President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order Thursday to require all federal grant funding to be approved by political appointees.
The move marks the administration’s latest effort to limit the power of civil servants and tighten the reins on federal payments after Trump’s team has spent its first months in office clamping down on agencies’ spending.
The expected order will require political appointees to review funding opportunity announcements and grant awards, according to the White House. The White House says the new process will involve more rigorous evaluation of grants by political appointees and subject matter experts.
“President Trump is ensuring that all taxpayer-funded projects benefit Americans, and the entire administration is committed to ending wasteful grants,” said White House spokesperson Harrison Fields.
“The days of unaccountable bureaucrats wasting taxpayer dollars on drag shows in Ecuador and other far-left initiatives are over. Today’s executive action restores merit-based grantmaking and will save billions for the American people,” Fields said.
RealClearPolitics was the first to report about the expected Trump order.
The administration has made grant-slashing a centerpiece of Trump’s second term.
The so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, highlights 15,488 grant terminations at agencies across the government on its website.
And Trump appointees have already moved to exert more control over spending within agencies.
EPA this year required employees to clear big-ticket spending with that agency’s DOGE team. Guidance issued by that agency required spending on transactions that surpass $50,000 to receive approval from one of EPA’s DOGE team members.
Political appointees’ oversight of federal spending slowed agency operations at NOAA this year after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — whose portfolio includes NOAA — insisted that he personally review any contract in excess of $100,000.
Bob Perciasepe, who served in senior roles at EPA including as deputy administrator during the Obama administration, estimated that the agency issued hundreds — and possibly more than a thousand — grants per year during his tenure there.
Typically, career employees ran those processes, Perciasepe said. He recalled receiving advice early in his career that one of the riskier things one could do as a political appointee was to get involved in the grant process, in part due to potential accusations of favoritism.
