Federal Agency Eliminates All DEI Programs After Trump’s Executive Order

 New Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr announced Tuesday that he had eliminated diversity, equity, and inclusion programs from the agency in accordance with President Donald Trump’s directive to remove DEI practices from the federal government. 

Carr, who was tapped by Trump to lead the agency on Monday, announced that he had slashed several DEI initiatives started by the Biden administration. These programs included removing DEI from the FCC’s Strategic Plan and budget requests. 

“Promoting invidious forms of discrimination runs contrary to the Communications Act and deprives Americans of their rights to fair and equal treatment under the law. It also represents a wasteful expenditure of taxpayer resources,” Carr said. “Nonetheless, the FCC joined other private and public sector institutions in promoting discriminatory DEl policies during the Biden Administration. The FCC did so by embedding DEl in its strategic priorities, budget requests, advisory groups, rulemaking proceedings, and many other components of its official work.”

 

Carr’s directive will eliminate the FCC’s DEI advisory group and 2022 equity action plan and remove the promotion of DEI as a component in the FCC’s economic reports and annual performance plans. 

The move comes after Trump issued an executive order on Monday to end all government DEI programs and orders.

“The Biden Administration forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI), into virtually all aspects of the Federal Government, in areas ranging from airline safety to the military,” the order said

The charge will be led by the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the attorney general, and the director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). They will meet with agency and cabinet heads in 60 days to discuss what changes have been made. 

 

This will mean cutting “environmental justice” positions or offices, equity action plans, and any DEI officer positions instituted under Biden. 

In a separate executive order, Trump said that the government would no longer consider goals like “equity” when hiring but prioritize based on skills, experience, and patriotism.

“Federal hiring should not be based on impermissible factors, such as one’s commitment to illegal racial discrimination under the guise of ‘equity,’ or one’s commitment to the invented concept of ‘gender identity’ over sex,” the order adds.  “Inserting such factors into the hiring process subverts the will of the People, puts critical government functions at risk, and risks losing the best-qualified candidates.”