AFL SUCCESSFULLY PUSHED BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TO RELEASE AGENCY “EQUITY ACTION PLANS”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On April 14, 2022, two weeks after America First Legal Foundation (AFL) filed its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, President Biden finally released the Equity Action Plans he had requested from each federal agency under Executive Order 13985, entitled “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government.”
Executive Order 13985 directed federal agencies to undertake a “comprehensive approach” to reshaping the federal government and advancing an “ambitious whole-of-government equity agenda.” The order was premised on alleged “systemic racism” within our government that had “unbearable costs,” and “entrenched disparities” that existed in “our laws and public policies, and in our public and private institutions.”
When no agency had publicly shared its Equity Action Plan more than two months past the initial deadline, AFL submitted FOIA requests to most federal agencies for these documents to ensure that the American public could see exactly how the Biden Administration planned to reshape existing federal policies and programs under the false claim of government-wide inequities.
Reportedly, AFL President and CEO Stephen Miller’s name had been invoked by White House officials as they considered whether to explicitly consider race in their plans, and the threat of litigation had “people spooked.” Biden Administration officials knew that AFL would have sued if the Equity Action Plans called for illegal and unconstitutional policies similar to those they had attempted last year, including the Small Business Administration’s racially preferential treatment in administering COVID relief and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s racially discriminatory criteria for administering its loan-forgiveness program. AFL successfully halted both in court.
The publicly released Equity Action Plans ultimately consisted mostly of bureaucratic-speak that generally avoided ambitious statements promoting dramatic overhaul, even though the Biden Administration had called for ambitious new racially-biased policies and programs. Meanwhile, many agencies notably contributed plans that would advance the Biden Administration’s radical transgender policies. The Biden Administration has, however, refused to release its agency “Equity Assessments” described in the executive order, which AFL had also requested. AFL will continue to press the Biden Administration to release their behind-the-scenes equity agenda and demand full transparency on behalf of the American people.
Statement From America First Legal President Stephen Miller:
“America First Legal is proud to be leading the charge to expose and ultimately defeat the Biden Administration’s radical equity agenda. As a civil rights organization, we are fiercely in favor of equality and fiercely opposed to equity — the latter being a euphemism for government-sponsored discrimination,” Stephen Miller said.
Read the VA’s Equity Action Plan here.
Read USDA’s Equity Action Plan here.
Read the Dept. of Treasury’s Equity Action Plan here.
Read the State Dept. Equity Action Plan here.
Read the SSA’s Equity Action Plan here.
Read SBA’s Equity Action Plan here.
Read DOL’s Equity Action Plan here.
Read DOI’s Equity Action Plan here.
Read HUD’s Equity Action Plan here.
Read HHS’s Equity Action Plan here.
Read FEMA’s Equity Action Plan here.
Read EPA’s Equity Action Plan here.
Read DOE’s Equity Action Plan here.
Read ED’s Equity Action Plan here.
Read DOJ’s Equity Action Plan here.
Read DOD’s Equity Action Plan here.
Read DHS’s Equity Action Plan here.
Read DOC’s Equity Action Plan here.
Read NASA’s Equity Action Plan here.
Read DOT’s Equity Action Plan here.
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