Trump Action Archive

Supporting reports

• Executive Order on Public Service Loan Forgiveness — President Donald J. Trump signed Executive Order 14235, directing the Secretary of Education to revise the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. The revisions aim to exclude organizations with substantial illegal purposes from qualifying as public service, affecting eligibility for loan forgiveness. This includes organizations involved in illegal immigration, terrorism support, child abuse, illegal discrimination, and violations of state tort laws.
• Executive Order Restoring Public Service Loan Forgiveness — President Donald Trump issued an executive order on March 7, 2025, to revise the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program. The order directs the Secretary of Education, in coordination with the Secretary of the Treasury, to propose changes to the program's regulations. These changes aim to exclude organizations engaged in activities deemed to have a substantial illegal purpose from qualifying for loan forgiveness. The order targets activities such as aiding illegal immigration, supporting terrorism, and engaging in child abuse or illegal discrimination.
• White House issued executive order redefining Public Service Loan Forgiveness eligibility to exclude organizations engaged in specified illegal activities. — The White House issued an executive order directing the Secretary of Education to revise regulations governing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program. The order redefines "public service" to exclude organizations whose activities have a "substantial illegal purpose," including those aiding immigration law violations, supporting terrorism, engaging in child abuse, illegal discrimination, or violating state tort laws. The order states the prior administration "abused" the program through a waiver process and claims PSLF funds were misdirected to "activist organizations" harming national security. The Secretary of Education is directed to propose regulatory revisions in coordination with the Treasury.
• White House issues fact sheet on executive order restricting Public Service Loan Forgiveness eligibility — The White House published a fact sheet on March 7, 2025, announcing that President Trump signed an executive order directing the Secretary of Education to revise the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program to exclude organizations with "substantial illegal purpose," including those advancing illegal immigration, terrorism, child abuse, discrimination, and public disruptions. The fact sheet states the order refocuses PSLF on essential public service roles and claims the prior administration expanded the program from 7,000 to over 1 million borrowers.

Supporting reports

• Swarthmore College places student on probation for protest participation — UT, a Muslim woman of color and Swarthmore College senior, was placed on probation until graduation on 6 March 2025 for violating the college's code of conduct during pro-Palestinian rallies between October 2023 and March 2024. The college provided evidence including CCTV footage of UT walking on a campus path. UT reported that surveillance disproportionately targeted students of color and first-generation, low-income students, with few white students charged.
• Swarthmore College suspends student for Palestine protest disruption — EK, a final-semester senior at Swarthmore College, was suspended for one semester in March 2025 for disrupting the college's trustees' dinner in December 2023 using a bullhorn to demand divestment from products fueling Israel's war on Gaza. A disciplinary panel found her responsible for assault and other code of conduct violations. As a first-generation, low-income student on financial aid, EK lost her school job and campus housing during the suspension, though the college later agreed to pay for off-campus housing. She remains barred from on-campus events and graduation ceremonies.

Supporting reports

• CDC claws back $11.4 billion in Covid funding — In March 2025, the CDC reclaimed $11.4 billion in Covid-era funding that had been allocated to state, local, territorial, and tribal health departments for monitoring, testing, vaccination, and public health response. The withdrawal has forced health departments to reduce disease surveillance and outbreak monitoring capacity, leaving the nation less able to detect and contain emerging infectious diseases.

Supporting reports

• USDA cut funding for food assistance programs — The U.S. Department of Agriculture cut funding for food assistance programs in March 2025, programs that had been started during Trump's first term. The cuts reduced the amount of food available to food banks. A USDA spokesperson stated: "There is no need for new programs, but perhaps more efficient and effective use of current."

Supporting reports

• House Republicans approve budget framework cutting Medicaid — The Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved a budget framework that proposes significant cuts to Medicaid, aiming to reduce funding by $880 billion over the next decade. This move is part of a broader plan to finance $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and mass deportations under Donald Trump's agenda. The proposed cuts have raised concerns about the potential loss of health insurance for millions of Americans, including low-income individuals, the elderly, and people with disabilities, as well as the impact on hospitals and healthcare systems.

Supporting reports

• Department of Education fires at least 300 workers — The Department of Education fired at least 300 workers in March 2025, degrading the agency's capacity to oversee student loan servicers and respond to borrower inquiries at a time when the student loan system was already under strain from the suspension of the Save Plan and resumption of loan repayments.

Supporting reports

• Trump signs executive order shifting disaster relief responsibility to states — In March 2025, President Trump signed an executive order instructing state and local officials to increase their disaster response capacity as FEMA scales back its operations. While state and local authorities already coordinate resources provided by FEMA and other agencies during emergencies, the executive order implies they may also assume the financial burden of disaster relief. This could be devastating to small local governments lacking sufficient revenue to cover infrastructure repairs or assist displaced residents. Florida, for example, received $5.5 billion in FEMA assistance to recover from Hurricane Irma in 2017.