This post began on January 21, but I got hit with a nasty bout of norovirus that day, so I was unable to complete it until today, January 24. It still seemed like relevant information, so please excuse the fact that the past 24 hours in this post is from three days ago.
January 21, 2025
There are a lot of takes on what’s being done from the Oval Office of the new administration, but I’ve decided to take a look at what’s been undone. That is, one of the first Executive Orders (XOs) that was signed yesterday is entitled, “INITIAL RESCISSIONS OF HARMFUL EXECUTIVE ORDERS AND ACTIONS”, and focuses squarely on undoing a laundry list of XOs from the Biden administration. Well, I should say “attempting to undo”, because the thing to keep in mind about this and many other XOs that have been signed in the past 24 hours is that they may not hold up under judicial or legislative review. One of the hallmarks of the United States governmental system is that there are indeed checks and balances built into the whole thing, and just because one branch declares something doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s true.
I’m including the list here (with a few clarifying statements — and admitted snark — from myself). This all comes straight from the revised — and interestingly, much-diminished in content — WhiteHouse.gov website. I’m pulling out the original Executive Order numbers and dates, just to make it easier to read. So without further ado, here is the list of things that the United States Government has been ordered to stop doing:
Sec. 2. Revocation of Orders and Actions. The following executive actions are hereby revoked:
- Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government (Part of the crackdown on DEI programs.)
- Ensuring a Lawful and Accurate Enumeration and Apportionment Pursuant to the Decennial Census (Once again, we’re pursuing the goal of only counting “citizens” rather than everyone.)
- Organizing and Mobilizing the United States Government To Provide a Unified and Effective Response To Combat COVID-19 and To Provide United States Leadership on Global Health and Security (Quite a bit of this first batch is all about undoing orders that were put in place to help end the Covid epidemic.)
- Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation (I suspect Biden’s declaration that the Equal Rights Amendment is “the law of the land” doesn’t hold water with the current office-holder.)
- Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel (Who needs ethics?)
- Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science To Tackle the Climate Crisis (:looks at severe weather in California and across the southern U.S.: “What climate crisis?”)
- Revocation of Certain Executive Orders Concerning Federal Regulation (Because the only thing regulation is good for is preventing people from getting rich, right?)
- Revision of Civil Immigration Enforcement Policies and Priorities
- Ensuring an Equitable Pandemic Response and Recovery
- Establishing the COVID-19 Pandemic Testing Board and Ensuring a Sustainable Public Health Workforce for COVID-19 and Other Biological Threats
- Improving and Expanding Access to Care and Treatments for COVID-19
- Protecting Worker Health and Safety
- Supporting the Reopening and Continuing Operation of Schools and Early Childhood Education Providers
- Economic Relief Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Protecting the Federal Workforce (Again, a whole lot of Covid-era programs and anti-pandemic groundwork being undone here.)
- Enabling All Qualified Americans To Serve Their Country in Uniform (This allowed transgender members of the military to serve.)
- Reforming Our Incarceration System To Eliminate the Use of Privately Operated Criminal Detention Facilities (So private, for-profit prisons can be a thing again.)
- President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology
- Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad (This rescission goes hand-in-hand with withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accords.)
- Strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (Remember during the one debate when he said he had to strengthen the Affordable Care Act? I suspect that wasn’t true.)
- Creating a Comprehensive Regional Framework To Address the Causes of Migration, To Manage Migration Throughout North and Central America, and To Provide Safe and Orderly Processing of Asylum Seekers at the United States Border (This order had helped reduce migration across the southern border to a historically low level last year.)
- Establishment of Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families (This order had been made to undo the separation of children from their asylum-seeking parents that occurred last time around. The next couple are related.)
- Restoring Faith in Our Legal Immigration Systems and Strengthening Integration and Inclusion Efforts for New Americans
- Rebuilding and Enhancing Programs To Resettle Refugees and Planning for the Impact of Climate Change on Migration
- Establishment of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
- Revocation of Certain Presidential Actions (Similar to this laundry list, this was a significantly shorter list of Executive Orders created by Biden’s predecessor that were revoked. That have now been … unrevoked?)
- Promoting Access to Voting (Yes, here we go again: Apparently getting more people to vote is a :checks notes: bad thing?)
- Establishment of the White House Gender Policy Council (New policy: Grab ’em by the…nevermind.)
- Guaranteeing an Educational Environment Free From Discrimination on the Basis of Sex, Including Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity (Because preventing discrimination is not what this administration is all about.)
- Termination of Emergency With Respect to the International Criminal Court (Biden’s predecessor had issued a “national emergency” declaration against the ICC in order to levy sanctions against the international body. However, revoking this termination does not automatically reinstate those levies.)
- Establishment of the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States (So much for any potential SCOTUS reforms.)
- Establishment of the Climate Change Support Office (Again, let’s bury our heads in the increasingly-hot sand when it comes to climate change.)
- Revocation of Certain Presidential Actions and Technical Amendment (More of Biden undoing damage by his predecessor.)
- Climate-Related Financial Risk (This order sought to increase disclosure of climate-related financial risk in both the private and public sectors. I imagine some insurance companies might be glad that’s no longer required.)
- Advancing Equity, Justice, and Opportunity for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (That whole “all men are created equal” thing is apparently old hat.)
- Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce
- Strengthening American Leadership in Clean Cars and Trucks (Electric vehicle initiatives just got unplugged.)
- Amending Executive Order 14007 (Part of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.)
- White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics / Native Americans and Strengthening Tribal Colleges and Universities / Black Americans (Rolling up a few similar ones here that all got yanked.)
- Implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Get ready for another three years of “Infrastructure Week”.)
- Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Under Service Contracts (This helped contractors who had a job with the government to maintain those jobs, and not be pushed out by lower bidders.)
- Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability (As evidenced by the inaugural address this week, we’re back to “Drill, baby, drill.”)
- Establishing the United States Council on Transnational Organized Crime (I can’t imagine why the current office-holder — and 34x convicted felon — might want to be a bit soft on organized crime.)
- Advancing Economy, Efficiency, and Effectiveness in Federal Contracting by Promoting Pay Equity and Transparency (Rather than breaking glass ceilings, this past election was all about putting up opaque walls.)
- Continuing To Strengthen Americans’ Access to Affordable, Quality Health Coverage (I understand that, “We have concepts of a plan.”)
- Advancing Effective, Accountable Policing and Criminal Justice Practices To Enhance Public Trust and Public Safety (Police reform is no longer necessary. It’s all been fixed, right?)
- Advancing Equality for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Individuals (Because the only ones that deserve equality are the cis-gendered ones.)
- Implementation of the Energy and Infrastructure Provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (Most of the funds allocated here have already been spent, so I guess we need to … start tearing up some of those new bridges and roads?)
- Promoting the Arts, the Humanities, and Museum and Library Services (As a former archivist, I find this just feels mean.)
- Lowering Prescription Drug Costs for Americans (Right, because we’re focusing on eggs right now.)
- Establishing the President’s Advisory Council on African Diaspora Engagement in the United States (Both this and the next item were methods that the Biden administration attempted to use to connect more broadly with communities of color.)
- Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government
- Withdrawal of Certain Areas off the United States Arctic Coast of the Outer Continental Shelf from Oil or Gas Leasing (As I mentioned last week, rescinding this XO doesn’t mean it’s open season for ocean drilling. While the President has the power to shut things down, it will take an act of Congress to re-open it.)
- Modernizing Regulatory Review (More undoing of regulation.)
- Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All (Biden was emphasizing the need for clean air, water, and a healthy environment for all. Breathe deep, while you still can.)
- Moving Beyond COVID-19 Vaccination Requirements for Federal Workers (This XO revoked Covid vaccination requirements for federal workers. So, do we need to start vaccinating them again?)
- Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (Skynet launches in 2027. You heard it here first.)
- Imposing Certain Sanctions on Persons Undermining Peace, Security, and Stability in the West Bank (This XO sanctioned anyone engaged in extremist settler violence, forced displacement, and property destruction in the West Bank. That all appears to be A-OK again.)
- White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity Through Hispanic-Serving Institutions (This aimed to strengthen and expand Hispanic- and Latino-serving organizations via the Department of Education.)
- Providing an Order of Succession Within the Department of Agriculture / Department of Homeland Security / Department of Justice / Department of the Treasury / Office of Management and Budget / Office of the National Cyber Director (These orders, as well as the next batch, which were issued at the beginning of this month, all served to solidify the chain of command for various federal government agencies. The main idea here was to have solid people in place in case some other Chief Executive decided to just start firing under-secretaries and directors.)
- Designation of Officials of the Council on Environmental Quality to Act as Chairman / Office of Personnel Management to Act as Director / Office of Science and Technology Policy to Act as Director / United States Agency for Global Media to Act as Chief Executive Officer / United States Agency for International Development to Act as Administrator / United States International Development Finance Corporation to Act as Chief Executive Officer
- Certification of Rescission of Cuba’s Designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism / Revocation of National Security Presidential Memorandum 5 (Biden had certified that Cuba had been playing nice, so should no longer be considered a state sponsor of terrorism. Apparently the new administration just wants more “bad guys” that aren’t Russia? Either that, or they’re still stuck with the last century’s view of Cuba.)
- Providing for the Appointment of Alumni of AmeriCorps to the Competitive Service (Biden was a huge fan of the AmeriCorps program, and this was issued in order to strengthen the job prospects for program alumni to gain employment within the broader federal government. It seems the current administration feels that volunteering for service is only for suckers and losers.)

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