in effect
This is Executive Order 14217, signed February 19, 2025, titled “Commencing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy.” It is a presidential directive that orders parts of the federal government the President has deemed unnecessary to shrink, and instructs officials to eliminate certain functions, committees, and a fellowship program. It sets deadlines for agencies to report compliance and identify further cuts.
Four entities — the Presidio Trust, the Inter-American Foundation, the U.S. African Development Foundation, and the U.S. Institute of Peace — must eliminate all non-statutory components and cut their statutory functions and staff to the minimum the law requires; within 14 days their heads must report to the OMB Director on compliance and on what is legally required, and budget reviewers are told to reject funding requests that conflict with the order. It revokes a 1961 presidential memorandum and directs the Office of Personnel Management to withdraw the rules that create Federal Executive Boards, and to withdraw the rules for and terminate the Presidential Management Fellows Program (revoking Executive Order 13318 and amending Executive Order 13562 to strip out its references). Within 14 days, agencies must terminate five named advisory committees: USAID’s Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid; the CFPB’s Academic Research Council and Credit Union Advisory Council; the FDIC’s Community Bank Advisory Council; HHS’s Advisory Committee on Long COVID; and CMS’s Health Equity Advisory Committee. Within 30 days, three White House advisors (for National Security, Economic Policy, and Domestic Policy) must submit to the President additional entities and committees they consider unnecessary and recommend for termination. The order states it must be carried out consistent with existing law and available funding, and creates no legal rights anyone can enforce in court.
The leadership, staff, and grant recipients of the four named entities feel this most directly, along with people who work with the terminated advisory committees, the Federal Executive Boards, and applicants or participants in the Presidential Management Fellows Program. The OMB Director, the OPM Director, and the affected agency heads carry out the reductions, reporting, and rule withdrawals. Because the order also tasks White House advisors with naming more targets, additional government bodies could be affected later.