It reflects the overwhelming desire of the American people to prioritize merit and hard work over immutable characteristics, ensuring their tax dollars support initiatives that reward merit and unite rather than divide. Key provisions include:

• Rescinding Executive Orders: Revokes Biden-era orders like EO 13985, which promoted racial equity across federal agencies.

• Closing DEI Offices: Mandates shutting down federal DEI offices, including the Office of Personnel Management’s DEI division and the Chief Diversity Officers Executive Council.

• Prohibiting DEI Practices: Bans DEI training, funding, and policies in federal agencies, contractors, grant recipients, and accreditation bodies, emphasizing merit-based systems.

• Enforcement: Requires agencies to revise policies to eliminate DEI references and prohibits discrimination based on race, color, ethnicity, religion, biological sex, or national origin.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to U.S. Senators Dick Durbin, Tammy Duckworth and your local U.S. Representative to ask them to support H.R. 925 in the U.S. House and S. 382 in the U.S. Senate.

You may want to point out that DEI policies encourage discrimination and punish qualified individuals for having the wrong gender or skin color. In the end, policies like identity-based hiring and racial quotas hurt everyone. The U.S. should be a meritocracy, with equal opportunities for individuals regardless of race or sex.

“Eliminating the DEI bureaucracy does not mean erasing history,” Congressman Cloud told The Epoch Times. “It means rejecting divisive, race-based policies that undermine the principles of fairness and excellence.”

Background

When President Biden took office in January 2021, he issued Executive Order 13985, embedding DEI into nearly every federal agency. These programs required agencies to prioritize racial, gender, and identity preferences over merit and performance. Biden further expanded this by creating “Chief Diversity Officers” and mandating “Equity Action Plans,” diverting taxpayer dollars toward programs that undermined fairness and promoted division.

On the first day of his second term in office, President Donald Trump reversed these actions by issuing an executive order to rescind DEI mandates, eliminate related offices, and halt programs promoting these divisive policies.

The Dismantle DEI Act extends beyond federal agencies, impacting federal contractors, grant recipients, and accreditation bodies. It removes federal support for divisive DEI mandates that have proliferated in both government and private industry, ensuring taxpayer dollars are no longer used to perpetuate these policies.

The legislation comes as federal DEI programs have ballooned under President Joe Biden’s “whole-of-government” approach to racial equity. These initiatives include mandatory DEI training for nuclear engineers, military commanders, and IRS staff. For example, a Sandia National Laboratories reeducation training seminar instructed engineers to confront “white male culture,” which it defined as exhibiting traits like “a can-do attitude” and “hard work.”

Christopher Rufo of the Manhattan Institute also discovered that the 2019 training session was led by the group “White Men As Full Diversity Partners.” Nuclear weapons engineers were instructed to craft brief messages directed at “white women” and “people of color” to convey what they had learned from the experience.

The Act would save taxpayers billions by slashing wasteful spending. In 2023 alone, the Biden administration allocated over $16 million for DEI-related training and requested $83 million for similar initiatives at the State Department. DEI policies in health and science funding, particularly through the National Institutes of Health, have diverted billions into programs that prioritize DEI.

FEMA’s DEI Priority Highlights Need for Reform

During a November U.S. House Oversight Committee hearing, Congressman Cloud criticized FEMA’s response to Hurricanes Milton and Helene, pointing to its 2022-2026 Strategic Plan, which lists “Instill Equity as a Foundation of Emergency Management” as its top priority. “Emergency management should be about saving lives and helping all Americans—not pushing divisive agendas,” Cloud said at the time. FEMA’s failures during these disasters exemplify how DEI policies have real-world implications for the well-being of American citizens.

Corporate America Retreats from DEI Mandates

The push to dismantle DEI is part of a broader trend. Over the past year, companies like Walmart, Ford, Meta, and Amazon have significantly scaled back their DEI programs, citing inefficiencies, public dissatisfaction, and divisive outcomes. If major corporations are retreating from DEI mandates, it’s time for the federal government to follow suit.

“DEI was never about fairness or opportunity—it was a Trojan horse for left-wing political social engineering that fosters division, not unity,” said Congressman Cloud. “Hiring and promotion should be because of someone’s merit, excellence, and hard work, regardless of race, religion, or creed. The Dismantle DEI Act is about restoring common sense, ensuring taxpayer dollars are used wisely, and refocusing the federal government on serving all Americans fairly. I’m grateful to President Trump for reversing these harmful policies on Day 1 of his Administration. His leadership put an end to these divisive, un-American programs, and it’s now Congress’s job to follow through and codify the permanent elimination of DEI from our government.”

“Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs have plagued our federal government, academic institutions, and other aspects of our society, cheapening standards while disregarding merit,” said Senator Schmitt. “Moreover, taxpayer dollars should not be wasted on this poisonous, divisive ideology. These programs have absolutely no business in our federal government, and I am proud to reintroduce this critical bill that will save taxpayer dollars and put a stop to the DEI madness.”