Tuesday’s executive order, titled “Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies,” requires all federal agencies to submit draft regulations for White House review, offering no carve-out for independent agencies except for the Federal Reserve’s “conduct of monetary policy.” White House officials will likewise require all agencies to consult with them on their “policies and priorities” and “strategic plans.”
The White House’s Office of Management and Budget will now review “on an ongoing basis,” according to the executive order, the actions of the independent regulatory agencies and may adjust their budgets “to advance the President’s policies and priorities.”
Past presidents have sought to consolidate power over various federal administrative agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, Pearlstein noted. But Trump’s White House is going a step further to target agencies that Congress created to be “deliberately insulated from political interference.”
The Constitution gives the president the power to remove top executive-branch officials for any reason at all. But Congress has passed legislation — signed by previous presidents
of both parties — designed to ensure the independence of certain agencies by preventing presidents from firing their leaders without good reason or limiting presidential control over their budgets.
