According to the latest White House guidance document obtained by local media, starting next Monday, dozens of independent agencies including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will be included in the regulatory scope of the White House.Any rules would need approval from Trump allies.Coinciding with the "Trump vs. Powell" occasion, this trend also marks the resumption of US executive power towards the White House after decades.
It is reported that the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) issued a memorandum to various regulatory agencies on Thursday aimed at ending their independence. In the 25-page document, the White House requires these agencies to involve the White House Oversight Office at all stages of rulemaking. Meanwhile, each independent agency has until Monday to appoint a regulatory policy official — typically someone endorsed by the Trump administration.
This memorandum is intended to implement Executive Order 14215 signed by Trump in February this year. Under Trump’s personal interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, he believes he has the authority to oversee and control all agencies throughout the executive branch.
(Source: Federal Register)
The impact of this executive order is far-reaching. At least 20 committees and councils established by Congress, largely to be independent of the president, will return to the supervision of the White House, covering a wide range of economic activities such as finance, energy, labor, and media.
The memo requires the agencies' management teams, boards of governors or committees not to publicly discuss proposed regulations without White House approval.
In addition to the SEC and CFTC mentioned earlier, those affected includeFederal Deposit Insurance Corporation,office of the comptroller of the currency, as well as those who were laid off by Musk’s “Government Efficiency Department” and only a few people were left.Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In addition, it was established after the Watergate scandal to ensure that the president of the United States did not improperly influence political campaign investigations.Federal Election CommissionIt will also face Trump’s regulation.
Another very unique case is the Federal Reserve. According to Trump’s executive order and latest guidance documents,The Fed's monetary policy function, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), will remain independent, but any rules it enacts as a banking regulator will need to be submitted to the White House for review.
It is unclear whether Trump's actions will be subject to legal challenges. Peter Shane, an emeritus law professor at Ohio State University, explained that the Supreme Court may not yet accept Trump’s administrative theory.Ruling that the Fed has lost its independence would be an extreme step, but simply applying Trump's order to banking supervision would not completely solve the problem., after all, Fed officials cannot obtain "half of the authority" or be "removed of half of their duties."
This is also one of the issues being considered by the U.S. High Court.
The Trump administration filed an emergency request with the Supreme Court last week, challenging the 1935 Humphrey’s Executor case, which for decades has restricted U.S. presidents from firing independent agency commissioners at will, people familiar with the matter said. During his last term, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Trump had the authority to fire the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at will.
The American media also believes thatOnce Trump wins this lawsuit, it will provide him with a legal basis to attack Powell..
Of course, as mentioned above, firing the Fed chairman is not the same as "ordering the Fed to cut interest rates obediently." U.S. law does not require the FOMC to elect the chairman of the Federal Reserve to serve as chairman.
Furthermore,The Fed chairman also has only 1 vote in the vote on interest rates. Considering that there is currently no "dovish wave" against Powell within the Fed, simply replacing Powell alone will not have a decisive role in changing the policy path.