H.R. 492 Congress 119 session

Saving the Civil Service Act

Saving the Civil Service Act This bill generally prohibits changes to the classification of positions in the competitive service and excepted service unless certain conditions are met. (Competitive service positions are subject to competitive examination while excepted service positions are appointed under one of five schedules. Competitive service positions have notice and appeal requirements for adverse actions that are not applicable to most excepted positions, including those of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character under Schedule C.) On October 21, 2020, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that placed executive agency positions that are of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character, and that are not normally subject to change as a result of a presidential transition, under a new Schedule F in the excepted service. The order was subsequently revoked by President Joe Biden. The bill prohibits executive agency positions in the competitive service from being placed in the excepted service, unless such positions are placed in a schedule in the excepted service as in effect on September 30, 2020. The bill also prohibits positions in the excepted service from being placed in any schedule other than the aforementioned schedules. Additionally, agencies may not (1) transfer occupied positions from the competitive or excepted service into Schedule C without the consent of the Office of Personnel Management, or (2) transfer employees in the excepted service to another schedule or transfer employees in the competitive service to the excepted service without employee consent. 

Status

  1. Introduced
  2. Committee
  3. Floor vote
  4. Passed
  5. Enacted

In committee — last recorded action September 16, 2025

ASSUMING FIRST SPONSORSHIP - Mr. Walkinshaw asked unanimous consent that he may hereafter be considered as the first sponsor of H.R. 492, a bill originally introduced by Representative Connolly, for the purpose of adding cosponsors and requesting reprintings pursuant to clause 7 of rule XII. Agreed to without objection.

Passage likelihood

11% Lower than most bills at this stage

This is an estimate, not a guarantee. It is computed from the signals listed below and nothing else. It does not account for leadership priorities, floor scheduling, or negotiations that are not in the public record.

What the estimate is based on

  • Historical base rate About 4% of introduced federal bills are enacted.
  • Current stage Referred to committee.
  • Cosponsors 108 cosponsors.
  • Bipartisan cosponsorship Cosponsors come from 2 parties.
  • Days without action No recorded action in 339 days.

State-level impact

State-level impact data is not available for this bill. The source text does not contain a per-state funding formula or scored breakdown, so no figures are shown.

Official actions

  1. ASSUMING FIRST SPONSORSHIP - Mr. Walkinshaw asked unanimous consent that he may hereafter be considered as the first sponsor of H.R. 492, a bill originally introduced by Representative Connolly, for the purpose of adding cosponsors and requesting reprintings pursuant to clause 7 of rule XII. Agreed to without objection.
  2. Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
  3. Introduced in House
  4. Introduced in House
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