444 events on record Subscribe June 26, 2026
Standing Record home The Standing Record A non-partisan record of US democratic norms —
and the events that erode them.

Trump signed EO 14317 creating unlimited Schedule G political appointee class, bypassing Senate confirmation and SES caps

President Trump signed Executive Order 14317 on July 17, 2025, creating Schedule G in the Excepted Service — a new, numerically unlimited class of non-career political appointees who fill "policy-making or policy-advocating" roles without Senate confirmation. Unlike the Senior Executive Service, whose political appointments are capped at 10 percent by statute, Schedule G positions do not count against that limit, allowing the administration to install an unrestricted number of Trump loyalists in senior agency positions. The White House described the order as providing "horsepower for agency implementation of administration policy" and as a tool to "dismantle the deep state."

Jurisdiction
federal
Location
Nationwide

Abuses documented

Actors

On July 17, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14317, "Creating Schedule G in the Excepted Service," establishing a new class of non-career political appointees for positions described as "policy-making or policy-advocating" in nature, without Senate confirmation and without any numerical limit on how many such positions may exist. The order directs agency heads to identify and reclassify qualifying positions within 90 days and authorizes the Office of Personnel Management to oversee the new schedule's implementation.

Congress established the Senior Executive Service in 1978 precisely to insulate senior civil service roles from political patronage, including a statutory cap limiting political appointments in the SES to no more than 10 percent of total slots (5 U.S.C. § 3134). Schedule G circumvents that ceiling by creating a parallel category that does not count against the SES limit. Administration officials described the goal as providing "horsepower for agency implementation of administration policy" and dismantling what they called the "deep state." The University of Michigan's Don Moynihan observed that the order "opens space at top ranks of government for Trump loyalists as policymakers, with no limit on hires."

The new schedule is the fourth successive layer in the administration's effort to convert the career civil service into a political instrument: Schedule F converted career employees in policy-adjacent roles to at-will positions in 2020 (reinstated by Trump's second term); Schedule C covers existing non-career senior roles; and Schedule G now creates an unlimited new tier above both. Critics including the National Federation of Federal Employees warned the order "undercuts civil service protections" by enabling the displacement of apolitical career officials with party loyalists. The Veterans Affairs Department was specifically named as a target agency.

Why we recorded this

Congress enacted the Senior Executive Service political appointment cap — limiting political appointments to no more than 10 percent of SES slots (5 U.S.C. § 3134) — specifically to prevent partisan capture of the professional civil service. EO 14317 creates Schedule G, a new unlimited class of non-career "policy-making or policy-advocating" positions that do not count against that statutory ceiling. By establishing a parallel category outside the law Congress wrote, the executive gains the power to install unlimited political loyalists in senior agency roles without legislative authorization — the precise outcome the statute was designed to prevent.

Sources

  1. Trump creates Schedule G to add more political appointees to agencies top ranks — Government Executive primary accessed June 24, 2026
  2. Creating Schedule G in the Excepted Service — The White House primary accessed June 24, 2026
  3. Trump's Schedule G broadens scope for agencies to hire political appointees — Federal News Network secondary accessed June 24, 2026
  4. Trump Administration Creates New Schedule G to Reward Political Lackeys and Undercut Civil Service Protections — National Federation of Federal Employees secondary accessed June 24, 2026

See also