The Office of Personnel Management finalized a rule on Thursday that would make it easier for President Trump to remove thousands more federal workers.
As it stands, only about 4,000 people directly appointed by the president can be fired at will. The new rule would expand that universe to about 50,000 workers by creating a new category of career employees who perform policy-related roles.
“I think it’s a good thing that the Office of Personnel Management put this rule out,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “I think if people aren’t doing their jobs, if they aren’t showing up for work, if they’re not working on behalf of this president, they’re not welcome to work for him at all.”
Mr. Trump has made no secret of his desire to have federal employees who are loyal and work to implement his agenda.
Stemming back to his first term, Mr. Trump often complained there was a “deep state” of career federal workers who undermined him.
OPM Director Scott Kupor said the new category of workers, dubbed Schedule Policy/Career employees, will keep workers accountable.
“This rule preserves merit-based hiring, veterans’ preference, and whistleblower protections while ensuring senior career officials responsible for advancing President Trump’s agenda can be held to the same performance expectations that exist throughout much of the American workforce,” he said.
The rule prohibits political patronage, loyalty tests or political discrimination from being used to determine who is disciplined or removed. OPM also said it preserved protections for whistleblowers.
Yet critics of the rule said it was a blatant attempt to increase Mr. Trump’s power and make federal workers loyal only to the president.
“Today’s action has nothing to do with restoring merit in federal employment,” said Max Stier, president and CEO of the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service. “This new designation can be used to remove expert career federal employees who place the law and service to the public ahead of blind loyalty and replace them with political supporters who will unquestioningly do the president’s bidding.”
The OPM rule implements a Day One executive order that Mr. Trump signed in January 2025 to overhaul how policy-influencing positions are designated.
“If these government workers refuse to advance the policy interests of the President, or are engaging in corrupt behavior, they should no longer have a job. This is common sense, and will allow the federal government to finally be ‘run like a business,’” Mr. Trump said on social media in April, when OPM began writing the rule.
The rule is part of a broader effort by Mr. Trump to reshape the federal workforce.
The Department of Government Efficiency, led by billionaire Elon Musk, led to mass layoffs earlier in Mr. Trump’s term. More than 350,000 workers left the federal government in 2025.
Mr. Trump said many federal workers were not necessary or refused to return to in-person work, making it hard to know what they were achieving.
