Weekly Roundup Archive: WR 2/22/25

2/24 - New White Paper on FOIA Data from Chief FOIA Officer Council Technology Committee’s Working Group (DOJ; direct to white paper)

2/24 - Special Counsel Dellinger Statement on Request that MSPB Stay Terminations of Probationary Employees (OSC; direct to redacted stay request example; see also, 2/25 MSPB Grants Stays of Probationary Employee Terminations with linked MSPB order; all 6 MSPB decisions are posted at the Nonprecedential Decisions page – see “John Doe” on 2/25/25)

2/24 - SBA Administrator Loeffler Issues Memo on Day One Priorities (SBA)

2/24 - Social Security Eliminates Wasteful Department (SSA)

2/25 - CDC Reports Nearly 24% Decline in U.S. Drug Overdose Deaths (CDC; direct to data page)

2/25 - U.S. House Prices Rise 4.5 Percent over the Prior Year; Up 1.4 Percent from the Third Quarter of 2024 (FHFA; direct to report)

2/25 - Secretary Rollins Takes Action to Prevent Illegal Aliens from Accessing Food Stamps (FNS; direct to letter; see also, SNAP elibility for non-citizens)

2/25 - Social Security Dissolves Duplicative Office (SSA)

2/26 - Attorney General Pam Bondi Dismisses DEI Lawsuits Involving Police Officers and Firefighters, Advances President Trump’s Mandate to End Illegal DEI Policies (DOJ)

2/26 - FTC Launches Joint Labor Task Force to Protect American Workers (FTC; see also, Reuters article)

2/26 - Secretary Scott Turner Cuts Red Tape by Terminating AFFH Rule (HUD; see also, archived Biden AFFH website)

2/26 - USDA Invests Up To $1 Billion to Combat Avian Flu and Reduce Egg Prices (USDA)

2/26 - U.S. Postal Service Announces Refined Service Standards and Cost Reductions (USPS; direct to FAQ)

2/27 - CDC Statement on Measles Outbreak (CDC; see also, NBC News article)

2/27 - Pentagon Releases Digital Content Refresh Memorandum (DOD; direct to memo)

2/27 - Attorney General Pamela Bondi Releases First Phase of Declassified Epstein Files (DOJ; see also, AG Select Publications page and NPR article)

2/27 - U.S. Department of Education Launches “End DEI” Portal (ED; direct to website; see also, related Guardian article)

2/27 - SEC Announces Dismissal of Civil Enforcement Action Against Coinbase (SEC; see also, NYT article)

2/27 - On Thailand’s Forced Return of Uyghurs to China (State)

2/28 - Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism Announces Visits to 10 College Campuses that Experienced Incidents of Antisemitism (DOJ; see also, LA Times article)

2/28 - National Archives Launches New Webpage for President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records (NARA; direct to website)

2/28 - Social Security Announces Workforce and Organization Plans (SSA)

Information below is from congress.gov. Date listed is date signed into law, and the description is an abbreviated version of bill summary available on that website.

None this week

See full weekly list of Congressional hearings on congress.gov.

2/25 - Justice Delayed: The Crisis of Undermanned Federal Courts (H Judiciary; see also, opening statements from ranking member and subcommittee ranking member)

2/25 - The Government Accountability Office’s 2025 High Risk List (H Oversight; see also, opening statements from chair and ranking member | GAO report page | testimony page | press release)

2/25 - ‘Subject to the Jurisdiction Thereof’: Birthright Citizenship and the Fourteenth Amendment (H Judiciary; see also, subcommittee ranking member opening statement)

2/26 - Step by Step: The Artemis Program and NASA's Path To Human Exploration of the Moon, Mars, and Beyond (H Science)

White House press releases and executive actions

This week's news/media reading list

Trump Trackers page

Note: I have captured each of this week's links in Internet Archive, but delayed indexing may mean some do not yet appear in searches.

2/24 - The Coast Guard Faces Challenges Interdicting Non-Commercial Vessels Smuggling Drugs into the United States (DHS)

2/26 - Funding dashboard added, with a pdf download option (Ukraine Oversight)

2/26 - Emergency Food Assistance in Ethiopia: Gaps in USAID’s Award Administration, Monitoring, and Incident Reporting Hindered Its Ability to Detect Widespread Food Diversion (USAID)

2/27 - FAFSA Simplification Act and Student Loan Forgiveness Initiatives Accounting (ED)

2/27 - White Paper: A Comparative Study of International Postal Models (USPS)

2/28 - ACF Used Contractor Personnel To Perform Inherently Governmental Functions and Paid Millions in Potentially Unallowable Costs (HHS)

Note: GAO reports page was down this week, so I was unable to fully review available reports. (This happens on occasion and I don’t believe it’s related to ongoing purges.) Also, the CRS site is having technical glitches with the search function.

2/24 - Trump Administration Environmental-Justice-Related Executive Orders: Potential Implications for EPA Programs (CRS)

2/24 - Tracking Federal Grant Awards: A Brief Overview (CRS)

2/24 - DOD Policy Changes: Reproductive Health Benefits (CRS)

2/24 - Persistent Chemicals: DOD Needs to Provide Congress More Information on Costs Associated with Addressing PFAS (GAO)

2/25 - The Impoundment Control Act of 1974: Background and Congressional Consideration of Rescissions (CRS)

2/26 - Trump Administration Deactivates the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database (CRS; see also, data via OpenICPSR and BJS)

2/27 - Congressional and Presidential Authority to Impose Import Tariffs (CRS)

Early Feb – TRAC moved from trac.syr.edu to new home at https://tracreports.org/ ; still migrating some content

2/24 - X post from USAO-District of Columbia asserts in their role as “Trumps’ lawyers,” they will stand against “entities like the AP” (X, via archive.ph; see also, related TPM article)

2/25 - Food Price Outlook – Summary Findings (ERS; direct to data page)

2/25 - DHS Policy, Memos, and Directives section – with 3 documents – added to FOIA Library (DHS)

2/25 - Aging and Wildfire Risk to Communities (ERS; direct to report)

2/28 - Instruction Memorandum page: Six addional policies marked as “inactive” (BLM)

2/28 - Memo on FEVS Reports posted to website [re: “DEIA” questions and delaying this year’s survey] (CHCOC)

2/24 - Dems Issue Letter Telling Trump He Doesn’t Have Authority to Eliminate USADF (H Foreign Affairs; direct to letter)

2/24 - More than 100 House Democrats Push Federal Agencies to Regain Order, Renounce Musk Chaos (H Oversight; direct to letter)

2/24 - Ranking Members Larsen, Wilson and Vice Ranking Member Scholten Send Letter to US Army Corps of Engineers After Trump Administration Undercuts Clean Water Act (H Transport; direct to letter)

2/25 - Ranking Member Connolly Investigates Interim U.S. Attorney for District of Columbia’s Potential Abuse of Public Office (H Oversight; direct to letter; see also, 2/24 “X post” in miscellaenous section above)

2/26 - Ranking Members Connolly and Frost Request Answers From EPA on the Ceased Enforcement of Environmental Protection Laws and Enactment of Project 2025 Playbook (H Oversight; direct to letter)

2/28 - Trump, Musk Plan to Shutter Interior Offices Nationwide, Devastating Local Economies and Abandoning Tribes (H Natural Resources; direct to list of affected offices/districts)