Trump Executive Orders Could Shift FCC Telework, Negate Rosenworcel Regulations

Communications attorneys told us that while it's unclear if all the orders apply to the FCC, due to its status as an independent agency, Carr will likely take his cues from them regardless. “Chairman Carr will focus the agency’s work on competently carrying out the Commission’s statutory mission, as defined by Congress, without promoting invidious forms of discrimination,” Carr said in a release Tuesday rescinding the agency’s DEI policies. “President Trump’s leadership on this will deliver great results for the American people as agencies act pursuant to his Executive Order.”

The executive order freezing new regulations bars agencies from issuing rules that haven’t been approved by an agency head that Trump designates -- such as Carr -- but also urges agencies to immediately withdraw rules that have been sent to the Office of the Federal Register but haven’t yet been published or taken effect. Moreover, the EO suggests agencies “consider postponing for 60 days” the effective date of rules that have been published in the FR to open a comment period on them. It isn’t clear if such a directive would apply to independent agencies like the FCC, and rescinding rules that have been voted on but not yet published would likely put agencies on shaky legal ground, attorneys told us. “Just call it ‘the telecom lawyer's full employment act of 2025,’ as all of this is certainly headed toward litigation,” said TechFreedom Senior Counsel Jim Dunstan in an email.

The Carr FCC was already seen as likely to target a number of policies from the previous FCC for rollback, so the EO probably won’t lead to more rules being rescinded beyond those existing targets, said American Action Forum’s Jeffrey Westling. Because the Rosenworcel FCC largely abided by “pencils down” directives from Congress in its final months, there are few policies the EO would cover, Dunstan said. Possible rules include policies on MVPD blackout reporting, a January order on robocalls and last-minute rejections of complaints against broadcasters over their news content, Dunstan said (see 2501160081).

The FCC’s status as an independent agency is likely to be more of an academic point as long as Carr shares the policy goals of the White House, attorneys said. As Carr told us in an interview in November, “After all, it is going to be [Trump's] administration and his agenda we’ll be pushing.” In his DEI statement Tuesday, Carr cited both Trump’s order calling for an end to federal DEI efforts and the Communications Act as legal basis for ending DEI policies at the agency. In the statement, Carr said he was eliminating the Communications Equity and Diversity Council and the Digital Discrimination Task Force and removing directives to promote DEI from the FCC’s strategic plan, budget, economic reports and performance plans. The statement doesn’t discuss the future of FCC departments such as the Office of Workplace Diversity or the Office of Native Affairs and Policy. Trump’s EO calls for agencies to “terminate, to the maximum extent allowed by law, all DEI, DEIA, and ‘environmental justice’ offices and positions within 60 days."

"What a shame," FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said in a release referring to Carr's DEI announcement. Gomez is a former chair of the FCC's diversity committee, which was revived under Ajit Pai, the previous Republican FCC chair. "Let’s be clear, diversity, equity, and inclusion does not equal discrimination. It is precisely our efforts to be equitable and inclusive that strengthen our ability to fulfill our mission."

“Carr’s forceful endorsement of a less equitable society and less equitable communications policy is devastating,” said Cheryl Leanza, who represents the United Church of Christ Media Justice office and co-chairs the Leadership Council on Civil and Human Rights Task Force on Media and Telecom. “It is not consistent with actions by previous Chairs, including [Kevin Martin] and [Michael Powell], or [Ajit Pai]’s Diversity & Digital Empowerment Advisory Committee,” she said. In a release, American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley said, “Undoing these programs is just another way for President Trump to undermine the merit-based civil service and turn federal hiring and firing decisions into loyalty tests.” The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council declined to comment, and CEDC Chair Heather Gate did not immediately respond to a request for comment. CEDC member Christopher Terry, of the University of Minnesota, told us that as of Tuesday afternoon, the CEDC had not communicated the council’s dissolution to members.

Along with the DEI order, another EO bars federal entities from recognizing more than two genders. That likely applies to the FCC’s equal employment opportunity order, which requires broadcasters to submit forms to the agency on their workforce demographics that include an option for nonbinary genders. Oral argument on that order is set to be heard in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Feb. 4.

Another EO, seen as targeting tech companies that worked with the Biden administration efforts to combat COVID-19 misinformation, bars federal officials from engaging in spending taxpayer dollars on “any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen.” Broadcast networks targeted by FCC policies over their news content might be able to point to that language in future filings seeking court intervention, but as a statement in an EO that may not even bind the FCC, it is unlikely to sway proceedings on its own, Westling said.

Yet another Monday EO brings back the previous Trump administration’s Schedule F order lowering federal worker protections against firing and rescinds Joe Biden’s order strengthening federal workforce protections. The order “is a blatant attempt to corrupt the federal government by eliminating employees’ due process rights so they can be fired for political reasons,” Kelley said in a release. The order is expected to lead to extensive litigation, attorneys told us. The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents FCC employees, didn’t comment Tuesday, but the NTEU opposed Schedule F during the first Trump administration.

Several other EOs targeting federal employees accompanied the Schedule F measure, including an order directing agencies to end federal telework and another instituting a hiring freeze. The union’s current contract with the FCC provides for telework eight out of every ten days per pay period, an FCC employee told us.

An EO on DOGE requires all agencies to set up “DOGE Teams” at their agencies consisting of engineers, attorneys and human resources specialists, and also requires that DOGE has “full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT systems.”

The DOGE EO seems on its face to apply to the FCC, University of Michigan Assistant law Professor Daniel Deacon wrote in an email. How much direct authority the president has with respect to independent agencies “is a debated question on which there’s very little law,” he added. Some EOs apply to independent agencies, he said, pointing to EO 12866. Issued in 1993 by President Bill Clinton, it sets up the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs review process. While that EO exempts independent agencies from the process, it subjects them to some obligations such as the need to prepare a “unified regulatory agenda,” Deacon said. Carr is seen as likely following the EO, attorneys and analysts told us. “The same way Ajit Pai was very reliable for Trump policy, I think Brendan Carr is the same, if not more so,” said Strand Consult’s Roslyn Layton.