Hoyer Statement on Trump's Executive Order to Eliminate Key Civil-Service Protections for Federal Employees Under Schedule F

WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05) released the following statement after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to eliminate key civil-service protections for over 8,000 federal employees, making them vulnerable to removal at the President's whim:

"The President's executive order is just the latest example of this Administration undermining the work of patriotic federal employees. Schedule F reclassifications, which dismantle civil-service protections, politicize the civil service and create a pathway to fire nonpartisan public servants based on their actual or perceived beliefs - or simply for upholding the law in the face of this President's illegal directives. Moreover, federal employees are already covered under non-disclosure protections; demanding that they sign additional non-disclosure agreements indicates that this Administration has something to hide and is afraid of whistleblowers coming forward. Congress must assert its status as a co-equal branch of government and hold this Administration accountable to the Constitution, the law, and established norms. Our federal workers deserve better than threats and denigration."