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Executive Order: Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies (Donald Trump, 2025)

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Executive Order: Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies is an executive order that President Donald Trump (R) issued on February 18, 2025, during his second term in office.[1] This executive order modified Executive Order 12866 by including most independent federal agencies in E.O. 12866's requirement that proposed rules be submitted to Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for a determination of significance.

Executive orders are directives the president writes to officials within the executive branch requiring them to take or stop some action related to policy or management. They are numbered, published in the Federal Register, cite the authority by which the president is making the order, and the Office of Management and Budget issues budgetary impact analyses for each order.[2][3] Click here to read more about executive orders issued during Trump's second term.

Text of the order

The section below displays the text of the order. Click here to view the order as published on the White House website.

“

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: 

Section 1. Policy and Purpose. The Constitution vests all executive power in the President and charges him with faithfully executing the laws. Since it would be impossible for the President to single-handedly perform all the executive business of the Federal Government, the Constitution also provides for subordinate officers to assist the President in his executive duties. In the exercise of their often-considerable authority, these executive branch officials remain subject to the President’s ongoing supervision and control. The President in turn is regularly elected by and accountable to the American people. This is one of the structural safeguards, along with the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches, regular elections for the Congress, and an independent judiciary whose judges are appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, by which the Framers created a Government accountable to the American people.  

However, previous administrations have allowed so-called “independent regulatory agencies” to operate with minimal Presidential supervision. These regulatory agencies currently exercise substantial executive authority without sufficient accountability to the President, and through him, to the American people. Moreover, these regulatory agencies have been permitted to promulgate significant regulations without review by the President. 

These practices undermine such regulatory agencies’ accountability to the American people and prevent a unified and coherent execution of Federal law. For the Federal Government to be truly accountable to the American people, officials who wield vast executive power must be supervised and controlled by the people’s elected President.  

Therefore, in order to improve the administration of the executive branch and to increase regulatory officials’ accountability to the American people, it shall be the policy of the executive branch to ensure Presidential supervision and control of the entire executive branch. Moreover, all executive departments and agencies, including so-called independent agencies, shall submit for review all proposed and final significant regulatory actions to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the Executive Office of the President before publication in the Federal Register.

Sec. 2. Definitions. For the purposes of this order:

(a) The term “employees” shall have the meaning given that term in section 2105 of title 5, United States Code.  

(b) The term “independent regulatory agency” shall have the meaning given that term in section 3502(5) of title 44, United States Code. This order shall not apply to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or to the Federal Open Market Committee in its conduct of monetary policy. This order shall apply to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System only in connection with its conduct and authorities directly related to its supervision and regulation of financial institutions. 

(c) The term “independent regulatory agency chairman” shall mean, with regard to a multi-member independent regulatory agency, the chairman of such agency, and shall mean, with regard to a single-headed independent regulatory agency, such agency’s chairman, director, or other presiding officer.   

(d) The term “head” of an independent regulatory agency shall mean those appointed to supervise independent regulatory agencies and in whom the agencies’ authorities are generally vested, encompassing the chairman, director, or other presiding officer, and, as applicable, other members, commissioners, or similar such officials with responsibility for supervising such agencies.  

Sec. 3. OIRA Review of Agency Regulations. (a) Section 3(b) of Executive Order 12866 of September 30, 1993 (“Regulatory Planning and Review”), as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows:  

“(b) “Agency,” unless otherwise indicated, means any authority of the United States that is an “agency” under 44 U.S.C. 3502(1), and shall also include the Federal Election Commission. This order shall not apply to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or to the Federal Open Market Committee in its conduct of monetary policy. This order shall apply to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System only in connection with its conduct and authorities directly related to its supervision and regulation of financial institutions.”.

(b) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) shall provide guidance on implementation of this order to the heads of executive departments and agencies newly submitting regulatory actions under section 3(b) of Executive Order 12866. Agency submissions by independent regulatory agencies under such section shall commence within the earlier of 60 days from the date of this order, or completion of such implementation guidance.

Sec. 4. Performance Standards and Management Objectives. The Director of OMB shall establish performance standards and management objectives for independent agency heads, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, and report periodically to the President on their performance and efficiency in attaining such standards and objectives.

Sec. 5. Apportionments for Independent Regulatory Agencies. The Director of OMB shall, on an ongoing basis:  

(a) review independent regulatory agencies’ obligations for consistency with the President’s policies and priorities; and  

(b) consult with independent regulatory agency chairmen and adjust such agencies’ apportionments by activity, function, project, or object, as necessary and appropriate, to advance the President’s policies and priorities. Such adjustments to apportionments may prohibit independent regulatory agencies from expending appropriations on particular activities, functions, projects, or objects, so long as such restrictions are consistent with law.

Sec. 6. Additional Consultation with the Executive Office of the President. (a) Subject to subsection (b), independent regulatory agency chairmen shall regularly consult with and coordinate policies and priorities with the directors of OMB, the White House Domestic Policy Council, and the White House National Economic Council.  

(b) The heads of independent regulatory agencies shall establish a position of White House Liaison in their respective agencies. Such position shall be in grade 15 of the General Schedule and shall be placed in Schedule C of the excepted service.  

(c) Independent regulatory agency chairmen shall submit agency strategic plans developed pursuant to the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 to the Director of OMB for clearance prior to finalization.

Sec. 7. Rules of Conduct Guiding Federal Employees’ Interpretation of the Law. The President and the Attorney General, subject to the President’s supervision and control, shall provide authoritative interpretations of law for the executive branch. The President and the Attorney General’s opinions on questions of law are controlling on all employees in the conduct of their official duties. No employee of the executive branch acting in their official capacity may advance an interpretation of the law as the position of the United States that contravenes the President or the Attorney General’s opinion on a matter of law, including but not limited to the issuance of regulations, guidance, and positions advanced in litigation, unless authorized to do so by the President or in writing by the Attorney General.

Sec. 8. General Provisions. (a) If any provision of this order, or the application of any provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this order and the application of its provisions to any other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby. 

(b) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: 

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. 

(c) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. 

(d) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.  [1][4]

”

Guidance

The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) issued guidance for agencies to implement the executive order on April 17, 2025. The guidance document listed the following independent agencies as no longer exempt from OIRA's regulatory review mandated by E.O. 12866, which established principles and processes to govern federal agency rulemaking, regulatory planning, and regulatory review:[5]

  • Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System,
  • Commodity Futures Trading Commission,
  • Consumer Product Safety Commission,
  • Federal Communications Commission,
  • Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation,
  • Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,
  • Federal Housing Finance Agency,
  • Federal Maritime Commission,
  • Federal Trade Commission,
  • Interstate Commerce Commission,
  • Mine Enforcement Safety and Health Review Commission,
  • National Labor Relations Board,
  • Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
  • Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission,
  • Postal Regulatory Commission,
  • Securities and Exchange Commission,
  • Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection,
  • Office of Financial Research,
  • Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and
  • any other similar agency designated by statute as a Federal independent regulatory agency or commission.


The full text of the guidance document is as follows:[5]

Executive orders in the second term of the Trump administration

September 2025

August 2025


July 2025

June 2025

May 2025

April 2025

March 2025

February 2025

January 2025


Historical context

See also: Donald Trump's executive orders and actions, 2025

Overview, 1789-2025

The following chart shows the number of executive orders and average executive orders per year issued by each president of the United States from 1789 to 2025.

Average number of executive orders issued each year by president, 1921-2025

The following chart visualizes the average number of executive orders issued each year between 1921 and 2025, as noted in the table in the section above. The number of executive orders issued declined during this time period with Presidents Barack Obama (D) and George W. Bush issuing the fewest on average at 35 and 36 each year, respectively.

Executive orders issued over time, 2001-2025

The chart below displays the number of executive orders issued over time by Biden, Trump, Obama, and Bush.


See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 White House, "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies," February 18, 2025
  2. ↑ Cooper, Phillip. (2014). By Order of the President: The Use and Abuse of Executive Direct Action. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. (pgs. 21-22)
  3. ↑ USA Today, "Presidential memoranda vs. executive orders. What's the difference?" January 24, 2017
  4. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 The White House, "Memorandum For: Officers at Executive Agencies and Departments and Managing and Executive Directors of Certain Agencies and Commissions," accessed April 24, 2025
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