President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday aimed at increasing accountability among senior federal employees who influence government policy, reviving a workforce reform effort that allows agencies to remove certain career officials more easily.
The White House said that the order places policy-influencing positions into a category known as Schedule Policy/Career, which covers employees involved in developing, directing, or advocating administration policies.
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The new order reclassifies about 8,000 senior policy-influencing positions, a figure well below earlier estimates that suggested as many as 50,000 federal employees could eventually fall under similar workforce reforms.
Speaking during a White House signing ceremony, administration officials said existing personnel rules often make it difficult to discipline or remove employees in senior policymaking roles. They said the order is designed to make the federal workforce more accountable and improve agency performance.
