Response Center

This order calls on the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce to develop a plan to establish a sovereign wealth fund.

This order calls on the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce to develop a plan within three months to create a government-owned investment fund. The order directs the secretaries to investigate possible funding mechanisms, investment strategies, and governance models. We do not know how the fund will obtain money, as sovereign wealth funds are typically created by countries with little to no debt and which make an income from their country's natural resources. We also do not know what the plan is for the sovereign wealth fund, though President Trump suggested that it might be used to purchase TikTok. Without safeguards, sovereign wealth funds can be tools of corruption and conflicts of interest. This order is likely to continue to grow the role of the federal government in the economy, allowing Trump and his personal allies to use government money to support corporations they like at the expense of other Americans.

This order aims to eliminate all diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the military, including banning teaching so-called "divisive concepts" at military academies.

Repeating the false claim that diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives discriminate on the basis of race and sex, this order seeks to end these programs in the military (including at military academies). It directs the Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security to abolish all diversity, equity, and inclusion offices within their respective departments. It prohibits the Department of Defense and the Armed Forces from teaching about systemic racism, sexism, and gender variation, instead requiring them to teach that "America and its founding documents remain the most powerful force for good in human history." And, it orders the Secretary of Defense to conduct an internal review of past actions taken in pursuit of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

This order directs the Attorney General to find and dismantle all Biden Administration policies, guidance, and international agreements related to gun safety.

This order calls on the Attorney General to examine all Biden Administration actions related to preventing gun violence for any limitations on the ability of gun owners and manufacturers to make, purchase, carry, or use firearms however they choose. This order likely presages the rollback of Biden-era policies regulating ghost guns, expanding background checks, and providing more oversight of gun dealers. It will make it harder for America to reduce crime, drug trafficking, and deaths by firearms, including the high toll on children and the disproportionate effect on people of color.

This order threatens to defund cities and states that choose not to spend their resources on immigration enforcement, prosecute state and local officials, and cut funding to NGOs.

This memo outlines how the Department of Justice (DOJ) will be targeting states and localities that choose not to expend their resources on federal immigration enforcement, which DOJ inaccurately describes as "willfully fail[ing] to comply with ... applicable federal immigration laws." First, DOJ will require all states and localities applying for federal law enforcement grants to certify their compliance with a narrow statute that prohibits states and localities from adopting a policy that prevents state or local officials from sharing with, or receiving, from the federal government "information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual." Existing "sanctuary" policies do not violate section 1373 and adding additional conditions to DOJ grants was widely found to be unlawful in the first Trump administration. Second, the memo directs DOJ to identify and pause for 60 days all funding to organizations that "support or provide services to removable or illegal aliens," while the Department reviews the funding to determine whether to end it entirely. The memo does not acknowledge the Department's obligation to spend money appropriated by Congress for the purposes identified by Congress. Finally, the memo threatens to prosecute state and local officials who decline to engage in federal immigration enforcement under a federal conspiracy statute, a statute that criminalizes the harboring or concealing of unauthorized noncitizens, and the non-criminal section 1373.

This National Institutes of Health guidance seeks to cut the amount of "indirect costs" funding that research institutions receive for facilities, equipment, and personnel.

This guidance caps the amount of "indirect costs" funding that universities and other research institutions receive at 15% of their "direct costs" amount. Until now, scientific and medical research institutions might receive 50% or more in indirect costs funding, which supports building and laboratory maintenance, equipment upkeep costs, accounting, and researcher compensation. The guidance will severely limit the ability of universities and other grant recipients to carry out vital and cutting edge research into topics affecting human health. Small institutions, including historically Black colleges and universities, may be especially likely to shutter research initiatives if they cannot access alternate funding in their budgets to cover indirect costs. America will lose its edge as a leader in research procedures and delivering results that positively impact health outcomes globally.

This order reinstates servicemembers who refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine at the height of the pandemic.

This order directs the Secretary of Defense to allow servicemembers who refused the COVID-19 vaccine during the military's 2021-2023 mandate to seek reinstatement and backpay. The order claims that the short-lived vaccine mandate was a burden on the military, but provides no evidence. Moreover, the mandate was lifted in 2023, so these members could already have sought to re-enlist without getting vaccinated.