A new policy will make it easier for Trump to remove or discipline tens of thousands of federal workers.

The Trump administration finalized a new policy on Thursday that would strip job protections from up to 50,000 federal workers, a move that would make it easier for President Trump to remove or discipline them, in his latest effort to dismantle the federal work force.

Until now, the roughly 4,000 people appointed by the president, known as political appointees, were the only federal workers who could be fired at will. The policy issued on Thursday allows the administration to expand that number to include career employees whom the administration considers to also have policy-related roles. For these employees, any whistle-blower complaints would be handled by their agencies internally and not the independent office of special counsel as it has been in the past.

The 255-page rule did not say precisely which positions would be affected — the White House is currently reviewing the positions submitted by agencies and will ultimately decide, Scott Kupor, the director of the Office of Personnel Management, said on Thursday. In announcing the final rule, the office responded to criticism of such a move by saying that political patronage, loyalty tests and political discrimination in the federal work force were “explicitly” prohibited.

Political appointees work in positions that determine policies and promote the administration’s agenda. The White House has not responded to questions about how many of those 4,000 positions are currently filled.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/us/politics/trump-federal-workers-protections.html?smid=url-share