Schedule G: President Trump’s New Hiring Category—and Why Scholars Call It a “Blank Check” for Political Appointments

In July 2025, President Trump signed an executive order creating “Schedule G,” a new personnel classification that allows agencies to hire non‑career, policy‑oriented employees who serve “at the pleasure” of the President. Critics warn that the move resurrects—and expands—the administration’s long‑running effort to blur the line between professional civil servants and political loyalists.

How Schedule G Works

Legal scholars see two immediate implications:

1. More senior, better‑paid loyalists. “This may be a way of pushing more appointments to the most senior levels of government, with a higher pay category beyond what Schedule Cs are typically paid,” says Donald Moynihan of the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy.

2. An executive branch serving one person. William Resh, chair of Georgia State University’s Department of Public Management and Policy, cautions that the order “risks an executive branch that works only for the president and his parochial interests, rather than co‑equal constitutional branches and the constituencies they represent.”

Why Invent Schedule G When Schedule C Already Exists?

The White House can already embed short‑term appointees through Schedule C. Creating a second, uncapped category leads observers to ask why. One clue appears in Project 2025, the administration‑backed blueprint for its second term. While the document does not name Schedule G, page 52 urges the next administration to “fill its ranks with political appointees” and overcome “obstructionist Human Resources departments.”

Schedule G vs. Schedule F (“Schedule Policy/Career”)

Key Point	Schedule Policy/Career (“F”)	Schedule G	Source
Status of job	Reclassifies existing career positions	Creates new, non‑career positions	EO 14317 §1–§4
Who is affected	Incumbent employees inside government	Outside hires for policy‑making or ‑advocating roles	OPM Guidance, 29 Jul 2025
Civil‑service protections	Workers retain career status but lose most removal safeguards	Standard civil‑service protections do not apply to removals	5 CFR 6.4; FedSupport FAQ

In short, Schedule F reshuffles current staff, while Schedule G opens an unlimited pipeline for fresh loyalists.

What Can Congress Do?

Despite the executive order’s reach, lawmakers still hold two powerful levers:

1. The Power of the Purse

   • EO §6(b) specifies that Schedule G may be used only “subject to the availability of appropriations.”

   • Congress can deny or cap funding for Schedule G salaries in annual spending bills.

2. Oversight Riders

   • Appropriations language can forbid or condition the use of Schedule G, preserving merit‑based hiring and insulating agencies from partisan surge staffing.

The Broader Stakes

From the abortive Schedule F rollout in Trump’s first term to the explicit staffing goals in Project 2025, dismantling civil‑service safeguards has become a centerpiece of the administration’s agenda. Schedule G is the newest—and potentially most sweeping—instrument in that toolkit.

Whether Congress chooses to check or underwrite this expansion will determine how far a president can reshape the federal workforce, and whether America’s tradition of a politically neutral bureaucracy endures or erodes.