Digging for DEI Dollars: Watchdog Report Identifies 460 Programs Across 24 Federal Agencies
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 10, 2025
Contact: [email protected]
(Washington, DC) – On his first day back in office, President Trump issued an executive order to eliminate “radical and wasteful” Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) “programs and preferences” from the federal government. The Biden administration embraced this “woke” agenda and embedded it across the executive branch. Ensuring these programs do not make a comeback will take a sustained effort.
To help the administration in this task, and to help educate the public on the scope of the problem, the Functional Government Initiative (FGI) and the Center for Renewing America (CRA) have published DEI Spending in the Biden Administration. This report traces the Biden administration’s web of DEI programs and influence throughout the government, provides numbers on how much money these programs and initiatives wasted, and offers options for Congress to consider that could root out DEI ideology permanently.
A crucial guide to uncovering the myriad DEI expenditures, both small and large, were the “Equity Action Plans” (EAPs) that President Biden demanded across the government. The Biden administration claimed that these plans were designed to identify and remove barriers keeping federal resources from “marginalized” or “underserved” communities, particularly in areas like procurement, contracting, and grant opportunities. In reality, the systemic focus on DEI poisoned federal governance, contributing to the substantial increase in related spending and diverting resources toward controversial policies, away from agency missions. The Biden administration forcibly inserted the language of DEI into every corner of the executive branch.
The study identified 460 programs across 24 government agencies that diverted resources to DEI initiatives. At least $1 trillion was infused with DEI principles. Here are some examples taken from various EAPs:
- The Defense Department planned to “Integrate environmental/economic justice tools.”
- FEMA found the need to “Install equity as a foundation of emergency management.”
- The Department of Labor “must embed equity in a sustainable manner that recognizes the multiple and overlapping identities held by workers.”
President Trump’s swift actions and executive orders stopped these efforts. To ensure a future president can’t just reverse course upon taking office, Congressional action could banish DEI philosophies for good. Our report includes suggestions for lawmakers to consider for eliminating DEI and other radical ideologies—detailed legislative proposals that could prevent the resurrection of poisonous ideas and practices in our national government.
Wade Miller, Senior Advisor for CRA, issued the following statement:
“DEI is deeply rooted throughout all aspects of the federal government, and it needs to be eliminated completely. Thankfully, the Trump administration has already embarked on a vitally necessary complete audit of each and every government program. We offer, in this report, what we hope are additional resources and tools that the new administration and Congress can use to identify, destroy, and permanently remove DEI from the federal government.”
Roderick Law, spokesman for FGI, issued the following statement:
“The dual study could both expedite the elimination of DEI from the executive branch and show just how quickly pernicious ideologies can spread inside the government. The nature of DEI is both divisive and anti-American, so why force it onto the military, the Commerce Department, or the EPA? After President Biden lavishly funded and pushed these controversial principles into every possible area of government, our hope is that raising these questions and offering Congress and responsible executive branch officials tools and suggestions can keep it from happening again.”
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