President Donald Trump issued an executive order (EO) late on Feb. 19 that focuses the administration on finding ways to cut from the Federal government’s “non-statutory” activities – or those not specifically described in laws approved by Congress – along with a host of other functions that the administration considers to be detrimental to the country.
Federal agency leaders are being given 60 days to work with their Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) teams and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to scour the government for those kinds of programs and activities.
The new EO – much like the White House’s Feb. 11 order paving the way for layoffs across the government – carves out broad exemptions for government activities “related to a military, national security, homeland security, foreign affairs, or immigration-related function of the United States,” along with “any matter pertaining to the executive branch’s management of its employees.”
“It is the policy of my Administration to focus the executive branch’s limited enforcement resources on regulations squarely authorized by constitutional Federal statutes, and to commence the deconstruction of the overbearing and burdensome administrative state,” states President Trump’s order – titled “Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Deregulatory Initiative.”
“Ending Federal overreach and restoring the constitutional separation of powers is a priority of my Administration,” the order says.
The order’s language, however, appears to leave very wide latitude for the administration to define government activities not backed up by congressional statutes, and a host of other activities that it does not favor.
Under the 60-day deadline, agency heads are being instructed to identify the following classes of regulations:
- “(i) unconstitutional regulations and regulations that raise serious constitutional difficulties, such as exceeding the scope of the power vested in the Federal Government by the Constitution;
- (ii) regulations that are based on unlawful delegations of legislative power;
- (iii) regulations that are based on anything other than the best reading of the underlying statutory authority or prohibition;
- (iv) regulations that implicate matters of social, political, or economic significance that are not authorized by clear statutory authority;
- (v) regulations that impose significant costs upon private parties that are not outweighed by public benefits;
- (vi) regulations that harm the national interest by significantly and unjustifiably impeding technological innovation, infrastructure development, disaster response, inflation reduction, research and development, economic development, energy production, land use, and foreign policy objectives; and
- (vii) regulations that impose undue burdens on small business and impede private enterprise and entrepreneurship.”
By the end of the 60-day review period, agencies will turn over all of the regulations they identified to OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), and that office will work with agency heads “to develop a Unified Regulatory Agenda that seeks to rescind or modify these regulations, as appropriate.”
Beyond identifying and possibly getting rid of regulations it does not favor, the EO also indicates that other regulations may be “deprioritized” at the Federal agency level.
“Subject to their paramount obligation to discharge their legal obligations, protect public safety, and advance the national interest, agencies shall preserve their limited enforcement resources by generally de-prioritizing actions to enforce regulations that are based on anything other than the best reading of a statute and de-prioritizing actions to enforce regulations that go beyond the powers vested in the Federal Government by the Constitution,” the EO says.
Agencies may also act to end current civil or criminal enforcement proceedings stemming from regulations that have fallen out of favor with the administration.
A separate order issued on Feb. 19 and titled “Commencing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy” may provide a taste of what’s to come from the DOGE initiative EO.
The White House says the second order aims to continue reducing “Federal bureaucracy and waste,” and orders the elimination of “non-statutory components and functions” of a list of government organizations “to the maximum extent possible.”
As a result, those organizations “shall reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law,” the order says.
Those organizations include:
- The Presidio Trust, which helps to manage the Presidio park and former U.S. Army post in San Francisco;
- The Inter-American Foundation, which provides grant support to Latin American and Caribbean groups and non-governmental agencies;
- The United States African Development Foundation; and
- The United States Institute of Peace.
In connection with those moves, the White House said it revoked a presidential memorandum signed by President Kennedy in 1961 to create greater coordination of the government’s regional and field activities.
In addition, the order instructs several Federal agencies to terminate some existing advisory councils. Those include instructions for:
- The U.S. Agency for International Development to terminate the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid;
- The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to terminate the Academic Research Council and the Credit Union Advisory Council;
- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to terminate the Community Bank Advisory Council;
- The Department of Health and Human Services to terminate the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Long COVID; and
- The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to terminate the Health Equity Advisory Committee.
The White House said those actions aim to “further decrease the size of the Federal Government to enhance accountability, reduce waste, and promote innovation.”
