Response Center

This order conditions federal funding on ending school-based COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

This order directs the Secretary of Education to create guidelines for all schools, educational agencies, and universities to end COVID-19 vaccination requirements for in-person education. This will likely only apply to a very small number of schools and universities, because most schools that have a COVID-19 vaccine mandate apply it only to staff and not to students. But it will endanger populations most vulnerable to COVID-19 and its documented possible complications, such as students, teachers, and the people in their communities with underlying medical conditions. This also encourages anti-vaccine movements endangering public health writ large and potentially lays the groundwork for broader assaults on school vaccine mandates.

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.

This order designates more than one million federal workers as excluded from the legal protections that govern federal employee union negotiations.

Citing narrow "national security" exemptions from labor laws governing the relationship between federal employee unions and the government, this sweeping Executive Order claims to exempt the majority of federal government employees from laws protecting their right to collectively bargain with their employers. A Fact Sheet issued by the White House in conjunction with this order makes clear that this is retaliation for the unions' challenges to the Trump Administration's lawlessness, including its attempts to force swaths of career civil servants out of their roles. The order exempts federal law enforcement unions, which historically have supported President Trump and his policies.

This order seeks to illegally revoke the federal funding for NPR and PBS because of the networks' allegedly biased news coverage.

President Trump signed an Executive Order directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to "cease federal funding for NPR and PBS" because of the networks' alleged ideological bias. President Trump does not have the power to do so because the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is not a government agency under the President's authority and the funds have been appropriated by Congress. PBS and NPR are the nation's primary public broadcasters, and through educational and news content, they reach the vast majority of the country free of charge. These attacks jeopardize the independence of these essential institutions, the ability of all Americans to access high-quality news free of charge, and chill the conduct of media organizations of all types across the country.

The Trump Administration withheld funds that Congress appropriated for aiding democracy world-wide.

In late January, the Trump Administration blocked the National Endowment for Democracy from accessing money administered by the Department of State in an account held by the Department of the Treasury. The National Endowment for Democracy's funding is separate from the foreign aid funding the Trump Administration has tried to pause by executive order. The inability of the National Endowment for Democracy to access its funding from Congress has forced it to stop funding millions of dollars of projects strengthening democratic institutions around the world. Its grantees have had to end their work building a free press, documenting human rights abuses, combatting corruption, and ensuring fair elections in dozens of countries. This funding pause will diminish efforts to protect and promote democracy worldwide.