Federal Workforce

House Leadership Demands Accounting of Political Burrowing, Schedule F Activities

Government Executive: Leaders of nearly two dozen House committees demanded information from 61 federal agencies on any efforts to convert political appointees to career civil service positions as well as planned conversions of career employees to the controversial new Schedule F job classification ahead of President-elect Biden’s inauguration.

In a letter to the various agencies last week, House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and each of the chairs of the other 19 permanent House committees said they fear a combination of appointees moving into permanent jobs—a practice commonly referred to as “burrowing”—and the implementation of President Trump’s plan to strip civil service protections from employees in “confidential, policy-determining, policy-making or policy-advocating positions” could undermine the merit system principles that form the foundation of the federal civil service.

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