Response Center

This order reconstitutes the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology to focus on maintaining "unquestioned and unchallenged global technological dominance."

The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) was first convened by President George W. Bush to provide advice to the President on science policy. Instead of prioritizing "evidence-based decisions guided by the best available science and data," like previous versions of the PCAST, President Trump's PCAST is directed to ensure that the United States maintains "unquestioned and unchallenged global technological dominance." While this might sound reasonable in the abstract, this order is an attempt to insert right-wing ideology into the PCAST. The order asserts, without basis, that the pursuit of scientific truth in America is now under threat from "ideological dogmas that prioritize group identity over individual merit, enforce conformity at the expense of innovative ideas, and inject politics into the heart of the scientific method." Trump's PCAST will be co-chaired by Elon Musk, creating an additional conflict of interest for Musk.

The memo gave most civil servants 9 days to resign from their jobs and supposedly be paid through September 2025, or face the possibility of losing their jobs without compensation.

On January 28, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a memo that gave most civil servants until February 6 to resign from their jobs and supposedly be paid through September 2025, or face the possibility of losing their jobs without compensation. The memo followed a return-to-office directive that had already put many federal workers in difficult positions and indicated that most of the federal government would be downsized through restructurings, realignments, reductions in force, furloughs, and reclassification to at-will employment status. In short, the offer to people who deliver vital programs and protections for the American people was stark: if you don't take this deal, you may lose your job with nothing. After issuing an initial temporary restraining order that paused the deadline for civil servants to respond, a district court judge allowed the program to proceed, and OPM, without notice or warning to any federal workers, terminated the program on February 12.

This order directs federal agencies to interpret and enforce federal laws in ways known to prevent eligible citizens from voting.

In this Executive Order, the President directs the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to require certain documents (such as a birth certificate or U.S. passport) as proof of U.S. citizenship for federal elections. It directs the State Department, Department of Homeland Security, and Elon Musk's DOGE to identify "unqualified" voters, and for certain other federal agencies to "assess" a voter's citizenship before providing a voter registration form to applicants for public assistance. The order also directs the Attorney General to enforce voting laws to limit states from using absentee or mail-in ballots and directs the EAC to condition federal funding to pressure states to adopt a uniform federal standard as to what constitutes a vote. It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, and as a result, noncitizen voting is nearly nonexistent. However, because most Americans don't have passports and many adult women don't have citizenship documents that match their name if they changed their name after marriage, this Executive Order would functionally deny many citizens their right to vote. Several parts of this order were preliminarily enjoined on April 24, 2025, in League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) v. Executive Office of the President, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

This order directs the Secretary of Education to unlawfully disqualify non-profits from student loan forgiveness programs if the administration disagrees with their missions.

This Executive Order directs the Secretary of Education to propose revisions to the bipartisan Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PLSF) program that would wrongfully target groups with which the administration disagrees. PSLF was established by Congress in 2007 to encourage people to work in lower-paying nonprofit and government jobs by forgiving their remaining federal student loans after they made 10 years of repayments over 10 years of service in those jobs. The Executive Order unlawfully singles out for exclusion from this program organizations that it claims have "a substantial illegal purpose," which its broad and vague definition could include organizations supporting immigrants, transgender children, and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

This order calls for severe reductions in the size of seven independent federal agencies that provide valuable education, housing, and business development grants

The Trump Administration has called for cuts to more small government agencies, including the United States Agency for Global Media, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, and the Minority Business Development Agency. These agencies provide grants to small businesses and nonprofits working across America. They are chartered by Congress and receive funding that was appropriated by Congress. This action threatens the ability of these agencies to support independent journalism, fund libraries and museums, promote the growth of small businesses, research global mews developments, and end homelessness.

Citing the fact that Maine allows trans girls to play on girls sports teams, the USDA Secretary froze the distribution of federal funds used to feed Maine schoolchildren.

On April 2, 2025, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins sent a letter to Maine Governor Janet Mills, explaining that she was freezing Maine's federal funding for certain administrative and technological functions in schools because she had concluded, without the legally required procedures, that Maine was violating Title IX by allowing trans girls to play on girls' sports teams. Although the letter claimed that the funding freeze would not affect federal feeding programs or direct assistance to Mainers, Maine alleged in a subsequent lawsuit against USDA that the Maine Department of Education's Child Nutrition Program was unable to access several sources of federal funds following the letter. The district court quickly granted a Temporary Restraining Order requiring USDA to resume funding, and the case settled on May 3 after USDA agreed not to interfere with Maine's access to federal funds without first following all legally required procedures.