President Trump has already taken swift action to advance many of the priorities he campaigned on throughout the election. In his first week back in office, the President signed 35 executive orders addressing topics including but not limited to, federal foreign aid spending, green new deal spending, federal DEI programs, border security, and the revocation of many Biden-era policy priorities.

As the voice of the LBM industry in our nation’s capital, NLBMDA will be closely monitoring the latest developments from the White House and Congress to ensure our members are kept up to date with the latest information. Included below is a recap of President Trump’s most consequential actions:

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Regulatory Freeze Pending Review

On day one, President Trump issued a memorandum to all executive departments and agencies to halt all rulemaking that agencies have not yet published in the Federal Register. The “freeze” gives the opportunity for the Administration to review and possibly modify existing rulemaking efforts to ensure they align with the Administration’s priorities. Recently, this has been the standard procedure for any new presidential administration. President Trump issued a similar freeze when taking office in 2017 and President Biden’s administration issued a freeze in 2021.

Federal Funding Freeze Directive 

On Monday, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a directive to all executive departments and agencies ordering a total freeze on "all federal financial assistance." There was confusion among lawmakers and bureaucrats immediately following the release of the memo. OMB has since released an updated guidance clarifying that the temporary pause only applies to programs implicated by President Trump’s executive orders, "such as ending DEI, the green new deal, and funding nongovernmental organizations that undermine the national interest." Federal assistance programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP are not expected to be impacted as a result of this directive. Several groups, include the Main Street Alliance have filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the funding freeze. Minutes before the freeze was scheduled to take effect, a federal judge in Washington issued a temporary halt blocking the funding freeze until at least Monday, Feb. 3^rd. AliKhan’s order will expire Feb. 3 at 5 p.m. The Trump administration cannot suspend disbursement of any congressionally appropriated funds until then. The judge described the move as a “brief administrative stay” intended to maintain the status quo while further litigation can play out. It remains to be seen if additional legal action will further delay the freeze. This court ordered halt allows litigants to proceed with court cases challenging the directive and prevents the Trump Administration from suspending Congressionally appropriated funds.

Disaster Assistance to Southern California and North Carolina

This executive order unlocks federal resources to expedite the recovery efforts in both Southern California and North Carolina following the recent natural disasters which have devastated both regions. The order instructions the Department of Housing and Urban Development to implement a plan to offer housing relief to the survivors displaced by the disasters. Additionally, the order directs federal agencies to implement a plan to use previously allocated grants to improve wildfire preparedness and assist with the removal of debris.

Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions

This executive order was a day one priority for the Trump administration and is a wide sweeping rescission of many Biden-era executive orders. Biden executive orders targeting climate change and the environment were among those which were revoked under this order. This includes Biden executive actions to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and deep-sea drilling restrictions.