Saving the Civil Service Act
Key claim: The Saving the Civil Service Act (HR492) would prohibit executive agencies from reclassifying competitive or excepted service positions into new schedules (such as Schedule F) without meeting specific conditions and employee consent requirements.
Abstract
(HR492 · 119th Congress) Saving the Civil Service Act This bill generally prohibits changes to the classification of positions in the competitive service and excepted service unless certain conditions are met. (Competitive service positions are subject to competitive examination while excepted service positions are appointed under one of five schedules. Competitive service positions have notice and appeal requirements for adverse actions that are not applicable to most excepted positions, including those of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character under Schedule C.) On October 21, 2020, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that placed executive agency positions that are of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character, and that are not normally subject to change as a result of a presidential transition, under a new Schedule F in the excepted service. The order was subsequently revoked by President Joe Biden. The bill prohibits executive agency positions in the competitive service from being placed in the excepted service, unless such positions are placed in a schedule in the excepted service as in effect on September 30, 2020. The bill also prohibits positions in the excepted service from being placed in any schedule other than the aforementioned schedules. Additionally, agencies may not (1) transfer occupied positions from the competitive or excepted service into Schedule C without the consent of the Office of Personnel Management, or (2) transfer employees in the excepted service to another schedule or transfer employees in the competitive service to the excepted service without employee consent. Latest action (2025-09-16): ASSUMING FIRST SPONSORSHIP - Mr. Walkinshaw asked unanimous consent that he may hereafter be considered as the first sponsor of H.R. 492, a bill originally introduced by Representative Connolly, for the purpose of adding cosponsors and requesting reprintings pursuant to clause 7 of rule XII. Agreed to without objection.
Why this matters
Schedule F-style reclassification remains one of the most contested levers over the federal workforce, converting career civil servants into at-will employees and bypassing merit-system due process. HR492 represents a legislative attempt to lock in existing protections against such reclassification, and its trajectory signals how Congress may respond to executive-branch workforce restructuring. The bill’s fate matters for the balance between political control of agencies and career workforce stability.