Project 2025 Tracker / What’s done, what’s next

1. White House Office · Minor

Install cadres of political staff just below senior levels in departments and agencies

Partially done

33 1. White House Office

“it is necessary to ensure that departments and agencies have robust cadres of political staff just below senior levels in the event of unexpected vacancies.”

What has happened

  1. Partially done

    The vehicle exists. Executive Order 14317 created Schedule G in the excepted service for noncareer positions of a policy-making or policy-advocating character — the layer the Quote is describing, sitting below Senate-confirmed leadership and above the career service — on the reasoning that no existing schedule covered it. Executive Order 14356 then left Schedule C and Schedule G outside the standing bar on filling federal vacancies, so these are the posts agencies remain free to fill. Partial and not done because the order was written in the first instance for the Department of Veterans Affairs, OPM's implementing regulations under 5 CFR part 213 had not appeared in the Federal Register by the close of the window, and no allowlisted source counts the sub-senior political appointments actually made across departments and agencies.

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

Researched 2026-08-27, with Chapter 1’s other White House asks.

  • Executive Order 14317 (2025-07-17), read in full on govinfo.gov. Its section 1 names the gap exactly: Schedule C covers confidential or policy-determining positions and Schedule Policy/Career covers career policy positions, but “there is, however, no excepted service schedule for noncareer positions of a policy-making or policy-advocating character.” Schedule G fills it. Section 5(b) applies it in the first instance to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
  • Executive Order 14356 (2025-10-15) then exempted Schedule C and Schedule G positions from the standing hiring restriction, so these are the posts agencies may still fill freely.
  • What is not on the record: any count of Schedule G appointments made, or any government-wide instruction to build out sub-senior political cadres in every agency. OPM’s implementing regulations for Schedule G under 5 CFR part 213 were directed by section 5(a) but do not appear in the Federal Register records we keep and search, through 2026-08-28.
Action
appoint
Object
sub-senior political staff in departments and agencies
ID
16