Biden scrambles to nix Trump's power to enact revenge 'master plan' if elected
The Biden administration is scrambling to put in last-minute protections for federal workers as Donald Trump has publicly vowed a revenge vendetta if he's elected.
A new rule introduced Thursday aims to stop civil service protections from being eliminated if positions are turned into an exempt category by presidents such as Trump, who says he plans to disrupt the "deep state" by targeting career government workers if he becomes president again.
The Office of Personnel Management issued a rule that says, "Employees whose jobs include civil service protections would not lose them if their position is converted to an exempt category.
"However, they could choose to waive that security or voluntarily move to a role that serves at the will of the president — typically highly coveted positions toward the top of an agency’s org chart," Politico reported.
The rule allows workers who think they're being stripped of their protections to take their grievances to the independent Merit Systems Protection Board.
“This rule is about making sure the American public can continue to count on federal workers to apply their skills and expertise in carrying out their jobs, no matter their personal political beliefs,” OPM Deputy Director Rob Shriver said in a statement.
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Many see the move as a response to then-President Donald Trump's 2020 executive order, known as Schedule F, that makes it easier to hire, fire, or shuffle around employees in policymaking roles.
“Today’s final rule is a necessary step to prevent partisan abuse of the civil service rules and a return to the failures and corruption of the spoils system of the 1800s,” said Partnership for Public Service president Max Stier.
Trump's attempted government overhaul was stopped when Joe Biden took office. According to Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director Jason Miller said "strengthening and empowering the federal workforce" has been a "top priority" of Biden's "from his very first day in office."
“He knows that career civil servants are the backbone of our federal government, providing the expertise and experience necessary for our democracy to function," Miller said.
Trump reportedly has a "master plan" to get revenge on people he feels have wronged him, including many "career civil servants" that he wants to replace with loyalists.