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President Donald Trump signed an executive order expanding his control over multiple independent government agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission (FCC), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which are otherwise out of direct White House control, on Tuesday (February 18), Politico reports.
The move would greatly expand Trump's power beyond boundaries of previous presidents, however, is expected to be faced with significant legal challenges. Congress set up the agencies to specifically act independently or semi-independently form the president as they can all enact regulations and impose hefty fines on businesses that violate their respective guidelines.
Trump's predecessors have not only opted not to challenge the agencies' independence in court, but also avoided any possible interference with their actions, rather appointed agencies to serve terms that outlast their presidency in order to help them avoid political pressure. The executive order will, instead, grant Russ Vought, Trump’s budget chief, with supervising power as the director of the Office of Management and Budget to “establish performance standards and management objectives” for independent agency leaders and “report periodically to the President on their performance and efficiency in attaining such standards and objectives.”
Vought will also be required to review and make changes to the agencies' budgets “as necessary and appropriate, to advance the President’s policies and priorities,” according to the executive order.
“For the Federal Government to be truly accountable to the American people, officials who wield vast executive power must be supervised and controlled by the people’s elected President,” the executive order states via Politico.