Major Federal agencies appear to be taking a go-slow approach to making decisions both major and minor while the new Trump administration and its leadership ranks for agencies take time to settle in.
Earlier this week, according to reporting from the Associated Press, the new acting head of the Department of Health and Human Services told agency leaders to put an “immediate pause” on the public release of a host of regular announcements – including things like press releases, regulations, and official guidance – for the time being until new agency leadership was in place to approve them.
The impact of that slowdown on official business was corroborated on Jan. 22 when tech trade group AFCEA Bethesda said it postponed its Health IT Summit event set for next week because government speakers lined up for the event were withdrawing their commitments to participate.
“Federal health agencies have been instructed to pause all external communications, so in the best interest of our sponsors and attendees we have decided to postpone next week’s event until a later date in 2025,” the group said.
The cautious guidance to agencies appears to be widespread.
For instance, the acting head of the Department of Energy is telling agency leaders to take a go-slow approach to major agency decisions while the new administration assumes leadership control over agencies.
In a Jan. 20 memo to heads of departmental elements signed off on by acting DoE Secretary Ingrid Kolb and viewed by MeriTalk, the agency put the near-term damper on a wide range of normal business – including contracting – and explained why.
“As we navigate through this transition period for a new administration within the Department of Energy, it is imperative to ensure a deliberate approach to the administration’s programmatic and administrative policies and priorities,” the Energy Department memo says.
“To that end effective immediately and until further notice, prior to any actions or decisions on all herein described activities, a review under varying criteria will be undertaken to ensure all such actions are consistent with current administration policies and priorities, including budget priorities,” the memo reads.
“The broad spectrum of actions include, but are not limited to personnel actions, awarding of grants, loans, funding opportunities and cost sharing agreements, contracting, procurement announcements and actions, rulings, decisions or other actions on any applications, enforcement action or settlements of any contested matter, submissions to the Federal Register for publication and the publication or announcement of reports, studies, congressional correspondence and public statements,” the memo says.
“The reviews are necessary to facilitate a comprehensive review of the department’s ongoing activities and to align these efforts with congressional authorizations and the administration’s priorities to ensure that resources are allocated efficiently and that the department’s initiatives are in line with the statutory mission of DOE and the priorities of the administration,” it adds.
Portions of the Energy Department memo appear to fall in line with a Jan. 20 White House order for a “regulatory freeze pending review.”
The order from President Donald Trump to all executive departments and agencies prohibits agencies from proposing or issuing “any rule in any manner” until “a department or agency head appointed or designated by the President after noon on January 20, 2025, reviews and approves the rule.”
The order also tells agencies to consider postponing rules already in the pipeline for a 60-day period, and if appropriate consider “opening a comment period to allow interested parties to provide comments about issues of fact, law, and policy raised by the rules postponed under this memorandum, and consider reevaluating pending petitions involving such rules.”
The Office of Management and Budget is overseeing the implementation of the regulatory freeze order.
