Matthew Foldi:

The Biden administration is bracing for a second Trump term by rolling out a rule that would complicate Donald Trump’s pledge to fire tens of thousands of federal workers if he wins in November. The new rule is also a huge gift to the public-sector unions that Joe Biden needs firmly in his corner.

The latest edict, issued by the US Office of Personnel Management, is an almost direct response to Trump’s stated plans to purge the bureaucracy. That’s not how the OPM is framing it, of course; instead, OPM deputy director Rob Shriver said it “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.”

Those political beliefs caused never-ending ire in the Trump years, of course. One political appointee in the Trump administration relayed a story to The Spectator about how when his boss, a cabinet secretary, needed to have his color printer ink restored during the Covid-19 pandemic, he was stymied by career employees, who told him that the office needed to be vacated for ten days before they felt safe showing up to work. Despite several stages of escalation, the most they were willing to do was turn on a different printer on another level in the building. “There’s a career mindset that they were here before you and will outlast you,” he said.

While this new rule would complicate Trump’s proposed plan — dubbed “Schedule F” — it would ultimately be more of a road bump than a full-blown road closure. It can be overturned almost immediately, since it does not carry the weight of actual legislation.

“Schedule F is an important tool for holding the federal bureaucracy accountable. It is functionally impossible to dismiss a tenured federal bureaucrat for poor performance or misconduct,” James Sherk told The Spectator.

Sherk served on Trump’s domestic policy council and authored the expansive executive order, signed by Trump and immediately rescinded by Biden, that would allow an incoming Trump administration to ax thousands of federal workers who they see as opposing their policies — a well-documented phenomenon that dogged the Trump team during his first term.

“During the Trump administration a lot of career employees acted like they — not elected officials — set policy. Many bureaucrats refused to enforce laws they disliked or slow-walked implementing policies they opposed. Such behavior undermines democracy. Voters — through their elected representatives — must set policy, not unelected bureaucrats,” Sherk said.