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When Schedule F was brought up toward the end of Trump’s term, it was v alarming. In 2024, w/a structure & policy blueprint (w/ideas beyond Schedule F)in which to implement - feels like it would be democracy’s death by a thousand cuts. “Beware the Boring & Bureaucratic” is exactly right!

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Great piece on a couple of really important issues that unfortunately tend to make people zone out.

The proposal that the President can, for essentially any reason, withhold funds that have been duly approved by Congress and signed into law *by the President* would be a big shift toward an imperial presidency. The Constitution gave Congress the power of the purse so money decisions would be closer to the people through their elected representatives. Your piece gives good examples of how broad impoundment power would lead to abuse of presidential power.

The schedule F proposal hasn’t received the attention it deserves. The plan would replace civil servants who have expertise with the President’s political loyalists. I worked at the Office of Management and Budget for several years as a civil servant. We took pride in serving the President well - regardless of party. The bureaucratic term for this was “neutral competence.”

While I was there, we served Presidents Reagan, H.W. Bush, and Clinton with equal effort. Politics was handled by their political appointees at the top. Our job was to implement their policies in a professional and legal manner. Schedule F would upend that.

Trump would have reclassified 68% of OMB employees to schedule F if he had been reelected. OMB has huge power over Executive Branch agency budgets and regulations. Subject matter experts should fill these roles, not political hacks.

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