Ranking Member Maxine Waters Sends Letter to Trump Administration Blasting Illegal Termination of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Offices and Position

WASHINGTON, D.C. –  Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, sent a letter to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the United States Attorney General and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) following the Trump Administration’s recent Executive Order directing agencies to work together to terminate all Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA), and environmental justice offices and positions, as well as eliminate any equity-related federal grants and contracts. In the letter, Congresswoman Waters condemns the Administration’s Executive Order as unlawful, arguing that it directly contradicts existing law. Specifically, Waters highlights the law that created the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion, a program she established following the 2008 financial crisis. “To be clear, an executive order cannot override or amend a law passed by Congress.1  In this context, an executive order cannot repeal or negate the legal obligations of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which mandates that all Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) agencies establish an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI).2 The OMWI is legally required to promote diversity and inclusion within these agencies and their regulated...