# Asserting Presidential Control Over Independent Agencies

> Directed independent regulatory agencies — the FTC, FCC, SEC, FEC and others — to submit major rules for White House review, install White House liaisons.

Donald Trump · Government & Workforce · Executive Order · EO 14215 · Feb 18, 2025
Official record: https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2025-03063

## What happened

Directed independent regulatory agencies — the FTC, FCC, SEC, FEC and others — to submit major rules for White House review, install White House liaisons, and follow the President's and Attorney General's legal interpretations. The Fed's monetary-policy function was exempted, but its bank-supervision role was not.

## How it happened

Executive order signed February 18, 2025, asserting a 'unitary executive' theory of control over agencies Congress designed to be independent.

## Documented impact

- [negative / substantiated] Asserts unprecedented central control over agencies built to be insulated from political influence. — For the first time, OMB gains pre-publication review and spending oversight of independent regulators like the SEC, FTC, FCC and FEC, and bars them from advancing legal positions contrary to the President's.
- [negative / contested] Challenged in court as undermining congressionally mandated independence. — The DNC, DCCC and DSCC sued days later, arguing it unlawfully politicizes bodies like the FEC; the dispute feeds a broader fight over removal power and agency independence.
- [positive / contested] Supporters say it restores democratic accountability over unelected regulators. — Backers of the unitary-executive view argue all executive power flows from the elected President, so agencies should answer to him.

## Sources

- [Federal Register: EO 14215](https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2025-03063)
- [Common Cause explainer](https://www.commoncause.org/resources/explainer-trumps-executive-order-on-ensuring-accountability-for-all-agencies/)
- [Carlton Fields: DNC legal challenge](https://www.carltonfields.com/insights/publications/2025/dnc-files-first-challenge-to-executive-order-seizing-power-from-independent-regulatory-agencies)

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Canonical: https://eo.alanwizemann.com/eo/trump/asserting-presidential-control-over-independent-agencies