Power Grab/Fire anyone who can stop him
OPM proposes rules widening Schedule Policy/Career as a second round of conversions is readied
The proposed rule would let student and recent-graduate hires be converted directly into the at-will schedule, after about 8,000 positions moved in June 2026.
What happened
On September 18, 2026, the Office of Personnel Management proposed a rule to bring civil-service regulations into line with Schedules E, Policy/Career and G. It would let hires from the Pathways programs for students and recent graduates be converted directly into the at-will Policy/Career schedule. Comments close November 17.
OPM Director Scott Kupor has said a second list of positions, focused on GS-13 and GS-14 grades, would reach the White House by the end of September. The June 2026 order moved the first roughly 8,000 positions, and Kupor calls the process “ongoing.” Federal job postings are already being advertised as Policy/Career.
The Merit Systems Protection Board has said it will not hear appeals of conversions. Policy/Career, the second-term successor to Schedule F, makes the people in it removable at will, and employees moved into it will have no tribunal to hear them.
Who benefited
The White House and political appointees gain the ability to remove mid-level career officials without cause or appeal. Those officials are the auditors, lawyers, scientists and analysts who say no, and replacements can be hired into the same at-will status from the start.
Who wanted something
OPM wants Pathways hires to enter the at-will schedule directly, so they never acquire civil-service protections in the first place. The proposed rule is its vehicle, and Kupor’s second conversion list is the next round it is preparing for the White House.
Who lost out
Career civil servants in the next round will learn from a job posting or a list that their protections are gone, with no tribunal to hear them. The merit system, which the rule turns from the default into an exception, loses with them.
Why it matters
The record stops at the first 8,000 positions, and this rule is the groundwork for the second round and every round after. The appeals board is already closed to challenges. A rule is slower than a firing and more durable.
Sources Federal Register (OPM) (primary)Government ExecutiveFedWeek