Beltway Buzz, January 24, 2025

The Trump Administration 2.0. President Donald Trump began his second term in office this week, and as expected, began with a flurry of actions and executive orders (EOs). Below is a roundup of the key actions President Trump took during this first week.

President Trump’s Executive Order Guts OFCCP, Targets Private-Sector DEI

• Rescission of EO 11246. On January 21, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order, entitled, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” The EO makes seismic changes to federal contracting employment policy by revoking Executive Order 11246, issued in 1965, that establishes nondiscrimination and affirmative action obligations for federal contractors. President Trump’s EO further prohibits the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) from promoting diversity, requiring contractors to take “affirmative action” and “[a]llowing or encouraging Federal contractors and subcontractors to engage in workforce balancing based on race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion, or national origin.”

• Private-Sector DEI Enforcement. Other aspects of the EO directly target diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in the private sector. For example:
  • The EO requires each federal contractor “to certify that it does not operate any programs promoting DEI that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws.”
  • The EO requires the U.S. attorney general to develop a strategic enforcement plan identifying “up to nine potential civil compliance investigations of publicly traded corporations, large non-profit corporations or associations, foundations with assets of 500 million dollars or more, State and local bar and medical associations, and institutions of higher education with endowments over 1 billion dollars.”

• What’s Left? The EO does not address federal contractors’ obligations under the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

• President Trump and most Republicans view DEI efforts with significant skepticism, so it was no surprise that President Trump issued an executive order, entitled, “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” on his first day back in the White House.

• The EO calls for “the termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.” (Emphasis added.)

• The EO does not directly implicate DEI programs operated by federal contractors. However, the EO does eliminate “DEI or DEIA performance requirements for employees, contractors, or grantees” and requires agencies to submit to the Office of Management and Budget the names of “Federal contractors who have provided DEI training or DEI training materials to agency or department employees.”

More Federal Contractor Issues

• President Trump rescinded Executive Order 14055 of November 18, 2021 (“Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Under Service Contracts”). The EO requires that successor federal contractors offer employment to employees employed under the predecessor contract. This is a bit of déjà vu for President Trump, as he rescinded the same executive order on October 31, 2021. Indeed, this issue has been going back and forth in Washington, D.C., for at least thirty years.

• In a housekeeping measure, President Trump revoked Executive Order 14069 of March 15, 2022 (“Advancing Economy, Efficiency, and Effectiveness in Federal Contracting by Promoting Pay Equity and Transparency”). The proposed rule to implement the EO was rescinded on January 8, 2025.

EO Relating to Gender and Employment Policy

• President Trump issued an executive order, entitled, “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government.” According to the EO, “It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female” and “the Executive Branch will enforce all sex-protective laws to promote this reality.”

• Regarding enforcement of federal employment laws, the EO directs agencies to use “give the terms ‘sex’, ‘male’, ‘female’, ‘men’, ‘women’, ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ the meanings set forth in section 2 of this order when interpreting or applying statutes, regulations, or guidance and in all other official agency business, documents, and communications.” (Emphasis added.)

• The EO further instructs the attorney general to issue guidance (1) “to ensure the freedom to express the binary nature of sex and the right to single-sex spaces in workplaces and federally funded entities covered by the Civil Rights Act of 1964” (e.g., bathrooms, locker rooms, etc.); and (2) addressing what the Trump administration believes is the misapplication of the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020) beyond the employment context.

• The EO directs the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to rescind—in its entirety or the relevant provisions—its “Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace” (April 29, 2024). With Democrats in the majority at the Commission (see below) this recission is unlikely to happen.

Immigration

• As expected, immigration-related executive orders featured prominently this week. In addition to addressing unlawful immigration and the situation at the Southern border, several of President Trump’s actions will have a direct impact on employment-based immigration. Yvonne Toy, Marissa E. Cwik, Christina M. Kelley, and Ashley Urquijo have the details on President Trump’s executive orders relating to birthright citizenship, “Enhanced Vetting and Screening,” and other issues. (A federal judge in Washington has already blocked the implementation of the birthright citizenship executive order for fourteen days, describing it as “blatantly constitutional.” Ashley Urquijo, Brittani B. Holland, and Rosa M. Corriveau have additional details.)

• In addition to these EOs, President Trump issued an order rescinding Executive Order 14110 of October 30, 2023 (“Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence”). That EO encouraged multiple agencies, including the U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Department of State, to streamline their processes to make it easier for experts in artificial intelligence (AI) or other emerging technologies to work in the United States. These initiatives, such as the potential updating of Schedule A of the permanent labor certification process, are unlikely to move forward in the new administration.

Regulatory Orders

• Regulatory Freeze Pending Review. This EO is a common practice for new administrations. It immediately pauses any pending or proposed rules, orders the withdrawal of rules sent to, but not published in, the Federal Register, and orders a sixty-day postponement of the effective date of rules that have been published but have not gone into effect.

• Rulemaking Transparency. On October 19, 2019, President Trump issued two executive orders (EO 13891, Promoting the Rule of Law Through Improved Agency Guidance Documents, and EO 13892, Promoting the Rule of Law Through Transparency and Fairness in Civil Administrative Enforcement and Adjudication). The EOs state that agency guidance documents should not form the basis of enforcement actions and that agencies should solicit public feedback prior to issuing such guidance documents. These EOs were rescinded by President Biden on his first day in office. This week, President Trump rescinded the rescission, setting the stage for more transparency in agency guidance documents.

Personnel Decisions

• National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Perhaps the biggest news about the Board is that, as of this writing, General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo is still employed. It was widely believed that firing General Counsel Abruzzo was a top priority during President Trump’s first week. President Trump named Marvin Kaplan chair of the NLRB. The Board currently has a 2–1 Democratic majority with two vacant seats. Despite being designated as chair, Kaplan will not have the votes to reverse recent Board decisions until the two vacancies are filled.

• EEOC. President Trump named Andrea Lucas chair of the EEOC. The EEOC currently has a 3–1 Democratic majority that it will enjoy at least until July 2026, when Chair Jocelyn Samuels’s term expires.

The First January Inauguration. On January 20, 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn in as President of the United States. It was Roosevelt’s second inauguration, but the first inauguration of a president to occur in January. All previous inaugurations (with the exception of George Washington) occurred on March 4. The U.S. Congress had set this date as Inauguration Day because it was the day that the U.S. government began operations in 1789 following the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. March 4 was also the date on which new congressional sessions commenced.

This created a very long four-month lame-duck period between November elections and the beginning of a new Congress and new administration. The problems associated with this extended lame-duck period became more pronounced with Roosevelt’s first inauguration—he had to wait four months before he and the 73rd Congress could address the Great Depression. The 20th Amendment—adopted in January 1933 and effective as of October 15, 1933—addressed this lame-duck problem by rescheduling Inauguration Day for January 20 and the commencement of Congress on January 3.