PRESS RELEASE: EPIC Condemns Executive Order Illegally Undermining Independent Agencies

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Trump’s latest executive order claiming to bring independent agencies under his direct control is an illegal and unprecedented assault on the guardrails Congress has long used to protect regulators from undue political interference. EPIC condemns the order, which endangers the bipartisan work of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and other independent agencies to protect consumers and safeguard personal data.

“For more than a century, independent agencies have served the American people by interpreting and enforcing essential consumer protection standards,” said Alan Butler, Executive Director of EPIC. “These agencies are responsible for ensuring that our most sensitive data is secured and not abused. We all lose if these independent regulators lose their protection from political machinations.”

Across the federal government, Congress has ensured that certain agencies can carry out their functions with a degree of legal independence from the President. The officials who oversee agencies like the FTC and the FCC are appointed by the President but can only be removed for good cause, not at will. This allows for presidential oversight while insulating the important work of the agencies from unwarranted politicization.

Tuesday’s radical order from the President purports to eliminate these protections by forcing independent agencies to comply with “performance standards” and “management objectives” set by the White House, requiring agency heads to take policy direction from the White House, making the agencies submit pending regulations for White House review, empowering the White House to alter the agencies’ spending, and banning agency personnel—including commissioners from the opposing party—from publicly disagreeing with the President or Attorney General over their interpretation of the law.

These illegal directives would make it impossible to carry out the rulemaking and enforcement duties Congress has assigned without the threat of political meddling by the White House. Routine FTC and FCC functions like enforcing data security and privacy protections, investigating businesses engaged in harmful data practices, and adopting rules to implement acts of Congress may be converted into political weapons.

The order—along with the administration’s recent claim that decades-old protections against political firings are unconstitutional—could make it easier for the President to expel FTC and FCC commissioners from the opposing party despite Congress’s command that the agencies be overseen by bipartisan leadership.

The President has already fired Democratic leaders of several independent agencies like the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, waged an unlawful campaign to shut down the consumer and data protection work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and illegally seized vast stores of personal data at agencies like the Office of Personnel Management and the Treasury Department.

EPIC strongly opposes this executive order, which is unlawful, ill-advised, and a dangerous assault on the impartial enforcement of the law.

###

About EPIC

EPIC (the Electronic Privacy Information Center) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit established in 1994 to protect privacy, freedom of expression, and democratic values in the information age through advocacy, research, and litigation. EPIC has long advocated for robust safeguards to protect Americans’ personal information. EPIC has called for greater transparency in the government’s data collection and privacy practices and brings lawsuits against government entities that have threatened Americans’ civil liberties.