H.R. 697 — End the Deep State Act

This section provides the short title of the Act as the “Enabling Necessary Discipline with the Defense of Executives’ Endeavors to Properly Staff Their Agencies with Trustworthy Employees Act” or the “End the Deep State Act”.

This section states the sense of Congress that (1) accountability is essential for all federal employees; (2) federal employees' powers are delegated by the President, to whom they must be accountable as the only elected executive branch official (other than the Vice President) directly accountable to the American people; and (3) the President and his appointees must be able to rely on federal employees in positions of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character.

This section defines the phrase “normally subject to change as a result of a Presidential transition,” for purposes of this Act, as positions whose occupants are expected to resign upon a Presidential transition (i.e., as a matter of practice) and includes all positions whose appointment requires the assent of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel.

This section requires appointments to positions of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character that are not normally subject to change as a result of a Presidential transition to be made under Schedule Policy/Career of the excepted service.

This section requires the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to list positions in Schedules A, B, C, D, E, and Policy/Career of the excepted service, including new (5) Schedule E for administrative law judge (ALJ) positions appointed under 5 U.S.C. 3105—which presides over formal agency adjudications under the Administrative Procedure Act (sections 556 and 557)—exempt from competitive service requirements and 5 C.F.R. part 302 examination and rating procedures (though subject to veteran preference as administratively feasible) and new (6) Schedule Policy/Career for career positions of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character not subject to change upon Presidential transition (also subject to veteran preference). (b) Exempts removals from Schedules A, C, D, E, and Policy/Career from Civil Service Rules and Regulations (except as required by statute; Schedule B removals of competitive-status employees remain subject to such rules). (c) Directs the OPM Director, not later than January 19, 2029, to issue regulations (including potential application of Civil Service Rule 6.3(a)) and guidance for a swift transition to these appointment processes.

This section requires the head of each executive agency (as defined in 5 U.S.C. 105, excluding the Government Accountability Office) to conduct a preliminary review by April 20, 2025, and a complete review by August 18, 2025, of agency positions covered by subchapter II of chapter 75 of title 5, U.S. Code (i.e., competitive service positions subject to adverse action procedures), followed by annual reviews thereafter. Following each review, the agency head must (1) for positions not excepted from the competitive service by statute, petition the Director of the Office of Personnel Management to recommend that the President place in a new Schedule Policy/Career any competitive service, Schedule A, Schedule B, or Schedule D positions determined to be of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character and not normally subject to change as a result of a Presidential transition; and (2) for positions excepted from the competitive service by statute, determine which qualify under the same criteria and publish those determinations in the Federal Register (designating them as Schedule Policy/Career positions for purposes of agency actions under sections 6(e) and 7 of this Act). The review requirements apply to currently existing positions and newly created positions. When conducting reviews, agency heads must give particular consideration to positions whose duties include (1) substantive participation in policy advocacy, development, or formulation (e.g., drafting regulations or guidance, or policy work in primarily policy-focused components); (2) supervision of attorneys; (3) substantial discretion in exercising agency functions; (4) handling non-public policy materials (e.g., proposed regulations, Executive orders, or deliberative process-privileged deliberations) while reporting to or working with high-level appointees or in an executive secretariat; (5) conducting collective bargaining negotiations; (6) supervising Schedule Policy/Career positions; or (7) other duties indicated by the Director. The Director must promptly recommend to the President which positions to place in Schedule Policy/Career. Each agency head must expeditiously petition the Federal Labor Relations Authority, as necessary, to exclude Schedule Policy/Career positions from collective bargaining units under 5 U.S.C. 7112(b), focusing on whether incumbents formulate, determine, or influence agency policies.

This section requires agencies to establish rules prohibiting personnel practices banned under 5 U.S.C. §2302(b)—such as discrimination based on political affiliation or retaliation for whistleblowing—with respect to employees or applicants for Schedule Policy/Career positions in the excepted service. It specifies that such employees and applicants are not required to personally or politically support the President or current administration policies but must faithfully implement those policies to the best of their ability, consistent with their constitutional oath and vesting of executive authority in the President, with failure to do so constituting grounds for dismissal.

This section directs the Director of the Office of Personnel Management to promptly amend the Civil Service Regulations to rescind changes made by the April 9, 2024, final rule entitled “Upholding Civil Service Protections and Merit System Principles” (89 Fed. Reg. 24982) that impede or affect implementation of Executive Order 13957 (i.e., Creating Schedule F in the Excepted Service, which established a new excepted service schedule for certain policy-influencing federal positions). Until those rescissions take effect (including resolution of any judicial review), it renders inoperative subpart F of 5 CFR part 302 and 5 CFR 210.102(b)(3) and (b)(4).

This section directs the Director, within 30 days of enactment and after consultation with the Executive Office of the President, to issue guidance on additional categories of positions that executive departments and agencies should consider recommending for Schedule Policy/Career.

This section revokes Executive Order 14003 of January 22, 2021 (Protecting the Federal Workforce)—which directed protections for federal employees against certain adverse actions—and terminates the force and effect of any rules, regulations, guidance, or other agency policies effectuated under that order. The section further directs the heads of executive departments and agencies to review existing agency actions relating to or arising under sections 3(e)(v) and 3(f) of the order (suspending, revising, or rescinding revisions to discipline and unacceptable performance policies) and, as soon as practicable, suspend, revise, or rescind such identified actions.

This section (1) provides a severability clause, under which the invalidity of any provision of the Act, or its application to any person or circumstance, does not affect the remainder of the Act or its application to other persons or circumstances, and (2) states that nothing in the Act limits or narrows the positions that are or may be listed in Schedule C (i.e., excepted service positions appointed by the President).