President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that claims to give him sweeping control over the budgets, policies and regulations of independent US agencies that oversee the energy sector, financial markets, trade and transportation.
The order seeks to give the White House unprecedented control over the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and more than a dozen other independent agencies. Trump's order asserts that "so-called independent agencies" lack sufficient accountability and should be brought under his direct control.
"For the federal government to be truly accountable to the American people, officials who wield vast executive power must be supervised and controlled by the people's elected president," according to the executive order, which was signed on Tuesday.
FERC, the CFTC and the SEC did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump's order would all but end years of attempts by the US Congress to shield agencies that oversee energy markets, trading, finance, maritime trade, railroads, and other businesses from excessive political influence. Congress made those agencies independent — often with a bipartisan board serving years-long terms — to ensure a degree of independence when agencies resolve business disputes, set market rules and issue new regulations.
In Trump's first term, FERC's commissioners and Republican chairman rejected the administration's plan to push through market rules to bail out coal and nuclear power plants, based partly on the concerns that doing so would destabilize power markets and cost consumers billions of dollars. It remains unclear if the agency in the future could assert that degree of independence under the order.
Trump's order would give the White House the ability to control independent agency budgets and require the appointment of a White House "liaison" in each agency. The order would require agency chairs to align their policies with the White House, subject all significant regulations to review by the administration, and would establish "performance standards" for agency leaders. The order provides an exception for the US Federal Reserve for monetary policy, but the agency's budget and its regulatory actions would come under White House control.
Other agencies also covered by the executive order include the US Surface Transportation Board, the US Federal Trade Commission, the US Chemical Safety Board, the US Export-Import Bank, the US Federal Maritime Commission and the US National Transportation Safety Board.
