President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday making it easier to fire approximately 8,000 high-ranking federal workers as part of a broader effort to overhaul the federal workforce. The order strips job protections from some of the best-paid government employees, earning up to nearly $200,000 a year, who are deemed to be influencing government policy. These career civil servants are effectively reclassified as at-will employees who can be fired for any reason or without due process.
Scott Kupor, director of the Office of Personnel Management, stated that the administration requires employees who are willing and able to carry out lawful orders and policy directives to achieve policy priorities. Kupor noted that the mechanism allows for the removal of those who allow political views to interfere with their duties. This move reflects Trump's belief that his first-term agenda was hampered by career federal workers who opposed his policies, and it persists in efforts to discipline employees he sees as undermining his political goals.
While the current order affects 8,000 workers, senior administration officials noted that Trump could expand the group, although there are no immediate plans to do so, despite a ceiling estimate of up to 50,000 workers. The move has faced legal and political pushback, with federal worker unions and their allies filing lawsuits in January. These lawsuits allege that the policy is an unlawful attempt to dismantle the nonpartisan civil service. Federal judges have paused the litigation while the administration finalized the changes.