WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., joined his colleagues in a letter to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) calling out its recent memo encouraging agencies to ignore the recommendations of agency HR offices and offer the maximum available salary of $195,200 to Schedule C political appointees.

Senators demanded information about the Trump administration’s hiring of Schedule C political appointees, their salaries, the number of appointees making the maximum salary, justification for sidestepping HR recommendations and vetting processes, any guardrails implemented to prevent cronyism, and the costs to taxpayers.

“You issued a memo to the heads and acting heads of departments and agencies encouraging them to offer the maximum available salary to political appointees and sidestep the regular hiring process,” wrote the senators. “This memo, coupled with the administration’s widespread layoffs of career government workers who have loyally served in the executive branch for presidents of both political parties, makes clear your intention: fire dedicated public servants in droves, cut essential government services, and use taxpayer dollars to instead hire underqualified and overpaid political cronies.”

“While this administration pushes out scores of public servants and guts entire agencies, often in defiance of Congress and federal law, your memo encourages agencies to help install loyalists who have not been properly vetted, in critically important positions — and to pay them at the highest possible rate. As dedicated career public servants are receiving notice that they have been fired, the administration is offering higher pay for those hired under Schedule C,” they continued.

“Per your memo, agencies may consider setting initial salaries at up to $195,200, almost five times the median income for individuals in the U.S.,” wrote the lawmakers.

The full letter is available online.