Trump to Order Agencies to Work With DOGE to Cut Regulations

The order follows another from last week that directed agency heads to work with DOGE to cut staff and limit hiring.

President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Feb. 19 requiring federal agencies to work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut regulations that contradict the administration’s agenda.

The order directs all agency heads to coordinate with DOGE and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to review all regulations within their jurisdictions to make sure they’re consistent with the law and the president’s policies, prioritizing any that “impose heavy costs,” according to a fact sheet provided to The Epoch Times by a White House official.

Trump’s order will create a “Unified Agenda” to rescind or modify regulations that defy the administration’s agenda and will exempt any actions “respecting a military, national security, homeland security, foreign affairs, or immigration-related function of the United States.”

Agencies are also directed to use discretion to limit any enforcement actions that exceed statutory authority or exceed the federal government’s constitutional powers.

Last week, Trump ordered all agency heads to work with DOGE to cut staff and limit hiring throughout the federal government. It directs OMB to create rules ensuring federal workers are “held to the highest standards of conduct.”

After the expiration of the Trump administration’s Jan. 20 hiring freeze, all federal agencies will be allowed to hire no more than one employee for every four who leave or are released from their positions. Agencies will also begin plans for large-scale reductions in force and to determine which agency components—or agencies themselves—might be eliminated or combined, the Feb. 11 order’s fact sheet states.

Both orders continue the administration’s efforts to make sweeping changes to the federal government and its bureaucracy, following numerous campaign promises to downsize its footprint. The president created DOGE by executive order in January to audit federal spending and locate inefficiencies.

DOGE has moved quickly in the second Trump administration’s first three weeks, accessing data and IT systems in federal agencies, including the Treasury Department, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Department of Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

Democrats in Washington have criticized DOGE since its inception, alleging that the efforts led by Elon Musk represent a “constitutional crisis” if his advisory commission’s audits lead to reductions of agencies or appropriations without congressional approval.