President Trump signed an executive order placing thousands of federal employees into a new classification (Schedule Policy/Career), stripping them of their civil service protections.

Why it’s important: This makes it easier for agencies to fire career staff and makes them more vulnerable to political pressure.

Experts say this will politicize science and health agencies that have traditionally operated with a level of autonomy that has allowed expert civil servants to work without political interference.
There are concerns that research priorities will shift every administration, creating problems for research projects and clinical trials, which do not operate on 4- or 8-year cycles.
It will also give the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) latitude to make further reductions in staff after cutting thousands last year.

The details: Close to 8,000 positions across government will be moved into Schedule Policy/Career. That includes 400 job titles within HHS.

NIH: At the National Institutes of Health (NIH), positions being reclassified include many high-level officials who oversee the review and disbursement of research grants. That includes the principal deputy director and the heads of extramural research, intramural research, and the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives. Branch chiefs and division directors who oversee grant portfolios greater than $20 million will also be reclassified.
CDC: Researchers, biologists, epidemiologists, public health advisors, and health communication specialists are among those being reclassified at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
FDA: The reclassification will not impact Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reviewers assessing applications for new drugs and medical devices. But it will impact deputy division directors within medical review divisions, employees handling FDA’s budget, and advisers on public health and regulatory policy.
CMS: Supervisory health insurance specialists, who oversee federal health insurance programs, supervisory budget analysts, and communications staff are among those being reclassified at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Meanwhile: The Trump administration also released a proposal to overhaul the regulation for all federal grants.

The details: The changes would deemphasize the role of peer review, limit scientists’ ability to use federal funds to publish their research or travel to conferences, and offer political appointees more latitude to terminate grants at will. The proposal would treat peer reviews by program officers or scientists as advisory and would make political appointees do a “pre-issuance review” to ensure discretionary grants advance the president’s policy priorities. It would allow grants to be terminated if the work “no longer effectuates program goals, federal agency priorities, or the national interest.”
Why it’s important: The proposal raises concerns about political interference in publicly funded medical research and upending the research funding system.

What’s next: The staff reclassification executive order is subject to litigation in federal court, and the grants overhaul proposal is open for public comment for the next 45 days.