Key Federal Updates
This is an overview of executive orders (EOs) issued by President Trump and other Presidential actions that are related to state, county, and city governments and human services programs. Information provided below is taken directly from the administration’s EOs, memorandums, and policies.
Updated April 17, 2025
Artificial Intelligence
Removing Barriers to American Leadership in AI (January 23, 2025):
This order directs the development of an action plan to advance Artificial Intelligence (AI) in order to sustain and enhance America’s global AI leadership, economic competitiveness, and national security. It requires agency heads to review and, if necessary, suspend, revise, or rescind actions taken pursuant to specific previous executive orders to align with the new policy.
Child Welfare
National Child Abuse Prevention Month, 2025 (April 3, 2025):
This proclamation designates April 2025 as National Child Abuse Prevention Month.
Disaster/Emergency Response
Council to Assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency (January 24, 2025):
This order establishes a council to review FEMA’s effectiveness and capacity. Among other requirements, it directs the council to review “the traditional role of states and their coordination with the federal government in securing the life, liberty, and property of their citizens in preparation for, during, and after disasters” and conduct “an evaluation of whether FEMA can serve its functions as a support agency, providing supplemental federal assistance to the states rather than supplanting state control of disaster relief; and recommend improvements to ensure better disaster response and support for affected communities.”
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
This order establishes a federal policy that recognizes only two sexes, male and female. The order mandates that all federal agencies adhere to these definitions, affecting areas such as women’s sports, single-sex facilities, and the issuance of identification documents. It also prohibits the promotion of “gender ideology” within federal institutions and rescinds previous policies that recognized gender identity. This order mandates that agencies set requirements for federally funded entities, including contractors, to ensure compliance with its policy.
Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing (January 20, 2025):
The order mandates the termination of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)-related offices, positions, and programs. Additionally, it requires agencies to report on DEI-related expenditures and assess the impact of previous DEI policies. It also requires a list be compiled of all grants awarded to entities to advance DEI or environmental justice efforts and to align contracts and grants (among other things) with the policies of this order.
Economy
This memorandum directs federal agencies to take actions to, among other things, lower the cost of housing and expand housing supply; eliminate unnecessary administrative expenses and rent-seeking practices that increase healthcare costs; and create employment opportunities for American workers.
Education
Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families (January 20, 2025):
This order aims to increase educational choices for families, potentially impacting social services by providing more options for children’s education. The order requires the Department of Health and Human Services to issue guidance for how block grants serving children and families, including the Child Care and Development Block Grant, can be used to expand parent choice to include alternatives to government entities and be inclusive of private and faith-based options.
Keeping Education Accessible and Ending COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates in Schools (February 14, 2025):
This order states that discretionary federal funds should not be used to support or subsidize educational entities that require students to receive a COVID-19 vaccination to attend in-person education programs. The order directs the Secretary of Education to issue guidelines regarding legal obligations related to parental authority, religious freedom, disability accommodations, and equal protection under law concerning COVID-19 school mandates. Within 90 days, the Secretary of Education, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, is to provide a plan to end such mandates, including a list of non-compliant entities and processes to prevent or rescind federal funding.
Restoring Public Service Loan Forgiveness (March 7, 2025):
This order directs the Secretary of Education to propose revisions to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program, ensuring that organizations engaging in certain activities are excluded from the definition of “public service.” Specifically, it includes organizations engaging in “child abuse, including the chemical and surgical castration or mutilation of children or the trafficking of children to so-called transgender sanctuary states for purposes of emancipation from their lawful parents, in violation of applicable law.”
Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities (March 20, 2025):
This order directs the Secretary of Education to take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the states and local communities. Additionally, it mandates that any allocation of federal Department of Education funds complies with federal law and administration policy, including terminating activities based on DEI or programs promoting “gender ideology.”
Emergency Preparedness
Achieving Efficiency Through State and Local Preparedness (March 19, 2025):
This order establishes the policy of the U.S. to empower state, local, and individual preparedness. It directs the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, in coordination with relevant officials, to publish a National Resilience Strategy within 90 days, articulating priorities and methods to advance national resilience. It also requires the review of several previous orders and policies.
Federal Public Benefits
Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders (February 19, 2025):
This order directs federal agencies to:
“(i) identify all federally funded programs administered by the agency that currently permit illegal immigrants to obtain any cash or non-cash public benefit, and, consistent with applicable law, take all appropriate actions to align such programs with the purposes of this order and the requirements of applicable Federal law, including the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996;
(ii) ensure, consistent with applicable law, that federal payments to states and localities do not, by design or effect, facilitate the subsidization or promotion of illegal immigration, or abet so-called ‘sanctuary’ policies that seek to shield illegal aliens from deportation; and
(iii) enhance eligibility verification systems, to the maximum extent possible, to ensure that taxpayer-funded benefits exclude any ineligible immigrant who entered the United States illegally or is otherwise unlawfully present in the United States.”
Government Administration
Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions (January 20, 2025):
This order revokes numerous executive orders and actions issued between January 20, 2021, and January 20, 2025, many of which relate to DEI. It directs federal agencies to cease implementation of the rescinded actions and to review existing policies for alignment with this directive. Additionally, the order instructs the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to coordinate with agency heads to ensure compliance and to provide recommendations for further actions to align with this order.
Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (January 21, 2025):
This order repeals certain previous executive orders and makes changes to the federal contracting and grant-making process, including requiring a recipient to certify that it does not operate any programs promoting DEI that violate any applicable federal anti-discrimination laws. The order also instructs agencies to review and revise any existing policies, programs, or activities that may conflict with this directive.
Government Operations
This order restructures and renames the U.S. Digital Services to establish the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is tasked with enhancing federal efficiency by modernizing technology and software. The U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization will terminate on July 4, 2026. The order mandates the creation of DOGE teams within federal agencies.
Regulatory Freeze Pending Review (January 20, 2025):
This memorandum instructs the heads of executive departments and agencies to pause the issuance of new regulations and to consider postponing the effective dates of regulations that have been published in the Federal Register but have not yet taken effect for 60 days from the date of the memorandum. Agencies are also directed to consider further delaying the effective dates beyond the 60-day period, as appropriate, and to consult with the Office of Management and Budget regarding any rules that should not be subject to the freeze due to urgent circumstances.
Hiring Freeze (January 20, 2025):
This memorandum directs the heads of executive departments and agencies to implement an immediate freeze on the hiring of federal civilian employees. It specifies that no vacant positions existing as of noon on January 20, 2025 may be filled and no new positions may be created, except in limited circumstances. Additionally, the memorandum instructs the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to develop a long-term plan to reduce the size of the federal workforce through attrition.
Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation (January 31, 2025):
This order directs all executive departments and agencies to identify ten regulations that can be repealed when it proposes one new regulation and that the total incremental cost of all new regulations in 2025 be significantly less than zero. During the presidential budget process, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget will identify to agencies a total amount of incremental costs that will be allowed for each agency in issuing new regulations and repealing regulations for each fiscal year after fiscal year 2025.
This order establishes a hiring ratio of one new employee for every four departures. It also mandates that agency heads develop a plan to reduce the size of its workforce, develop hiring plans in consultation with DOGE Team Leads, and to prepare to initiate large-scale reductions in force.
This order directs agency heads to identify and recommend for repeal any regulations that are based on criteria stated in the order. It also directs agencies to deprioritize the enforcement of regulations that are based on anything other than the “best reading of a statute” or that “go beyond the powers vested in the federal government by the constitution.”
This order mandates agency heads establish centralized systems for recording and justifying payments for grants and contracts and review, terminate, or modify all existing contracts and grants to reduce spending or reallocate funds.
Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy (March 14, 2025):
This order directs the elimination of non-statutory components and functions of specified governmental entities. Particularly notable is the elimination of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.
Additional Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions (March 14, 2025):
This order revokes 19 executive actions from the previous administration.
Modernizing Payments To and From America’s Bank Account (March 25, 2025):
This order mandates the transition to electronic payments for all federal disbursements and receipts by September 30, 2025. Agencies are directed to adopt electronic funds transfer methods such as direct deposit and digital wallets, while the Secretary of the Treasury is tasked with supporting this transition and providing limited exceptions where electronic methods are not feasible.
Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos (March 25, 2025):
This order directs agency heads to ensure that federal officials designated by the President or agency heads have full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, data, software systems, and information technology systems for purposes of pursuing Administration priorities related to the identification and elimination of waste, fraud, and abuse. This includes authorizing and facilitating both intra- and inter-agency sharing and consolidation of unclassified agency records. Agency heads are also instructed to rescind or modify any agency guidance that serves as a barrier to such sharing and to review regulations governing unclassified data access, submitting a report to the Office of Management and Budget within 30 days. Additionally, the order mandates that the federal government has unfettered access to comprehensive data from all state programs receiving federal funding, including data maintained in third-party databases, and grants the Secretary of Labor access to all unemployment data and related payment records.
Protecting America’s Bank Account Against Fraud, Waste, and Abuse (March 28, 2025):
This order requires a number of changes to the ways U.S. General Funds are distributed, including directing the Department of the Treasury to improve improper payment and fraud prevention screening before disbursing funds on behalf of agencies, and consolidating and standardizing core federal financial systems.
Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement (April 15, 2025):
This order is aimed at reforming the federal procurement process. The order directs the Office of Federal Procurement Policy to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to include only provisions mandated by statute or essential for effective procurement. This initiative seeks to streamline the procurement system, enhance efficiency, and reduce regulatory burdens, thereby improving the management of nearly $1 trillion in annual federal procurements.
Human Services
Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation (January 24, 2025):
This order establishes a policy against funding or supporting medical interventions for transgender youth, such as puberty blockers and gender surgeries for individuals under 19. It includes directives to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and directs the Attorney General to “prioritize investigations and take appropriate action to end child-abusive practices by so-called sanctuary states that facilitate stripping custody from parents who support the healthy development of their own children.”
Establishment of the White House Faith Office (February 7, 2025):
This executive order establishes the White House Faith Office within the Executive Office of the President. The Office is tasked with leading the executive branch’s efforts to empower faith-based entities, community organizations, and houses of worship in their missions to strengthen American families, promote work and self-sufficiency, and promote foster care and adoption programs in partnership with faith-based entities, among other priorities.
Immigration
Protecting the American People Against Invasion (January 20, 2025):
The order revokes several prior executive orders related to immigration policy and directs federal agencies to prioritize the removal of inadmissible and removable immigrants, particularly those posing threats to “public safety and national security interests of the American people.” Notably, Section 20 mandates that “The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall take all appropriate action to ensure that all agencies identify and stop the provision of any public benefits to any illegal alien not authorized to receive them under the provisions of the INA or other relevant statutory provisions.”
Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship (January 20, 2025):
The order specifies that individuals born in the U.S. will not automatically receive citizenship if their mother was unlawfully present or temporarily in the country, and the father was neither a U.S. citizen nor a lawful permanent resident at the time of birth; or when that person’s mother’s presence in the United States was lawful but temporary, and the person’s father was not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth.
This policy labels cartels and gangs, like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, as foreign terrorist organizations. It uses the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to allow federal and state law enforcement to target individuals within the U.S. who are connected to these groups.
Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program (January 20, 2025):
This order suspends the entry of refugees into the United States under the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) effective January 27, 2025. Ninety days after the suspensions, the Secretary of Homeland Security must produce a report recommending whether resumption of entry of refugees into the United States under the USRAP would be in the interests of the United States. It also directs the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Health and Human Services to ensure that the State and local consultation requirements in 8 U.S.C. 1522(a)(2) are carried out with respect to all refugees admitted to the United States.
Securing Our Borders (January 20, 2025):
This order mandates a number of activities intended to deter illegal entry, detain individuals suspected of violating immigration laws until removal, and collaborate with state and local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration priorities. It also directs the prompt removal of individuals unlawfully present and the pursuit of criminal charges against violators, as well as the construction of a physical barrier on the southern border of the U.S.
Declaring a National Emergency at the Southern Border (January 20, 2025):
This proclamation declares a national emergency at the southern border of the U.S. and directs the deployment of military personnel and resources to assist the Department of Homeland Security in achieving full operational control of the southern border. It also invokes specific statutory authorities to facilitate the construction of physical barriers and the use of the Armed Forces and unmanned aerial systems to address the declared emergency.
Guaranteeing the States Protection Against Invasion (January 20, 2025):
This proclamation classifies the current situation at the southern border as an invasion and directs federal agencies to take immediate action to repel, repatriate, and remove any illegal immigrants involved—suspending their physical entry across the southern border until the situation is resolved.
Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders (February 19, 2025):
This order directs federal agencies to “(i) identify all federally funded programs administered by the agency that currently permit illegal immigrants to obtain any cash or non-cash public benefit, and, consistent with applicable law, take all appropriate actions to align such programs with the purposes of this order and the requirements of applicable Federal law, including the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996;
(ii) ensure, consistent with applicable law, that federal payments to states and localities do not, by design or effect, facilitate the subsidization or promotion of illegal immigration, or abet so-called ‘sanctuary’ policies that seek to shield illegal aliens from deportation; and
(iii) enhance eligibility verification systems, to the maximum extent possible, to ensure that taxpayer-funded benefits exclude any ineligible immigrant who entered the United States illegally or is otherwise unlawfully present in the United States.”
National Security
Declaring a National Emergency at the Southern Border (January 20, 2025):
This proclamation declares a national emergency at the southern border of the U.S. and directs the deployment of military personnel and resources to assist the Department of Homeland Security in achieving full operational control of the southern border. It also invokes specific statutory authorities to facilitate the construction of physical barriers and the use of the Armed Forces and unmanned aerial systems to address the declared emergency.
Guaranteeing the States Protection Against Invasion (January 20, 2025):
The proclamation classifies the current situation at the southern border as an invasion and directs federal agencies to take immediate action to repel, repatriate, and remove any illegal immigrants involved—suspending their physical entry across the southern border until the situation is resolved.
Policy Reform
Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing (January 20, 2025):
The order mandates the termination of DEI-related offices, positions, and programs. Additionally, it requires agencies to report on DEI-related expenditures and assess the impact of previous DEI policies. It also requires a list be compiled of all grants awarded to entities to advance DEI or environmental justice efforts and to align contracts and grants (among other things) with the policies of this order.
Public Health
Revocation of Certain Executive Orders (January 21, 2025):
This order revokes Executive Order 14042 Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors. The revocation was effective immediately upon issuance of the order.
Establishing The President’s Make America Healthy Again Commission (February 13, 2025):
This order establishes the Make America Healthy Again Commission, which is tasked with addressing childhood chronic disease. Within 100 days, the Commission is expected to provide an assessment that includes a review of food, overuse of medication, and chemicals, and a plan to address these challenges within 180 days.
Keeping Education Accessible and Ending COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates in Schools (February 14, 2025):
This order states that discretionary federal funds should not be used to support or subsidize educational entities that require students to receive a COVID-19 vaccination to attend in-person education programs. The order directs the Secretary of Education to issue guidelines regarding legal obligations related to parental authority, religious freedom, disability accommodations, and equal protection under law concerning COVID-19 school mandates. Within 90 days, the Secretary of Education, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, is to provide a plan to end such mandates, including a list of non-compliant entities and processes to prevent or rescind federal funding.
This order directs the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Labor, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services to take all necessary and appropriate action to rapidly implement and enforce healthcare price transparency regulations, including requiring disclosure of actual prices of items and services, issuing updated guidance ensuring pricing information is standardized and easily comparable across hospitals and health plans, and updating enforcement policies to ensure compliance with transparent reporting of complete, accurate, and meaningful data. These actions are to be undertaken within 90 days of the date of the order.
Recission of Biden-Era EOs & Regulatory Freeze
Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions (January 20, 2025):
The President, in his first executive action, rescinded 78 executive actions implemented by the previous administration, including those:
- Aimed at addressing racial equity and gender discrimination
- Responding to climate change
- Mobilizing the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic
- Addressing the “causes of migration, to manage migration throughout North and Central America”
- Asking the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to consider new payment and healthcare models to limit drug spending
- Repealing a ban on transgender personnel serving openly in the U.S. military
- Managing the federal government’s approach to deploying artificial intelligence (AI) tools in healthcare. Among other policies, the directive asked the Department of Health and Human Services to establish an AI task force and develop a strategic plan, which was released in January
- Strengthening the ACA exchanges and Medicaid
Regulatory Freeze Pending Review (January 20, 2025):
The President has directed all federal agencies to cease proposing or issuing any rulemaking until it has been reviewed and approved by leadership who are political appointees, and to consider postponing the effective date for any rules that have been published in the Federal Register for an additional 60 days. All non-finalized regulations regarding human services programs were withdrawn by the previous administration prior to leaving office. These include Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) QC proposals.