Trump revokes executive order banning discrimination in federal contracting
In a memo, the White House said the decades-old order had undermined "our national unity."
President Donald Trump this week revoked an executive order aimed at banning discrimination by federal contractors and subcontractors as part of his sweeping effort to crack down on federal diversity programs.
The White House said in a memo Wednesday that the order signed a day earlier "protects the civil rights of all Americans and expands individual opportunity by terminating radical DEI preferencing in federal contracting and directing federal agencies to relentlessly combat private sector discrimination."
The revoked order had required "affirmative action and prohibits federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin,” according to a summary by the Department of Labor. It was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, a Democrat, and initially covered government employees but was later narrowed to contractors.
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs an executive order at the White House.Bettmann Archive via Getty ImagesTrump's order on Tuesday also revoked executive actions by Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama that sought to further promote diversity and inclusion in hiring across the federal government.
Trump said in his order that the diversity efforts "violate the text and spirit of our longstanding Federal civil-rights laws" and "undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system."
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