Press Release: 2/11/2026
Pressley, Jackson Leads Colleagues in Demanding Transparency of Trump's Anti-DEIA Executive Orders
February 10, 2026
A Consistent Advocate for DEIA, Pressley Has Stridently Condemned Trump’s Anti-DEIA Measures, Fought for Equitable Policies Amid his Attacks
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) and Congressman Jonathan Jackson (IL-01) led 29 of their colleagues in demanding Donald Trump answer for his harmful executive actions attacking diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) across the federal government and private sector. In their letter, the lawmakers request a full accounting from the Trump administration on the implementation and impact of his executive orders, urging transparency for such reckless actions.
“One year ago, your administration launched an unprecedented assault on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) through Executive Orders 14151, 14168, 14170, and 14173,” wrote the lawmakers. “Altogether, these executive actions amount to a coordinated rollback of civil rights protections and a deliberate effort to intimidate the private sector into abandoning long-standing equity commitments.”
The lawmakers laid plain the critical impact of DEIA principles that improve the effectiveness of government and ensure support for vulnerable communities across all sectors.
“In practice, DEIA principles have guided decades of progress that strengthened civil rights protections, expanded access to opportunity, and improved federal services,” continued the lawmakers. “For example, NASA expanded accessibility across its facilities and educational programming, ensuring students with disabilities can better participate in STEM opportunities. The Small Business Administration launched targeted initiatives to strengthen veteran business outreach, advance Native American economic development, and combat anti-Semitism.”
Additionally, the lawmakers condemned Trump’s targeting of DEIA and his mass firing frenzy across the federal government, which resulted in the job loss of nearly 317,000 federal workers, as well as his intimidation tactics across the private sector to retreat from DEIA initiatives.
“Mentions of ‘DEI’ and its core principles have all but vanished from Fortune 500 reports,” the lawmakers said in their letter. “Furthermore, your administration has slashed billions of dollars in DEIA-related funding, as well as jeopardized nearly $1 billion in life-saving National Institutes of Health research on heart disease, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease, and substance use – grants threatened not because they are unworthy of research, but because they promoted equity.”
The letter calls into question these executive orders and their compliance with federal civil rights, accessibility, and equal employment opportunity laws. As such, the lawmakers demand the following information on impact and implementation of the EOs:
- The total number of federal employees whose positions were eliminated, defunded, reassigned, placed on administrative leave, or otherwise altered as a result of Executive Orders 14151, 14168, 14170, and 14173;
- A comprehensive list of all DEIA-related programs, offices, initiatives, and advisory bodies that have been discontinued, downsized, renamed, defunded, or otherwise modified pursuant to these Executive Orders;
- All guidance, memoranda, directives, training materials, internal analyses, or communications issued to federal agencies regarding the interpretation or implementation of these Executive Orders;
- All convenings, meetings, e-mails, correspondence, statements, and additional communications between the administration and private-sector entities, contractors, or external organizations concerning the adoption of DEIA restrictions.
The full text of the letter can be accessed here.
Joining Rep. Pressley in this letter are Representatives Joyce Beatty, Shontel Brown, Andre Carson, Gil Cisneros, Yvette Clarke, Jasmine Crockett, Madeleine Dean, Diana DeGette, Dwight Evans, Cleo Fields, Maxwell Frost, Sylvia Garcia, Jonathan Jackson, Pramila Jayapal, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Robin Kelly, Tim Kennedy, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Summer Lee, Betty McCollum, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Delia Ramirez, Jamie Raskin, Lateefah Simon, Eric Swalwell, Shri Thanedar, Dina Titus, Rashida Tlaib, Paul Tonko, and Bonnie Watson Coleman.
Rep. Pressley has consistently advocated for race-conscious policies to help close the racial wealth gap in America, uplift Black, brown, and other marginalized communities, and transform the criminal legal system to center the dignity, humanity, and equality of everyone who calls America home —especially during the second Trump Administration.
On January 22, 2025, Rep. Pressley issued a statement slamming the Trump Administration’s harmful executive actions on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), including the placement of DEI employees on leave ahead of their eventual layoffs.
Throughout Trump’s first year in office, Rep. Pressley has fought for federal workers and the essential services they provide to communities who need it most.
In February 2025, during Black History Month, Rep. Pressley and Senator Cory Booker reintroduced H.R. 40, legislation to establish a federal commission to examine the lasting legacy of slavery and develop reparations proposals for African American descendants of enslaved people.
In May 2025, she and Congressman Paul Tonko led 69 of their colleagues on a letter to the Inspector General of the Smithsonian Institution demanding an investigation of the impact of Donald Trump’s harmful Executive Order attacking Smithsonian museums – namely, the American Art Museum, the American Women’s History Museum, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture – attempting to erase histories of marginalized communities.
Earlier this year, Rep. Pressley delivered a floor speech slamming Trump’s attack on Smithsonian museums and affirming that Black history is American history.
Congresswoman Pressley and Senator Booker are the lead co-sponsors of the American Opportunity Accounts Act—also known as Baby Bonds—legislation that would create a federally-funded savings account for every American child in order to make economic opportunity a birthright for every child and help close the racial wealth gap.
Congresswoman Pressley is the lead sponsor of the People’s Justice Guarantee (PJG) – her comprehensive, decarceration-focused resolution that outlines a framework for a fair, equitable and just legal system.