Latest news with #FunctionalGovernmentInitiative
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Biden's EPA pushed to 'de-gender' agency bathrooms, hire more LGBTQ staff, unearthed memo reveals
Former President Joe Biden's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sought to "de-gender" bathrooms and locker rooms in agency offices as part of its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) push, according to an unearthed memo confirmed to Fox News Digital. A Biden-era EPA internal memo, obtained by the watchdog Functional Government Initiative and first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, recommended that the federal environmental agency "increase participation in voluntary self-disclosure of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI)" and "incorporate LGBTQIA+ prospective employees into hiring and recruiting activities." The Biden administration also pushed to "de-gender restroom/locker room access" at agency offices, "add gender pronouns in MS 360" and "change style manual requirement for gendered honorifics in Agency Correspondence," according to the 38-page report, which the EPA confirmed to Fox News Digital. The agency highlighted their efforts toward "increased access to gender-neutral bathrooms," revealing that a nationwide survey conducted by the Office of Facilities Management found that, at the time, there were 155 gender-neutral bathrooms and locker rooms for the entire agency. Epa Terminates Biden Admin's Green Grants Worth $20B, Zeldin Says Additionally, according to the memo, only four of their 10 regional offices did not have gender-neutral bathrooms. Read On The Fox News App Another objective of the Biden EPA included ensuring "inclusion of LGBTQIA+ employees in recruitment efforts, career development and training, data collection, analysis, and measurement, DEIA employee engagement, sustainability, accountability, and accessibility." Stacey Abrams Slammed After Defending $2 Billion In Biden-era Epa Funds To Buy Green Energy Appliances In accordance with Biden's order making DEI a priority of his administration, the EPA charged "all agencies with taking steps to ensure that Federal employees have their gender identities accurately reflected and identified in the workplace, including by exploring opportunities to expand access to gender-neutral facilities inside federal workplaces." "Ignoring actual issues plaguing our nation, the Biden administration, unsurprisingly, chose to expend resources on controversial DEI initiatives," Functional Government Initiative told Fox News Digital in a statement. "De-gendering restrooms and diverting staff time to these policies did nothing for EPA's statutory mission. Yet, the Biden administration fostered dysfunction by advancing radical ideologies of the few, at the expense of the many." The report comes as President Donald Trump's EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin reworks the key environmental agency with the termination of hundreds of millions in DEI and environmental grants issued by the previous administration. The EPA has been working closely with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the cost-cutting department led by Elon Musk, to make the spending cuts. "I am canceling over 400 DEI and Environmental Justice grants across 9 grant programs totaling $1.7 BILLION, bringing @EPA's total savings to over $2 BILLION!" Zeldin wrote in a post on X on Monday. "This fourth round of EPA/@DOGE cuts was our biggest yet." Fox News Digital reached out to Biden for comment but did not immediately receive a article source: Biden's EPA pushed to 'de-gender' agency bathrooms, hire more LGBTQ staff, unearthed memo reveals
Fox News
12-03-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Biden's EPA pushed to 'de-gender' agency bathrooms, hire more LGBTQ staff, unearthed memo reveals
Former President Joe Biden's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sought to "de-gender" bathrooms and locker rooms in agency offices as part of its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) push, according to an unearthed memo confirmed to Fox News Digital. A Biden-era EPA internal memo, obtained by the watchdog Functional Government Initiative and first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, recommended that the federal environmental agency "increase participation in voluntary self-disclosure of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI)" and "incorporate LGBTQIA+ prospective employees into hiring and recruiting activities." The Biden administration also pushed to "de-gender restroom/locker room access" at agency offices, "add gender pronouns in MS 360" and "change style manual requirement for gendered honorifics in Agency Correspondence," according to the 38-page report, which the EPA confirmed to Fox News Digital. The agency highlighted their efforts toward "increased access to gender-neutral bathrooms," revealing that a nationwide survey conducted by the Office of Facilities Management found that, at the time, there were 155 gender-neutral bathrooms and locker rooms for the entire agency. Additionally, according to the memo, only four of their 10 regional offices did not have gender-neutral bathrooms. Another objective of the Biden EPA included ensuring "inclusion of LGBTQIA+ employees in recruitment efforts, career development and training, data collection, analysis, and measurement, DEIA employee engagement, sustainability, accountability, and accessibility." In accordance with Biden's order making DEI a priority of his administration, the EPA charged "all agencies with taking steps to ensure that Federal employees have their gender identities accurately reflected and identified in the workplace, including by exploring opportunities to expand access to gender-neutral facilities inside federal workplaces." "Under the leadership of then-EPA administrator Michael Regan, in 2021, the agency created an employee-led 'DEIA implementation team' that was empowered to establish workgroups and take DEI-related actions," Functional Government Initiative said in a statement that was posted on X and shared with the Free Beacon. "The goal, according to the Biden EPA, was to 'embed' DEI agency-wide, create 'cultural change,' and establish the agency as a DEI model for the entire federal government." The report comes as President Donald Trump's EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin reworks the key environmental agency with the termination of hundreds of millions in DEI and environmental grants issued by the previous administration. The EPA has been working closely with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the cost-cutting department led by Elon Musk, to make the spending cuts. "I am canceling over 400 DEI and Environmental Justice grants across 9 grant programs totaling $1.7 BILLION, bringing @EPA's total savings to over $2 BILLION!" Zeldin wrote in a post on X on Monday. "This fourth round of EPA/@DOGE cuts was our biggest yet." Fox News Digital reached out to Biden and the Functional Government Initiative for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New study reveals 'staggering' scope of how much DEI was infused into government under Biden
FIRST ON FOX: A study published this week details the degree to which the Biden administration infused DEI policies into the federal government in a report the authors say can serve as a resource for the Trump administration to continue to identify and "destroy" the practice. The new study, conducted by the Functional Government Initiative and the Center for Renewing America, identified 460 programs across 24 government agencies in the Biden administration that diverted resources to DEI initiatives. At least $1 trillion of taxpayer money was infused with DEI principles, the study states. The study lays out DEI infusion across several federal agencies, including the Defense Department's plan to "integrate environmental/economic justice tools" into training, FEMA's need to "instill equity as a foundation of emergency management," and the Labor Department's push to "embed equity in a sustainable manner that recognizes the multiple and overlapping identities held by workers." Trump To Shift Away From Dei Visa Policy That 'Surged' Under Biden, Expert Says On his first day in office, President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 13985, which was aimed at carrying out the stated goal of "advancing equity and racial justice through the federal government." Read On The Fox News App "This order mandated a whole of government approach to injecting DEI philosophy into the federal budget," the study says. "In alignment with this directive, the Biden administration apparently spent trillions in DEI-related initiatives in a manner and at a speed that has shrouded public awareness of the financial burden."'Disturbing': Whistleblower Fumes At Biden-era Agency Promoting Dei Program As Department's 'Mission' The report outlines how, over the next four years, the amount spent on DEI efforts was "staggering." "The cumulative budget of these programs exceeds $1.1 trillion," the report says. "However, this figure does not encompass all DEI-related expenditures, nor does it include every program across these agencies. The findings reveal a substantial increase in DEI spending, largely attributable to policy directives under the Biden administration." "Of the programs identified, 10 are exclusively dedicated to DEI and could be considered for quick elimination; 144 allocate significant resources to DEI initiatives and should be reviewed if those are to be ended; and 306 programs incorporate DEI to varying degrees, though the extent of their DEI focus is indeterminate based on the available documentation." The report goes department by department and calculates the DEI programs and provides recommendations on how they should be addressed. "DEI is deeply rooted throughout all aspects of the federal government, and it needs to be eliminated completely," Center for Renewing America senior adviser Wade Miller told Fox News Digital in a statement. "Thankfully, the Trump administration has already embarked on a vitally necessary complete audit of each and every government program. We offer, in this report, what we hope are additional resources and tools that the new administration and Congress can use to identify, destroy and permanently remove DEI from the federal government." Click To Get The Fox News App FGI spokesman Roderick Law explained to Fox News Digital that the dual study "could both expedite the elimination of DEI from the executive branch and show just how quickly pernicious ideologies can spread inside the government." "The nature of DEI is both divisive and anti-American," Law added, "so why force it onto the military or the Commerce Department or the EPA? After President Biden lavishly funded and pushed these controversial principles into every possible area of government, our hope is that raising these questions and offering Congress and responsible executive branch officials tools and suggestions can keep it from happening again." The Trump administration has made it a top priority to rid DEI from the federal bureaucracy and the president has signed multiple executive orders aimed at addressing what it argues is a practice that does more harm than good by ignoring meritocracy. Fox News Digital reached out to Biden's office for article source: New study reveals 'staggering' scope of how much DEI was infused into government under Biden
Fox News
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
New study reveals 'staggering' scope of how much DEI was infused into government under Biden
FIRST ON FOX: A study published this week details the degree to which the Biden administration infused DEI policies into the federal government in a report the authors say can serve as a resource for the Trump administration to continue to identify and "destroy" the practice. The new study, conducted by the Functional Government Initiative and the Center for Renewing America, identified 460 programs across 24 government agencies in the Biden administration that diverted resources to DEI initiatives. At least $1 trillion of taxpayer money was infused with DEI principles, the study states. The study lays out DEI infusion across several federal agencies, including the Defense Department's plan to "integrate environmental/economic justice tools" into training, FEMA's need to "instill equity as a foundation of emergency management," and the Labor Department's push to "embed equity in a sustainable manner that recognizes the multiple and overlapping identities held by workers." On his first day in office, President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 13985, which was aimed at carrying out the stated goal of "advancing equity and racial justice through the federal government." "This order mandated a whole of government approach to injecting DEI philosophy into the federal budget," the study says. "In alignment with this directive, the Biden administration apparently spent trillions in DEI-related initiatives in a manner and at a speed that has shrouded public awareness of the financial burden."'DISTURBING': WHISTLEBLOWER FUMES AT BIDEN-ERA AGENCY PROMOTING DEI PROGRAM AS DEPARTMENT'S 'MISSION' The report outlines how, over the next four years, the amount spent on DEI efforts was "staggering." "The cumulative budget of these programs exceeds $1.1 trillion," the report says. "However, this figure does not encompass all DEI-related expenditures, nor does it include every program across these agencies. The findings reveal a substantial increase in DEI spending, largely attributable to policy directives under the Biden administration." "Of the programs identified, 10 are exclusively dedicated to DEI and could be considered for quick elimination; 144 allocate significant resources to DEI initiatives and should be reviewed if those are to be ended; and 306 programs incorporate DEI to varying degrees, though the extent of their DEI focus is indeterminate based on the available documentation." The report goes department by department and calculates the DEI programs and provides recommendations on how they should be addressed. "DEI is deeply rooted throughout all aspects of the federal government, and it needs to be eliminated completely," Center for Renewing America senior adviser Wade Miller told Fox News Digital in a statement. "Thankfully, the Trump administration has already embarked on a vitally necessary complete audit of each and every government program. We offer, in this report, what we hope are additional resources and tools that the new administration and Congress can use to identify, destroy and permanently remove DEI from the federal government." FGI spokesman Roderick Law explained to Fox News Digital that the dual study "could both expedite the elimination of DEI from the executive branch and show just how quickly pernicious ideologies can spread inside the government." "The nature of DEI is both divisive and anti-American," Law added, "so why force it onto the military or the Commerce Department or the EPA? After President Biden lavishly funded and pushed these controversial principles into every possible area of government, our hope is that raising these questions and offering Congress and responsible executive branch officials tools and suggestions can keep it from happening again." The Trump administration has made it a top priority to rid DEI from the federal bureaucracy and the president has signed multiple executive orders aimed at addressing what it argues is a practice that does more harm than good by ignoring meritocracy. Fox News Digital reached out to Biden's office for comment.
