The Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday morning that it will place 171 employees on leave to comply with President Donald Trump‘s crackdown on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
“Under President Trump, the EPA will be focused on our core mission to protect human health and the environment, while Powering the Great American Comeback,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin wrote in a statement. “The previous Administration used DEI and Environmental Justice to advance ideological priorities, distributing billions of dollars to organizations in the name of climate equity. This ends now. We will be good stewards of tax dollars and do everything in our power to deliver clean air, land, and water to every American, regardless of race, religion, background, and creed.”
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Multiple agencies have taken steps to comply with Trump’s Day One executive order titled “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth canceled all of the Pentagon’s annual celebrations of “identity months” despite Trump’s Black History Month proclamation.
The Defense Department is “proud of our warriors and their history” but will choose to “focus on the character of their service instead of their immutable characteristics,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
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Earlier this week, the State Department paused all actions for dozens of employee groups focused on identity, a move celebrated by the White House.
“President Trump campaigned on ending the scourge of DEI from our federal government and returning America to a merit based society where people are hired based on their skills, not for the color of their skin,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that commended agencies for ending DEI practices. “This is another win for Americans of all races, religions, and creeds.”
