With so much disruption and churn happening in Washington these days, it’s hard to get everyone to focus on one thing at a time. But President Trump has seemingly managed to do just that by singlehandedly re-ordering the global trading system with one stroke of his executive pen.
Last Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order that imposes a new 10-percent tariff on imports from all countries around the globe (even those, apparently, with all-penguin populations) and higher import taxes for each of about 60 countries. They are the largest tariff increases in modern history, ones that Trump argues will usher in a new era of American economic dominance and a domestic manufacturing renaissance.
His detractors see it differently – including a number in his own party. Pointing to the stock market’s freefall upon last week’s announcement and China’s immediate imposition of massive tariffs on U.S. products, they warn that his moves will plunge the U.S. into a recession – if not the even more dreaded stagflation, which couples high inflation with high unemployment.
Only time will tell how all this plays out – and what impacts it will have on the CRM industry – but nobody can say that President Trump isn’t making big moves.
New Executive Actions Target Humanities, Smithsonian
Of course, tariffs aren’t the only news from Washington. The new administration’s efforts to reduce and eliminate government programs have now reached the humanities.
According to news reports, millions of dollars in already-awarded federal grants for arts and cultural groups from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) have been canceled in the last week. Grantees have received notices informing them that the agency planned to repurpose its funding “in a new direction in furtherance of the president’s agenda.” In addition, it has been reported that the administration, through its Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is planning tor reduce NEH’s staff significantly.
In addition, President Trump has signed more executive orders in recent weeks that will impact a wide range of cultural and humanities programs.
- On March 14, Trump signed an EO that eliminates, among other federal independent agencies, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), which provides grants to libraries and museums nationwide. Subsequently, the administration placed approximately 80 percent of its staff on administrative leave.
- On March 27, Trump signed an EO entitled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which directs the Vice President to work to “remove improper ideology from” the Smithsonian Institution, including from the National Zoo. It also calls on the administration to work with Congress to ensure that future Smithsonian funding bars “exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy,” as well as making sure that the planned American Women’s History Museum does not “recognize men as women in any respect.”
The EO further requires the Interior Department to restore to their previous condition any public monuments, memorials, statues or markers that, since 2020, “have been removed or changed to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology.” It also requires the Department to “ensure that all public monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties within [its] jurisdiction do not contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times), and instead focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people or, with respect to natural features, the beauty, abundance, and grandeur of the American landscape.”
The programs and funding that the administration is trying to cut were authorized and appropriated by Congress, adding fuel to the growing debate over whether the Executive Branch can unilaterally hobble or shutter congressionally authorized agencies and refuse to spend money Congress directed to be spent. With a multitude of federal judges blocking the administration’s actions, these issues will likely not be resolved until the Supreme Court weighs in.
CEQ’s NEPA Rules Fade Away
As reported earlier in the ACRASphere, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has moved to eliminate its own regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
In response, ACRA has submitted comments to CEQ opposing its action. ACRA stated that, while it “supports efforts to make the NEPA process more efficient and effective. . . the elimination of CEQ’s implementing regulations will invite more litigation, delay projects, prevent public engagement, and threaten historic and cultural places without consideration of how federal actions impact them.”
ACRA pointed out that delegating NEPA rulemaking to individual federal agencies would result in inconsistent NEPA implementation, “causing confusion and delay as agencies and stakeholders are forced to navigate a patchwork of varying regulatory schemes.” ACRA also stated that the interim final rule will threaten the protection and preservation of historic properties, reduce public consultation, and potentially deprive Tribes of their ability to protect heritage resources, including sacred places.
ACRA concluded that, “[b]y leaving rulemaking to individual agencies, this interim final rule makes the work of improving NEPA significantly and needlessly more complex, time consuming, and expensive. The result will be a byzantine regulatory labyrinth that fosters confusion, inconsistency and inefficiency across the Federal government that will neither protect our heritage nor accelerate infrastructure projects.”
Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill….
Even as the White House continues its frenetic efforts to remake the federal government, Congress is working to advance big legislation despite Republicans’ narrow majorities.
The Senate is currently finalizing a budget framework that, once melded with a plan the House passed a few weeks back, will enable both chambers to move forward on a so-called “reconciliation” bill that will address taxes, defense and border funding and other top GOP priorities.
Priority One is extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts that expire at the end of the year. Maintaining those cuts at the same level carries a price tag of up to $4.5 trillion over the next 10 years. But Senate Republicans are looking to declare that extending the tax cuts will cost nothing, since they would merely be extending current law. While such accounting methods probably won’t cut it for the average household or business, declaring the tax-cut extension as having no impact on the budget frees them up to include additional tax cuts, and potentially reduce the amount of government spending they need to cut to pay for it all.
But this accounting move is raising alarm bells among fiscal hawks of all ideological stripes, who warn that fudging the numbers risks greater budgetary mischief in the future. And House Republicans, who factored in the full cost of extending the tax cuts ion its budget plan, may not accept the Senate’s approach. Stay tuned . . .
ACRA to Hill: Invest in Historic and Cultural Resources
The wrangling over taxes and spending comes as Congress also needs to begin work on keeping the government open past October 1, when the new fiscal year begins. Having just finished up funding levels for the current fiscal year a few weeks ago, Congress is rapidly ramping up work on appropriations for fiscal year 2026.
Last week, ACRA submitted written testimony to the House Appropriations Committee’s Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, urging the Subcommittee to provide adequate funding for key preservation and cultural resource programs.
In particular, ACRA called on the Subcommittee to provide $225 million from the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF), including $70 million for SHPOs and $34 million for THPOs. ACRA noted that while Congress provided a record $204 million from the HPF in FY2023, it has appropriated less since then, even as demands on SHPOs increase and the number of THPOs rise.
ACRA also urged the Subcommittee to provide $46 million for the National Park Service’s (NPS) National Recreation and Preservation Cultural Programs, through which NPS provides technical assistance and support for resource protection; $3 million for the new African American Burial Grounds Preservation Program; and $10 million for Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) Grants, to ensure that the program has resources to effectively administer recent NAGPRA rules changes.
Lawmakers Ask ACRA To Alert Them to Stalled and Canceled Contracts
Several Capitol Hill lawmakers have asked ACRA and its members to inform them about instances where federal contracts have been cancelled or delayed.
If your firm has had a project cancelled or stalled, please let us know as much information as possible via this form. This information will be used internally by ACRA staff to understand the full scope of cancellations across multiple federal agencies.