Note: This page includes Executive orders and Memorandums that were signed on or before January 24, 2025. It will be updated in the coming days, and kept updated to the best of my ability as time goes on..
Summary
- Made all federal workers return to the office vs any kind of working from home
- States that they will be “prioritize[ing] recruitment of individuals committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution”
- Removes all DEI practices
- States that they will be “prevent[ing] the hiring of individuals who are unwilling to defend the Constitution or to faithfully serve the Executive Branch”
- Essentially threatens federal employees to serve him or be fired
- Grants any White House personnel he wants full security clearance and access, without any vetting, for six months
- Reinstates Trumps schedule F policy, which makes federal employees easier to fire
- Freeze on the hiring of Federal civilian employees throughout the executive branch–applies to all executive departments and agencies for 90 days
- Indefinite freeze on hiring for the IRS
- Revoked Biden order that all executive branch employees take an ethics oath
- Revoked Biden order that federal employees have the right to collective bargaining
- Revoked Biden order that existing contractors have right of first refusal for new contracts
- Revoked Biden order that AmeriCorps alumni can be appointed to qualified positions, non-competitively
Memorandum: “Return to in-person work”
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/return-to-in-person-work
- Federal employees are no longer allowed to work from home
Executive Order: “Reforming the Federal hiring process and restoring merit to government service”
- States that they will be “prioritize[ing] recruitment of individuals committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution”
- Note: This is just creepy and nationalistic as fuck
- Removes all DEI practices
- Note: this essentially removes protections for hiring discrimination based on race, sex, or religion
- States that they will be “prevent[ing] the hiring of individuals who are unwilling to defend the Constitution or to faithfully serve the Executive Branch”
- Note: Also creepy and nationalistic as fuck–so they won’t be hiring anyone who isn’t a Trump supporter, basically.
- “The Federal Hiring Plan shall provide specific best practices for the human resources function in each agency, which each agency head shall implement, with advice and recommendations as appropriate from DOGE.”
- So Musk is going to be in charge of HR policies
- So Musk is going to be in charge of HR policies
Memorandum: “Restoring accountability for career senior executives”
- Note: This one is kind of really terrifying. It’s basically a “serve me or else” threat to all Federal employees and just wipes out entire swaths of existing employees.
- States that “SES officials have enormous influence over the functioning of the Federal Government, and thus the well-being of hundreds of millions of Americans. “
- “As the Constitution makes clear, and as the Supreme Court of the United States has reaffirmed, “the ‘executive Power’ — all of it — is ‘vested in a President,’ who must ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.’
- “The President’s power to remove subordinates is a core part of the Executive power vested by Article II of the Constitution and is necessary for the President to perform his duty to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” Because SES officials wield significant governmental authority, they must serve at the pleasure of the President. “
- “If career SES officials fail to faithfully fulfill their duties to advance the needs, policies, and goals of the United States, the President must be able to rectify the situation and ensure that the entire Executive Branch faithfully executes the law. For instance, SES officials who engage in unauthorized disclosure of Executive Branch deliberations, violate the constitutional rights of Americans, refuse to implement policy priorities, or perform their duties inefficiently or negligently should be held accountable. “
- The Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), shall issue SES Performance Plans for agencies to adopt
- “Each agency head shall, as necessary and appropriate and consistent with the procedural requirements of section 3395 of title 5, United States Code, reassign agency SES members to ensure their knowledge, skills, abilities, and mission assignments are optimally aligned to implement my agenda”
- Each agency head should terminate its existing Executive Resources Board (ERB), institute a new or interim ERB, and assign senior noncareer officials to chair and serve on the board as a majority alongside career members
- Each agency head should terminate its existing Performance Review Board membership and re-constitute membership with individuals committed to full enforcement of SES performance evaluations that promote and assure an SES of the highest caliber
- Any agency head who becomes aware of an SES official whose performance or continued occupancy of the position is inconsistent with either the principles reaffirmed in this Order or their duties to the Nation… shall immediately take all appropriate actions, up to and including removal of that official”
Memorandum: “Memorandum to resolve the backlog of security clearances for executive office of the president personnel”
- White House personnel can be immediately granted interim Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) security clearances, and access to all facilities and technology they may need, without any background checks or vetting, for the next six months
Executive Order: “Restoring accountability to policy-influencing positions within the federal workforce”
- Reinstatement of Prior Administration Policy. “Executive Order 13957 of October 21, 2020 (Creating Schedule F in the Excepted Service), is hereby immediately reinstated with full force and effect, subject to the amendments described in section 3 of this order; provided that the date of this order shall be treated as the date of Executive Order 13957”
- Makes it so that Trump can easily fire people in positions “of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character that are not normally subject to change as a result of a Presidential transition”
- Adds a note that “Employees in or applicants for Schedule Policy/Career positions are not required to personally or politically support the current President or the policies of the current administration. They are required to faithfully implement administration policies to the best of their ability, consistent with their constitutional oath and the vesting of executive authority solely in the President. Failure to do so is grounds for dismissal.”
- Requests additional categories of positions that could be rescheduled to be more easily fired
- Revokes Executive Order 14003 of January 22, 2021 (Protecting the Federal Workforce)
- This was Biden revoking Trump’s initial schedule F order
- It also stated that employees had the right to collective bargaining
- Recommended promoting a $15/hour minimum wage for Federal employees
Memorandum: “Hiring freeze”
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/hiring-freeze
- Freeze on the hiring of Federal civilian employees throughout the executive branch–applies to all executive departments and agencies
- No Federal civilian position that was vacant as of noon on January 20, 2025, may be filled
- No new position may be created except as otherwise provided for in this memorandum or other applicable law
- This order does not apply to military personnel of the armed forces or to positions related to immigration enforcement, national security, or public safety
- Is not meant to affect veterans’ benefits, Social Security, or Medicaid
- A plan must be submitted within 90 days to reduce the size of the Federal Government’s workforce
- Once this plan is in place, the freeze ends for all executive departments and agencies except for the IRS
- The freeze stays in effect for the IRS until the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Director of OMB and the Administrator of USDS, determines that it is in the national interest to lift the freeze
- This means the freeze for the IRS is essentially indefinite
- Contracting outside the Federal Government to circumvent the intent of this memorandum is prohibited
- So outside contractors cannot be used to fill any empty positions
Executive Order: Revoked Executive Order 13989 of January 20, 2021 (Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel)
- This required every appointee in every executive agency to take an ethics pledge, stating that they will not do things like:
- Accept gifts from lobbyists
- for a period of 2 years from the date of appointment participate in any matter on which they once lobbied
- Continue to accept and salary or cash payments from a former employer
- Accept non-cash benefits from a former employer
Executive Order: Revoked Executive Order 14003 of January 22, 2021 (Protecting the Federal Workforce)
- This was Biden revoking Trump’s initial schedule F order
- It also stated that employees had the right to collective bargaining
- Recommended promoting a $15/hour minimum wage for Federal employees
Executive Order: Revoked Executive Order 14055 of November 18, 2021 (Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Under Service Contracts)
- Stated that all agencies should ensure that service contracts include a clause stating that existing contractors who may be terminated due to a new contract have right of first refusal to take the newly contacted job
Executive Order: Revoked Executive Order 14069 of March 15, 2022 (Advancing Economy, Efficiency, and Effectiveness in Federal Contracting by Promoting Pay Equity and Transparency)
- Issues a proposed rule that will address the use of salary history in the hiring and pay-setting processes for Federal employees
- The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council shall consider issuing proposed rules to promote economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in Federal procurement by enhancing pay equity and transparency for job applicants
- shall specifically consider whether any such rules should limit or prohibit Federal contractors and subcontractors from seeking and considering information about job applicants’ and employees’ existing or past compensation when making employment decisions
Executive Order: Revoked Executive Order 14143 of January 16, 2025 (Providing for the Appointment of Alumni of AmeriCorps to the Competitive Service)
- Stated that the head of any executive department or agency may appoint people who were in AmeriCorps to qualified positions, noncompetitively
- Note: Similar to how military vets can have first priority in hiring