥�
The tussle comes against a backdrop of growing polarization and declining trust in institutions. Two years ago,听听said they had confidence in career government employees 鈥� a 9-point dip from four years earlier.听
Central to the debate is a tension over whether unelected civil servants really are nonpartisan. Many Republicans see the government as a liberal-leaning bureaucracy 鈥� and indeed, a听 found that the plurality of career civil servants are Democrats, an overrepresentation that increased with seniority. From 1997 to 2019, the share of Democrats hovered around 50%, while the share of Republicans ranged from 32% in 1997 to 26% in 2019.
But these federal workers 鈥� many of whom say they are committed to working in a nonpartisan way 鈥� also bring valuable institutional knowledge and policy expertise from one administration to the next. Replacing them en masse every four years could disrupt government functions, including services that millions of Americans rely on. 听
鈥淧robably presidents of both parties find that they are sometimes frustrated that the permanent agencies are not as responsive to [their objectives] as they would like,鈥� says James Capretta, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 at stake here, really, is balancing that objective, which is legitimate, against another equally legitimate objective 鈥� which is that the electorate, the voters, also want some confidence in government and good public services.鈥澨�
How Trump鈥檚 plan would change the civil service
George Washington University Professor Christopher Kojm, a former State Department employee who also served as deputy director of the 9/11 Commission, has encouraged many of his students to enter the civil service.听
鈥淚 told young people: Whatever your politics are, the public sector needs you. It needs your talent, idealism, enthusiasm,鈥� says Professor Kojm.
Among them is Vanessa DuBoulay, a civil servant at the Department of Justice. 鈥淎t the end of the day, we serve broader U.S. objectives. We serve our taxpayers,鈥� she says. 鈥淩emaining nonpartisan is the only way we can truly commit to that.鈥澨�
Since World War II, the civil service has encompassed about 90% of the federal workforce.听Today鈥檚 2.2 million civil servants work on everything from collecting military intelligence to assessing the safety of America鈥檚 food supply. Unlike those in the more than 4,000 positions that each new president appoints, they can鈥檛 be fired for political reasons, only for failure to perform duties.
Mr. Trump鈥檚 plan would change that. In fall 2020, then-President Trump unveiled an executive order known as Schedule F that would have removed job protections for tens of thousands of civil servants, notably those involved in making or implementing policy. Career employees would become, in effect, political appointees.听
The Trump administration said the move was necessary to address on important agency projects. It cited a 2016 survey that found that fewer than one-quarter of federal workers believed their agency handled 鈥減oor performers鈥� effectively.
Mr. Trump was also infuriated by anonymous federal employees who proclaimed themselves part of an internal 鈥渞esistance鈥� that was working to undermine or block what they viewed as the president鈥檚 听A May 2023 听found that civil servants in the Trump administration 鈥渓argely complied鈥� with political directives but at times 鈥渞esisted鈥� in ways that 鈥渉elped mitigate perceived harm to agency missions,鈥� for example by slow-walking projects.
Critics view Schedule F as rooted in Mr. Trump鈥檚 desire to assert greater power over the executive branch and remove anyone who stands in his way 鈥� particularly lawyers within the Department of Justice, which he says has been 鈥渨eaponized鈥� against him.听
President Joe Biden reversed the order as soon as he took office. Mr. Biden鈥檚 new rule 鈥渃larifies and reinforces鈥� long-standing protections of civil servants, but could be overturned by a future president 鈥� though experts say that could result in a lengthy legal challenge.
From 4,000 new political appointees ... to 50,000?
The battle is playing out alongside Project 2025, a conservative initiative organized by The Heritage Foundation to empower a new Republican administration to 鈥渞escue the country from the grip of the radical Left.鈥� It includes a 920-page policy playbook and a database of 鈥減roperly vetted鈥� candidates to carry out that agenda. While Heritage has recommended presidential personnel听in the past, this appears far greater in scope than previous efforts.听Heritage, after numerous interview requests, declined to speak with the Monitor.听
Conservatives have long been concerned about the size and reach of the federal bureaucracy. But there is debate, even on the right, about whether Schedule F is the right solution.
Philip Wallach, another senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, acknowledges that many conservatives 鈥� including those who, like him, are not Trump supporters 鈥� were 鈥渞eally troubled鈥� by the way executive branch employees adopted a 鈥�#resistance mentality from Day 1 of the Trump administration.鈥澨�
So he understands the impetus for civil service reforms.
鈥淚 see it as a pretty justifiable fight to pick,鈥� says Mr. Wallach.听But听鈥渏ust because it鈥檚 justifiable doesn鈥檛 mean that it can鈥檛 be taken to excess.鈥澨�
If the next president rolls back the new Biden administration rule and adopts Schedule F, it would reclassify an estimated 50,000 civil servants, opening the way for Project 2025 candidates to enter the administration in much higher numbers than the usual 4,000 appointees. In addition, some say the threat of firing could have a chilling effect on those who remain.听
What high turnover can mean for a president 鈥� and citizens
In the first year of a presidency, there is typically a in turnover among the highest-ranked civil servants.
Professor David E. Lewis of Vanderbilt University says such turnover can be good. It weeds out employees who have serious qualms about serving an administration. But he鈥檚 concerned that Mr. Trump鈥檚 plan could replace quality with partisan loyalty.
鈥淭he evidence we have shows pretty consistently that efforts to politicize the bureaucracy result in lower performance overall,鈥� says Professor Lewis, who studies productivity and politicization in the public sector.听
Many of the new hires would have far less institutional knowledge, particularly when it comes to complex regulations and their implementation.听
鈥淭his is not something where you sit through a three-hour training video and now you know how to do this,鈥� says a civil servant at the Department of Treasury, speaking on background because of his organization鈥檚 ethics policy about political commentary. 听
Some members of Congress, including both Democrats and Republicans from states with large numbers of federal workers, have been that would further codify protections for civil servants.听
鈥淲e have a short list of draft laws that we鈥檇 like passed,鈥� prohibiting things like political loyalty oaths, says Steve Lenkart, executive director of the National Federation of Federal Employees. But those efforts have met with 鈥渁 lot of resistance,鈥� Mr. Lenkart says, from Republicans.
Scholars and federal workers also worry that just the possibility of losing job protections may cause many more civil servants to resign. In a worst-case scenario, they say, that could have far-reaching implications.
鈥淚f all of a sudden there was a mass exodus of career civil servants, there would be widespread fallout across the range of government services. People wouldn鈥檛 get their Social Security checks; people wouldn鈥檛 be able to get passports,鈥� says Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution. 鈥淧eople would quickly learn how vital civil servants are to day-to-day living.鈥�
Staff writer Christa Case Bryant contributed reporting.
