President Biden finalized new civil service protections on Thursday aimed at preventing the sort of bureaucratic bloodbath former President Donald Trump has envisioned.
Mr. Biden said he is insulating bureaucrats from political pressures, giving them space to make professional judgments without having to worry about whether they will lose their jobs. Critics said he’s building walls around the deep state, hoping it can thwart any future Republican president who wants to pursue reforms.
“Day in and day out, career civil servants provide the expertise and continuity necessary for our democracy to function,” Mr. Biden said. “This rule is a step toward combatting corruption and partisan interference to ensure civil servants are able to focus on the most important task at hand: delivering for the American people.”
The new rules shield most federal workers from being reclassified against their will and create an appeals process for those who do get shifted.
The target of the rules is Mr. Trump, who late in his administration issued an executive order that could have allowed thousands of career civil service positions to be reclassified, making it easier to fire them.
Known as Schedule F, the order was aimed at positions that create policy. Trump officials said those jobs ought to be responsive to the president.
In his executive order Mr. Trump said it had become too difficult to remove “poorly performing employees” who fell under civil service protections, so reclassifying them was a way to get better results out of the bureaucracy.
Mr. Biden revoked Schedule F when he took office but figures Mr. Trump had been eyeing a revival should the Republican win the White House in November.