Since taking office, the second Trump administration has attacked nearly all of our freedoms, public services and protections, and the programs on which our communities rely for health care, housing, education, safety, and more. NETWORK is committed to keeping our communities informed and to telling the truth about how this Administration is harming us all. As part of that effort, we are tracking how the Trump administration’s executive orders and actions threaten all aspects of NETWORK’s “An Economy for All” Agenda:
A summary of the latest Administrative actions and legal updates
The executive orders and actions tracker is separated into tables that correspond to NETWORK’s An Economy for All policy issue agenda. You will find them directly below this summary of recent updates that our staff has compiled to keep you up-to-date. NETWORK has a tracker that more closely follows legal cases in our complete Executive Action Tracker on Google Drive.
| Recently, the Trump administration… | Recently, in the courts… |
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Bear witness, keep watch!
Congress has the authority to halt the harm caused by the Administration’s executive orders and actions. Write a letter to your Member of Congress so they know how you and your community are impacted by the first 100 days.
Note: You will not find every Trump administration order or action on this tracker—only those that impact the issues on NETWORK’s An Economy for All policy agenda. We have intentionally omitted the Administration’s “official” names for their orders and actions, because they deliberately try to mislead us and disguise harmful policy with nice-sounding names.
Latest update: May 12, 2025
Jobs with paid leave and wages that cover our bills, retirement, and more
Executive Order or Action | Impacts |
|---|---|
| Imposing a sweeping halt to federal funding: Shuts down all federal grant funding, imperiling the lives and livelihood of our neighbors and the non-profits that provide life-saving support to those in need in our communities. The Trump administration continues to clawback and halt Congressionally authorized funding, fire staff responsible for disbursing funding, and dismantle government agencies. | These actions endanger millions of people by decimating the non-profit providers who feed, clothe, educate, house, and care for our communities. The Administration is decimating government services that are integral to American life, including:
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| Action on labor: Fires two members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), naming no successors. Fires head of Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). | Leaves the NLRB without a quorum, preventing it from taking any official action to certify union elections, find labor law violations, and more. |
| Ending diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs: Terminates federal programs, executive orders, private sector, and educational programs that support diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the federal government and in external programs that receive federal support. Mandates measures to deter future related programs. | Violates federal employees’ collective bargaining rights. |
| The Department of Education terminated $600 million in K-12 grants, alleging that the grants involved diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. DOE has also shut down the office that investigates race- and sex-based discrimination. | This action will severely limit opportunities for education and workforce development, especially for people with disabilities, Black, Brown, and Indigenous people, and other individuals who have historically had fewer opportunities to be considered for jobs, and if chosen, to be supported in their workplaces. |
| Withholding funding from universities: After threatening to withhold federal funding from universities with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, the Administration has ordered massive cuts in federal medical research, student aid and other funding to Harvard University. In another EO, President Trump ordered higher education accreditation agencies to end accreditation for programs that continue DEI efforts and do not provide for “intellectual diversity” in their faculty. | This threatens to withhold funds from educational institutions that teach accurate history about enslavement and foster respect, belonging, and individual potential. |
| Actions on collective bargaining: Two executive orders authorize the heads of most federal agencies to end collective bargaining in many of their offices on vague “national security” grounds, and refuse to honor contracts entered into in the last 30 days of the Biden administration which do not comply with Trump administration priorities (with exceptions for law enforcement). DHS has also already terminated its contract with Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers. Read NETWORK’s statement here. | Violates federal employees’ collective bargaining rights. |
| Action on labor: Fires two members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), naming no successors. Fires head of Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). | Leaves the NLRB without a quorum, preventing it from taking any official action to certify union elections, find labor law violations, and more. |
| Wiping out protections against Black Lung and other hazards for U.S. coal miners. At the same time that it is removing regulations that promote coal mining safety, the Trump administration is ending programs that test and counsel coal miners for silicosis (Black Lung), stopping monitoring and enforcement of silicosis standard compliance, and closing 34 mine health and safety offices in coal country. |
Affordable housing, food, and health care for all
Executive Order or Action | Impacts |
|---|---|
| Dismantling USAID: Paused all international aid for 90 days. On March 28, 2025, the Trump administration announced the shut down of USAID and transfer of its functions to the State Department to prioritize funding that “prevents illegal immigration and promotes access to rare minerals.” | Risks the health, economic well-being, and political stability of people in the U.S. and across the world. Eliminating USAID will increase conflict around the world, discourage democratic processes, increase suffering from disease and death, discourage sustainable economic growth, accelerate environmental destruction, and exacerbate climate change around the world. This EO was the Trump administration’s first blatant usurpation of Congress’s mandate in establishing a federal agency. |
| Establishing DOGE: Establishes programs to “modernize” federal government by slashing federal jobs and cutting off funding to vital programs. DOGE has been granted further access to the sensitive personal information of private citizens. | In the name of “efficiency,” DOGE leadership has promised to eliminate programs and benefits that serve persons living in or near poverty and to rescind regulations that protect vulnerable communities. |
| Cancelling $1.5 billion in food assistance: The Department of Agriculture cancelled $500 million worth of food deliveries and cut $1 billion in funding to food banks and school lunch programs. | These actions leave food banks and school meal programs, which are critical food sources for families, struggling to meet the growing needs in our communities. |
| Keeping prescription drug costs high: Rescinds the Biden Executive Order on lowering prescription drug costs and replaces it with a new one that will delay drug price negotiations on the most expensive drugs. | Implements Big Pharma’s plan to delay negotiations on drug costs, in order to keep up the prices of the most expensive drugs. |
| Blocking public health information: Bans external communications and meetings with outside scientists by NIH, CDC and other health agencies pending Administration review of their operations and priorities. | This action jeopardizes public health by blocking the public from receiving information about public health emergencies, including the bird flu outbreak, and new treatment breakthroughs. |
| Removing health information from Health and Human Services (HHS) websites. | Removing this information puts the health of patients at risk and further endangers research that improves the health and health care of all people in the U.S. |
| Withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO): Removes U.S. from participation in WHO; ends U.S. participation in negotiations for a global Pandemic Agreement. | Harms U.S. ability to respond to pandemics and other global health crises, increasing risk of severe medical threats and economic dislocation. |
| Cutting Health and Human Services staff by 20%. These reductions to HHS staff by 20,000 will disproportionately affect the CDC, NIH, and the FDA. | These cuts will erode our ability to protect public health and will curtail needed medical research. |
| Banning funds for gender-affirming care: Bans the use of federal funds through any federal health insurance program for gender-affirming care and authorizes the withholding of federal research or education grant funding for institutions that provide such care. | Forbids the use of federal funds (Medicaid, Medicare, ACA, military coverage) for gender-affirming care and threatens hospitals, medical schools, and other providers with loss of research and education grants if they provide even privately-funded gender-affirming care. |
| Indefinitely freezing and reducing funding for research: Imposes a drastic, across the board 15 percent reimbursement rate for indirect costs of medical research, and suspends research activities in important areas affecting health. | These actions threaten the nation’s ability to continue high level research in science and medicine, imperiling the health and safety of our country and progress towards future innovation, immediately halting important advances in cancer and HIV research. |
| Eliminating the Department of Education (DOE): With an executive order and a reduction of half of the Department’s workforce, the Trump administration will hollow out the DOE, sending core statutory functions (IDEA, Title I, and Pell Grants) to other agencies, and entirely eliminate all of its education evaluation, accountability, and civil rights oversight. Read NETWORK’s statement here. | These actions will throw into chaos the education of children with disabilities, support for low income students, and other key public school functions. These actions will bring the potential loss of needed funding and accountability safeguards. |
| Student debt: The Trump administration has requested that the Supreme Court put on hold its upcoming case regarding the Biden administration’s student loan relief program. | This action signals that the Trump administration is likely to rescind the student loan relief program at issue, as well as others not yet before SCOTUS. |
| Massively cutting staff responsible for student aid programs, just as pandemic-era student loan forbearance is coming to an end on May 5. This has created long delays, lack of public access, and loss of accountability for federal student loans, Pell grants, and other federal student assistance programs. | These cuts threaten the ability of students, especially lower-income students, to obtain Pell grants and other assistance needed to achieve post-high school education. Staff cuts are also severely limiting ability of borrowers to get clear information about what they owe, resolve mistakes, and work out repayment plans. |
| Cutting $1 billion in school mental health funding: The Trump administration’s Department of Education slashed funding for a bipartisan initiative that would add 14,000 mental health professionals in schools. | Tens of thousands of students nationwide will lose critically-needed support in the face of a youth mental health crisis. |
| Threatening truthful education on race: Authorizes recission of federal funds to any K-12 education program that acknowledges or discusses matters of racial or ethnic equity or gender identity; establishes a “1776 Commission” to develop a “patriotic education” program. | Threatens schools and school systems with loss of all federal funds for virtually any mention of racial or ethnic discrimination or any recognition of gender identity in schools. |
| Closure of agencies that protect our communities: The Trump administration’s orders and other actions have effectively closed the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and agencies that support community development and prevent homelessness. They have rescinded Biden administration orders that protect the supply of infant formula, minimum wage protections, federal funding for tribal nations, and worker training programs. | These actions leave our communities without federal protections to our health and economic stability and leave us more vulnerable to corporate abuses. |
Safe and welcoming neighborhoods
| Executive Order or Action | Impacts |
|---|---|
| Removing protections for transgender and nonbinary people: Requires that federal programs only recognize people as the gender they were assigned at birth. | Removes protections for transgender and nonbinary individuals who already endure severe discrimination from all programs covered by the 1964 Civil Rights Act and other laws. |
| Pardons for offenses related to January 6: Blanket pardon for all individuals convicted of offenses, including violent offenses, during the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. | Signals that the Trump administration will accept political violence when violence promotes their interests. |
| Restoring the federal death penalty: Requires the death penalty for capital crimes committed by undocumented immigrants and crimes resulting in the death of a law enforcement officer. Requires harsh prison conditions for persons whose death sentences were commuted by President Biden and “encourages” additional state criminal charges against those individuals. | Expands the use of the death penalty in the federal criminal justice systems and targets undocumented immigrants with the death penalty for any capital crime. |
| Restoring the federal death penalty: Requires the death penalty for capital crimes committed by undocumented immigrants and crimes resulting in the death of a law enforcement officer. Requires harsh prison conditions for persons whose death sentences were commuted by President Biden and “encourages” additional state criminal charges against those individuals. | |
| Contracting with private prison corporations: Rescinds Biden Executive Order barring the Justice Department from renewing contracts with private prison firms. | Private prisons are historically less safe for the people incarcerated in them, and lead to increased incarceration rates and longer sentences. |
| Revoking federal policing and safety reforms: Eliminates requirements to advance accountable federal policing and criminal justice practices, including: limiting home entries without knocking and the use of chokeholds; mandating body cameras; limiting transfer of military equipment to state and local law enforcement; requiring a national federal police misconduct database; and establishing grants for state and local policing reforms. | Revokes critical federal policing reforms put in place after the murder of George Floyd. |
| Undermining police accountability and providing military resources to local police: This executive order directs federal officials to provide legal and other assistance to police officers accused of wrongdoing and to increase the provision of military and national security resources, including equipment and personnel, to state and local law enforcement. | |
| DOJ memo on the criminal legal system: Revokes Biden-era DOJ policies to mitigate harsh sentencing practices and racial disparities in the criminal justice system. | Foreshadows a return to increased incarceration, excessive sentences, and government waste without advancing public safety. |
| DOJ memo on gun ownership: Requires a review of all regulations and policies that “infringe” on gun rights. | Will likely result in the elimination of some regulations and policies that protect against gun violence. |
| Ending DOJ programs to prevent gun violence, addiction, and hate crimes, and to support crime victims. The Trump administration Department of Justice abruptly cancelled millions of dollars in grants to local governments and community organizations that promote community safety. | With this action, President Trump has taken away needed support and resources that prevent crime, ease addictions, and aid crime victims in our communities. |
| Designating English as the official language. | A victory for the English-only movement, which has long been tied to efforts to eliminate bilingual education and restrict immigration. |
| Weakening national and local governments’ ability to respond to cyberattacks. The Trump administration fired the heads of the NSA and the U.S. Cyber Command, and slashed funding for agencies that detect, deter, and alert state and local governments. | Leaves state and local governments much more open to cyberattacks on electric grids, election infrastructure, public safety infrastructure, and more. |
| Weakening US ability to respond to natural disasters: Massive staffing cuts to FEMA and NOAA affect the nation’s ability to identify, alert the public, and respond to extreme weather events and other natural disasters | Communities in the track of natural disasters could be left unprepared and without prompt federal assistance after such disasters. |
Clean air and water
Executive Order or Action | Impacts |
|---|---|
| Oil drilling in Alaska: Opens federal and state lands in Alaska to potentially unlimited mining, drilling, and oil and gas leasing. | Risks increased air pollution nationally and poses risk of water pollution and toxic exposures for Alaskan Indigenous communities. |
| Stalling wind power development: Temporarily withdraws U.S. coastal areas from wind power leasing pending review of federal wind policies. | Stalls new coastal wind projects and jeopardizes their future, setting us back in renewable energy development. |
| Threatening protected lands: Authorizes new, expansive authority to mandate energy production on federal and other lands, using eminent domain to do so. | Threatens to remove environmental protections for federal and some private lands in order to make way for drilling and mining. |
| Expanding mining of fossil fuels: Expands oil energy production and mining on federal lands and water. | Promotes massive fossil fuel production, accelerating the pollution of air, water, and soil and the destruction of land that comes with mining. |
| Freezing disbursement of funds for clean energy projects and terminating grants that had already been allocated. | Billions of dollars in funding authorized by the Infrastructure Act and the Inflation Reduction Act have been halted across the country. This funding freeze imperils clean energy goals and efforts to limit carbon emissions, including by discouraging the purchase and use of energy efficient vehicles and appliances. |
| Abolishing the American Climate Corps. and cutting Americorps. | Limits opportunities for young Americans to gain valuable work experience in clean energy jobs. Ends volunteer involvement in programs that help teach children, care for seniors, and help communities recover from natural disasters. |
| Withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Agreement. | Removes any international accountability for U.S. environmental policies and practices, and harms global cooperation in addressing climate change. Gives China and the EU a competitive advantage in the booming clean energy market and limits opportunities for U.S. workers. |
| Removing climate-related data from the Department of Agriculture website. | Deprives farmers of critical information on drought, floods, and shifting growing conditions, imperiling their ability to protect the nation’s food supply by responding to emerging climate threats. |
| Repealing 31 regulations and changing the purpose of the Environmental Protection Agency to “lowering energy costs.” | This action threatens to reverse decades of progress on clean air, clean water, combating greenhouse gas emissions, and protecting lands. This action also eliminates enforcement efforts that prioritize protecting neighborhoods that corporations have historically polluted, particularly low-income neighborhoods and Black and Brown communities. |
| Curtailing states’ ability to require climate protections greater than the federal minimum. Directs DOJ to sue states with enhanced climate and energy productions policies. | As the Trump administration guts federal climate regulations, states will lose any ability to enact protections for their residents. |
| Increasing U.S. coal production: Gives coal special rare “mineral” status with economic privileges and loosened regulation. Allows coal mining on federal lands. | Promotes severely polluting, environmentally damaging, economically costly coal production over the production of clean, sustainable energy sources. |
| Gutting the Endangered Species Act: Upending decades of settled law, a new Executive Order will allow corporations to conduct unfettered habitat destruction, regardless of its impact on endangered species and other environmental harms. | Eliminates the well-established, primary tool for protecting endangered species and their environments, inevitably hastening the extinction of many species and eroding protection of their environments. |
| Removing environmental protections for minerals mining: A series of executive orders loosen environmental protections related to the extraction of minerals on federal and private lands and in offshore seabeds. | These executive orders risk environmental harm in areas where minerals are extracted and pose threats to the health rural and Indigenous communities. |
| Eliminating the entire staff of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), destroying the agency’s ability to provide assistance with home heating and cooling costs to low-income families. | This effective shuttering of the LIHEAP program will leave low-income families unable to ease suffering from extreme heat in the coming and potentially with extreme heat and cold into the future. |
| Eliminating the Energy Star Program: The Trump administration EPA announced that it is eliminating the Energy Star Program. The program identifies and certifies energy efficient home appliances, has saved the public an estimated $500 billion since 1992, and prevented the release of four billion metric tons of greenhouse gases. | This action threatens to increase pollution and consumers’ energy costs. |
A tax code that ensures the wealthy pay their fair share
Executive Order or Action | Impacts |
|---|---|
| Tariffs: With a series of executive orders, President Trump has imposed broad, virtually across-the-board tariffs on Canada (25%), Mexico (25%), and China (10%), and then issued a series of actions temporarily altering the terms of these tariffs and promising additional alternations and new tariffs in the future. | While targeted tariffs may be effective in fostering U.S. economic growth, blanket tariff programs will increase costs to consumers, especially for food and gas. Already, these tariff measures have created instability in the nation’s food, energy, and manufacturing markets and triggered a trade war with our largest trading partners. |
| OECD tax deal: Rescinds U.S. participation in the 140-nation Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Global Tax Deal. | Allows for widespread corporate tax avoidance. |
| Ending Enforcement of Corporate Transparency Act: Ends a bipartisan anti-money laundering law passed during the first Trump administration. | Threatens to make the U.S. a magnet for drug cartels, illegal arms dealers, and corrupt foreign officials by setting up shell companies to avoid paying taxes while they move assets in and out of the U.S. with no oversight. Small business owners will struggle as they are forced to compete with fraudulent and criminal enterprises. |
| Undermining the IRS’ ability to investigate tax fraud and support taxpayers. The Trump administration has moved to eliminate more than 30,000 IRS employees and has stopped investigations of very wealthy corporations and individuals. | Stripping away IRS capacity will harm service to ordinary taxpayers and embolden high-wealth tax cheaters, further destabilizing our economy. |
A just and humane immigration system
Executive Order or Action | Impacts |
|---|---|
| Increasing random, illegitimate arrests, detentions and deportations of naturalized U.S. citizens, green card holders, and International students with Visas and foreign tourists by ICE, including at least one illegal deportation and detention at the notorious El Salvador prison where hundreds of migrants were sent without due process. | These arrests and detentions have created widespread fear among immigrants living in the U.S. and visitors attempting to enter or leave the U.S. These actions undermine the rule of law by depriving individuals of their right to due process, including a Maryland man wrongly deported to a notorious mega prison in El Salvador, despite a U.S. immigration court’s previous finding that his life was at risk if he were to be deported. |
| Expedited removal: A DHS directive that authorizes fast-track deportations for people who cannot prove they have been in the U.S. for two years. Deportation to third countries: In a directive that was not published, the Trump administration encouraged the re-detention and removal of individuals who had previously won protection from immigration court. The directive allows the Administration to deport people who do not have legal status to “third countries” rather than their home country. Sensitive Locations: Authorizes ICE raids on schools, churches, and hospitals. Establishes quotas for daily ICE arrests. Read NETWORK’s statement here. | Without any due process, the Trump administration has sent individuals to third countries where they are at risk of persecution, torture, and even death. Allowing ICE arrests at sensitive locations has a chilling effect on our communities, keeping worshipers away from church and students away from school, and the sick and injured away from medical care. |
| Tripling the DHS deportation force: A Trump administration executive order calls for the deputization of 20,000 local and state police and other law enforcement officers to staff mass abductions, detentions, and deportations. | This action will stoke fear and instability in our communities by militarizing our neighborhoods and using local law enforcement to abduct our neighbors. |
| Invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798: Allows for summary deportation of people from countries at war with the U.S. Hundreds of Venezuelans accused of being gang members have been sent to prisons in El Salvador. | Prisons in El Salvador are notorious for their inhumane treatment of inmates. This EO may be used more broadly and will deprive immigrants of due process rights and subject them to abuse and torture. |
| Targeting immigrants in protests: The administration is singling out nonviolent campus demonstrations against military actions by Israel and any non-U.S. citizen students who participate in those demonstrations. ICE has arrested and detained numerous green card, TPS, and more than 300 legitimate visa holders for potential deportation, including Mahmoud Khalil and others, chiefly for participation in pro-Palestine protests or for being Venezuelan nationals. | This effectively threatens participants in nonviolent demonstrations with criminal and civil penalties, notably deportation for non-citizen students who participate. Khalil’s arrest is a dangerous precedent intended to chill free speech and political activism. Individuals with green cards or valid visas are now at risk of deportation for their peaceful political activity. |
| Militarizing the southern border: After first declaring a national emergency at the border and suspending the entry of migrants, President Trump has now ordered the Pentagon to take control over a 60-foot strip of land along the border to install additional troops and military equipment to detain people seeking safety so that ICE may arrest them. | This action effectively completes the militarization of the southern border despite laws that limit the use of the military for domestic law enforcement. It closes the southern border to people seeking safety and gives President Trump sweeping authority to impose further restrictions. |
| Targeting immigrants and communities who help them: This action greatly expands immigrant detention facilities; orders the hiring of more border patrol agents; cuts off federal funds to sanctuary states and cities and threatens to prosecute officials who do not cooperate with DHS enforcement initiatives; and denies public benefits to undocumented immigrants. | This poses massive potential increases to ICE and migrant detention capacity. Threatens to dismantle sanctuary protections by cutting off federal funding to “sanctuary” states and cities that seek to protect their residents. Threatens to prosecute local officials in those jurisdictions who do not cooperate with efforts to detain and deport their residents. |
| Limiting access to legal representation for immigrants: Cuts off funding that was appropriated by Congress in 2024 to allow certain detained immigrants to have access to legal representation. Ends funding of legal representation for unaccompanied minors. | Hinders the right of people in immigration detention to access legal representation, including children. Unrepresented minors are at risk of exploitation, trafficking, and abuse. |
| Revocation of humanitarian parole for tens of thousands of immigrants: DHS is revoking humanitarian parole for nationals of Cuba, Haiti, NIcaragua, and Venezuela, leaving them without legal status in the U.S. within 30 days of the revocation announcement. | This action will leave tens of thousands of immigrants, now legally in the U.S., who will effectively become undocumented migrants in 30 days and face ICE arrest, deportation, and a return to violence and persecution in their countries of birth. |
| Ending birthright citizenship: Seeks to end birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants. | This is a blatant violation of the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution. |
| Sharing confidential tax records: The IRS is disclosing information to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for immigration enforcement purposes. | This action exposes millions of taxpayers to aggressive immigration enforcement. Undocumented workers pay almost $100 billion in taxes, including to Social Security and Medicare, although they are not eligible for this benefit. |
| Prohibits people seeking asylum from staying in the U.S. while they pursue their claim. | This prohibition puts people who are fleeing war and persecution in harm’s way. |
| Designating cartels as terrorist organizations: Names foreign drug cartels as terrorist organizations and expands law enforcement measures and penalties for those organizations and those who participate in their activity. | Raises the risk that NGOs, including Catholic organizations, that aid undocumented immigrants with services like food or housing may be labeled as supporting “terrorists.” |
| “Vetting” immigrants: Requires all agencies to conduct “enhanced alien vetting” to ensure that a person has no “hostile” attitudes toward the U.S. or “terrorist” history. This applies to immigrants seeking entry and those already in the U.S. Requires information from the individual’s country of origin and allows for full exclusion of all migrants from non-cooperating countries. | Threatens serious obstacles to the ability to both enter and remain in the U.S., even for those with otherwise legal status. Allows the government to entirely block immigration from selected countries. |
| Suspending refugee arrivals: Suspends the entry into the U.S. of already-vetted refugees. | Bars refugees even if they had plane tickets, including 1,600 Afghan refugees. Deprives recently arrived refugees from statutorily mandated support and defunds refugee assistance organizations. |
| Opening camps at Guantanamo: Directs the opening of immigrant detention camps at Guantanamo. | |
| Discontinuing the CBP One app: The Biden administration created the app to allow asylum seekers to schedule appointments to request asylum. | |
| Eliminating the DHS offices that safeguard immigration processes: Eliminates the three DHS offices responsible for handling complaints regarding the immigration process and providing oversight and reporting to Congress. | This action wipes out any internal scrutiny over errors and abuses by DHS offices and personnel, along with annual accountability regarding DHS conduct to Congress. |
A politics responsive to the people, not the money
Executive Order or Action | Impacts |
|---|---|
| Ordering harsh restrictions on citizens’ right to vote: This executive order requires proof of citizenship to register to vote, forbids counting of ballots received after Election Day, requires paper ballots, and establishes other limits on states’ election administration. | This order will bar many U.S. citizens who do not have ready access to proof of citizenship from voting and will require massive, restrictive changes in many states’ election operations. |
| Firing federal employees: Federal workers have been fired, seen their jobs eliminated, or been placed on administrative leave at agencies across the government. In addition to probationary employees, fired employees include those who are allegedly not “faithful” to Trump administration policies because their work includes diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) efforts; employees at the Department of Education (which the Administration wants to eliminate); and teachers at federally funded tribal schools. DOGE workforce overhaul: Requires DOGE approval of any new federal hire. Directs federal agencies to immediately plan for “large-scale reductions in force.” | These firings threaten the health, safety, education, and welfare of all people in the U.S. by weakening the government’s ability to meet current needs and respond to future crises through established federal programs. Already, older Americans are experiencing extraordinary delays at the Social Security Administration. This weakens the government’s ability to enforce laws protecting the health, safety, and economic security of our country. These firings also increase unemployment (as of Mar. 14, 2025, 250,000 federal workers have been fired). |
| Removing civil service protections in federal hiring: “Reforms” federal hiring, including removing civil service protections for senior federal agency managers and designating their employment as “at the pleasure of the President.” OPM memo on hiring: Allows agencies to temporarily hire unlimited numbers of political appointees as they use various measures to reduce civil service staff | Threatens to transform the civil service system for higher management into a political patronage scheme. Facilitates the transformation of the civil service system into a patronage scheme, filling government positions with Trump loyalists. |
| Taking over regulatory agencies: Establishes a series of White House and OMB measures to control the policies and operations of the nation’s independent regulatory agencies to ensure consistency with President Trump’s priorities. | Strips independent regulatory agencies of much of their independence from White House political control. |
| Removing Independent agency heads: 19 Inspectors General, the head of the Office of Special Counsel, and the head of the Office of Government Ethics. Firing the Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission. Firing directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. | The people in these positions ensure that the president cannot punish his political enemies or hide his own mismanagement and corruption. Firing them removes a vital guardrail and removes any independent oversight of President Trump’s actions. |
| Creating a massive, centralized database containing troves of personal information about U.S. residents. This action allows for the capturing and merging of data files from Social Security Administration, DHS, HHS and other agencies. DOGE is producing a single, centralized database without regard to long-standing requirements for data privacy and security. | This action will make the private information of millions of people vulnerable to misuse by both government agencies and outside hackers. |
| Authorizing the widespread recission of key regulations without public notice or comment. A series of Executive Orders direct agencies to use legally suspect administrative procedures to systematically wipe out thousands of regulations that protect our communities, without notice or opportunity for public comment. Freezes progress on any new regulations and permits postponement of already published regulations. | Federal agencies will now strip away critical regulations that protect our health, safety, environment, and economic security, without prior notice or the opportunity for public scrutiny required by federal laws. This jeopardizes implementation of regulations needed to protect our health and safety, the environment, and workers’ rights. |
| Stripping government websites and other data sources of vast amounts of information. The Trump administration has selectively removed massive amounts of data that does not conform with Trump’s vision of American society and history from websites, online repositories, and paper files, including the Justice Department, the National Archives, and agency units targeted for closure. Promoting disinformation: Bars government employees from questioning mis- and dis-information on the internet. | With no checks on the erasure of troves of government information, the Administration is effectively rewriting U.S. history, and destroying information negative to the President and his performance. Leaves no guardrails for internet disinformation. |
| Removing AI protections: Authorizes suspension or rescission of any provision of the Biden Executive Orders on AI and crypto currency that “pose obstacles” to U.S. AI and digital currency development. | Removes important protections on the development and use of AI and cryptocurrency established by the Biden administration. |
| Ending government support for public television and radio: In an executive order, President Trump commands a cessation of current and future funding to public broadcasting. | This action threatens the bipartisan educational and cultural mission of public broadcasting, potentially affecting rural radio station access and children’s educational programming. |
| Ending the promotion of democracy abroad: Withheld $200 million in funding to the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a bipartisan organization that promotes democracy in countries across the world, and ordered the elimination of Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia, and agencies that support democracy and peace worldwide, replacing them with newsfeeds from OAN, a right-wing propaganda outlet. | These actions further erode U.S. influence in promoting democratic institutions and discouraging aggression worldwide. |
| Threatening severe penalties to law firms and attorneys who challenge the Trump administration’s actions or have supported Trump’s political opponents. A series of executive orders threaten to impose severe financial and other penalties on both named law firms and members of the legal community generally who initiate litigation to challenge Trump personally or his presidential actions, as well as those who represent immigrants. | These actions are blatant efforts to intimidate legal professionals from challenging Trump administration abuses, representing Trump’s political opponents, or representing immigrants seeking asylum. |
| OPM memo on hiring: Allows agencies to temporarily hire unlimited numbers of political appointees as they use various measures to reduce civil service staff. | Facilitates the transformation of the civil service system into a patronage scheme, filling government positions with Trump loyalists. |
| Regulatory freeze: Freezes progress on any new regulations and permits postponement of already-published regulations. | Jeopardizes implementation of regulations needed to protect our health and safety, the environment, and workers’ rights. |
| Promoting disinformation: Bars government employees from questioning mis- and dis-information on the internet. | Leaves no guardrails for internet disinformation. |
| DOGE workforce overhaul: Requires DOGE approval of any new federal hire. Directs federal agencies to immediately plan for “large-scale reductions in force” (exempting military, immigration enforcement, and some law enforcement). | Threatens to weaken federal government’s ability to provide needed benefits and services and to enforce laws protecting the health, safety, and economic security of our communities. |
| Revoking security clearances for law firms that have represented Democrats and the January 6th prosecutor Jack Smith. | Attempts to intimidate and silence perceived political enemies. |
NETWORK’s support for other litigation
- On Meta’s discriminatory practices: NETWORK has reached out to the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law expressing support for their lawsuit against tech company Meta for discrimination in advertising higher education opportunities. The lawsuit alleges that Meta disproportionately steers advertisements regarding predatory for-profit schools to Black people while steering ads for public nonprofit schools to white people on social media platforms Facebook and Instagram. The lawsuit alleges this is a violation of the D.C. Human Rights Act and Consumer Protection Procedures Act.
- On the Affordable Care Act’s no-cost preventive services mandate: On Feb. 18, 2025, NETWORK signed onto an Amicus Brief in Braidwood v. Becerra, a case before the Supreme Court challenging the validity of the no-cost preventive services mandate under the Affordable Care Act. NETWORK joined the United States of Care in recognizing the importance of maintaining no-cost preventive care for diseases including diabetes, cancer, heart disease, depression, and tobacco use.
NETWORK provides the tracker to help justice-seekers deepen their understanding of the dangers our country is facing from the Administration, and to show the reasons why it’s vital that all of us take care of one another—so that everyone thrives, no exceptions.
Find NETWORK statements on executive orders and actions on our news page. And read NETWORK’s statement on President Trump’s and Elon Musk’s unconstitutional and malicious policies.