by WorldTribune Staff, February 24, 2025 Real World News

President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a sweeping executive order which eliminates four government entities and several so-called “advisory committees.”

The entities named in the “Commencing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy” order are the Presidio Trust, the Inter-American Foundation, the United States African Development Foundation, and the United States Institute of Peace.

• The Presidio Trust oversees a national park in San Francisco. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi secured $200 million for the Presidio as part of Joe Biden’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Last month, congressional Republicans included the Presidio Trust on their 50-page list of potential cost reductions to pay for Trump’s immigration policies and tax cuts.

• The Inter-American Foundation, Republicans say, was established to invest in development projects in Latin America and the Caribbean but was used as a vehicle to justify Democrats’ theories about the root causes of migration.

• The U.S. African Development Foundation was established to invest in African grassroots enterprises. Sens. Jim Risch and Tim Scott accused the entity of “misuse of official funds; fraudulent spending and record keeping; conflicts of interest among USADF management, board members, and private-sector/non-governmental partners; gross mismanagement” and “inappropriate, abusive, and discriminatory management practices” as well as “management efforts to suppress evidence of wrongdoing.”

• The United States Institute of Peace was established to mitigate conflict abroad. GOP critics say it is a highly partisan organization, with its employees contributing heavily to the Democrat Party.

Trump’s order directs agency heads to terminate the following Advisory Committees:

on Voluntary Foreign Aid, the Academic Research Council and the Credit Union Advisory Council, the Community Bank Advisory Council, the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Long COVID, and the Health Equity Advisory Committee.

• The Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development shall terminate the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid;
• The Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection shall terminate the Academic Research Council and the Credit Union Advisory Council;
• The Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation shall terminate the Community Bank Advisory Council;
• The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall terminate the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Long COVID; and
• The Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services shall terminate the Health Equity Advisory Committee.

It also directs various assistants to the president to identify other agencies or committees “that should be terminated on grounds that they are unnecessary.”

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