President Donald Trump’s early executive orders will be back in the spotlight this weekend when he hits a milestone in his second stint in the Oval Office.
Sunday, April 20, marks Trump’s 90th day in office — a de facto deadline for Cabinet secretaries and senior aides to show progress on executive directives from his first days in office. Trump signed roughly 70 executive orders and memos during his first two weeks, about a dozen of which have specific 90-day deadlines listed in the text.
Trump got ahead of one deadline late Thursday, extending a government hiring freeze to July 15. The Department of Government Efficiency, the Office of Personnel Management, and the Office of Management and Budget are also due to submit to the White House by Sunday a plan to reduce the federal workforce “through efficiency improvements and attrition” under Trump’s Jan. 20 order.
The extended freeze comes as the Trump administration ramps up federal buyouts. Some 20,000 Internal Revenue Service workers have expressed interest in the second round of offers, reducing the agency’s workforce by as much as 20%.
On Friday, Trump announced new rules to shift thousands of civil service workers into the political ranks, likely making them easier to terminate. The move adds a new category of federal employees between presidential appointees and senior executive service.
“Moving forward, career government employees, working on policy matters, will be classified as ‘Schedule Policy/Career,’ and will be held to the highest standards of conduct and performance,” Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform. “If these government workers refuse to advance the policy interests of the President, or are engaging in corrupt behavior, they should no longer have a job.”
DOGE’s cuts federal workforce cuts have prompted outrage from Democrats and concern from some Republicans, even as the majority of the GOP has praised Musk’s efforts.
“The White House policy team rigorously tracks deadlines for all EOs and works with agencies to ensure they meet their deadlines.” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement.
Critics argue the 90-day deadlines may be difficult to manage — especially given the speed with which the Trump administration has moved in the first three months.
“These White House-mandated reviews are complicated endeavors even in less frenzied times,” Chris Lu, who worked as White House Cabinet Secretary to President Barack Obama, said in an email. “There’s an additional level of complexity at the beginning of an administration when political appointees are still learning their agencies.”
It could be even harder, he added, “given the rapidly shrinking career workforce that often supports these reviews.”
These executive orders, memos and proclamations are among those with 90-day deadlines coming up:
- Foreign aid pause ends
- Federal hiring freeze
- EV rollback, boosting drilling
- Hunter Biden’s laptop
- Discouraging gender transitionsurgery for children
- Immigration enforcement and deportations
- National emergencyat southern border
- Ending racial “indoctrination” in schools
- Anti Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- Ending DEI in military
- Council to review FEMA
- Federal recognition of the Lumbee Tribeof North Carolina
Foreign Aid Pause Ends
Deadline: April 20
Trump’s 90-day pauseon foreign aid, put in place his first day in office, instructs department and agency heads to review programs for “efficiency and consistency with United States foreign policy,” and decide — at the end of the 90-day freeze — whether to continue, cancel or modify the aid.
The US Supreme Court last month orderedthe administration to unfreeze as much as $2 billion in foreign aid for contractors who had already completed work.
EV Rollback, Boosting Domestic Drilling
Deadline: April 20
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett and OMB Director Russ Vought must review plans to boost domestic fuel production while making the US a leader in rare earth minerals. It’s also supposed to discuss pausing funds for former President Joe Biden’s electric vehicle policies and changing related regulatory practices.
“We’ve got really, really big plans for Alaskan oil and natural gas,” Hassett told Fox Business on Monday , responding to a question about exporting US energy to other countries. “And we’ve got a heck of a lot of new drilling in the US that will help is ship LNG to Europe.”
Emergency at the Southern Border
Deadline: April 20
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem are scheduled submit a report about conditions at the border and recommend whether Trump should invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807. It’s one of the only legal ways Trump could deploy military to the border, since presidents are generally barred from using troops for domestic law enforcement.
“You’ve got to find the right combination of manpower, tools, and also legal authority,” Julie Kirchner, executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which supports immigration reduction, said.
Kirchner said she hasn’t reviewed the Insurrection Act option but is open to the idea of using the military.
“There are still a lot of details that remain to be seen,” she said.
Hunter Biden’s Laptop
Deadline: April 20
This Jan. 20 orderinstructs Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to submit a report to National Security Adviser Mike Waltz on the scope of alleged misdeeds by former government officials related to the 2020 election.
The order points to an alleged cover-up of Hunter Biden’s now-infamous laptop, said to contain damaging information about the adult son of former President Biden. Trump yankedsecurity clearances of 50 former intelligence officials who cast doubt on conservative attacks on the younger Biden by saying the distribution of materials on the laptop “has all the classic earmarks” of Russian election meddling.
The order asks Gabbard, with consultation from CIA Director John Ratcliffe, to identify anyone else who may have participated in the letter, including government contractors.
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