President Donald Trump broadly hinted today – without going into much detail – at government technology and workforce-related steps that his administration will be taking in the coming days including a partial Federal government hiring freeze that was light on specifics.
An expected flood of day-one executive orders from the new White House to implement those changes and cancel Biden administration policy had not materialized by later this afternoon.
In his inauguration speech at the U.S. Capitol, President Trump voiced broad pessimism over the state of the country over the past four years, along with unbridled optimism over changes he said his administration will bring.
On the tech-related front, the president shouted out his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) advisory group that its private-sector leaders say is aiming to cut Federal expenses, but left uncertain whether that organization would assume a more official status within the government.
“The American dream will soon be back and thriving like never before to restore competence and effectiveness to our Federal government,” the president said, adding, “My administration will establish the brand-new Department of Government Efficiency.”
President Trump also said his administration will take action to cease the government’s engagement in what he called censorship of speech.
“After years and years of illegal and unconstitutional federal efforts to restrict free expression, I will also sign an executive order to immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America,” the president said.
On vehicle technology rules, President Trump said he will “end the Green New Deal” by revoking “the electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto industry.”
“In other words, you’ll be able to buy the car of your choice,” the president said. “We will build automobiles in America again at a rate that nobody could have dreamt possible just a few years ago.”
According to reporting over the past year, Trump’s use of the term “electric vehicle mandate” relates to a Biden administration rule issued in 2024 that aims toward requiring two-thirds of cars and light trucks sold in the U.S. to be zero-emission vehicles by 2032.
The president also took a broad swipe at what appeared to be the Biden administration’s embrace of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles and practices.
“This week, I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life,” the president said, while pledging to “forge a society that is color-blind and merit-based.”
And President Trump promised to reprise – in a partial way at least – a Federal government hiring freeze of the type he instituted during his first term in 2017 but then withdrew a little more than three months later.
In a list of policy bullets published on its website, the White House said the president will “usher a Golden Age for America by reforming and improving the government bureaucracy to work for the American people.”
“He will freeze bureaucrat hiring except in essential areas to end the onslaught of useless and overpaid DEI activists buried into the Federal workforce,” the White House said.
The White also promised that President Trump will “pause burdensome and radical regulations not yet in effect that Biden announced,” and announce “an unprecedented slate of executive orders for rescission.”
“With these actions, we will begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense,” the president said during his speech today.
