Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

Since his inauguration, Trump’s executive orders and other actions have come at a dizzying pace. Planetizen’s Federal Action Tracker is here to cut through the noise and help you keep up. Each week, we monitor the impacts that new federal actions are having on housing, transportation, infrastructure, land use, and other areas of planning. We check in as various actions are challenged in court, altered, or reversed.

If you’re feeling the impacts of Trump’s new policies in your work, help us keep up! Tell us what you’re seeing on the ground and send us news articles, reports, or memos that are impacting your field of planning or your region. You can email us at [email protected] with the subject line “Federal Action Tracker Tip.” You can also send us a comment or DM on Instagram, LinkedIn or, Facebook, or submit through the comment box in the right-hand corner of this page.

Check in weekly on Wednesdays for new updates.

April 30

Transportation

USDOT threatened to withhold federal highway funding if New York City doesn’t end its congestion pricing program. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which is already engaged in legal action against the administration, is evaluating its legal options.

Housing

A lawsuit challenging the administration’s attempt to end Fair Housing programs and grants, Massachusetts Fair Housing Center v. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is pending. 

April 23

Transportation

USDOT has reassigned control of New York City’s Penn Station overhaul project to Amtrak, removing New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) from the initiative. In a letter to MTA Chief Janno Lieber, USDOT informed the agency that “FRA has determined the necessary planning for reconstruction and expansion of Penn Station will be conducted under a single grant, led by Amtrak.” In a letter to Amtrak, the agency indicates it plans to reduce the budget for the project. “FRA will reduce the amount of the award of Amtrak’s FY24 FSP-NEC grant by the appropriate amount to reflect the focus on planning for reconstruction and expansion of Penn Station.”Although the letter doesn’t indicate an amount, the USDOT press release claims it will save roughly $120 million.

Housing

Deep cuts to federal housing assistance programs could mean increased housing instability for millions of low-income households who depend on programs like Section 8 vouchers. The administration has not released details on the plan, but sources who spoke with The New York Times indicate they want to replace it with state-administered programs. However, any changes to programs like Section 8 would legally require approval from Congress. Currently, just one in four families who apply for housing assistance receive it due to funding constraints.

Land Use, Energy, and Climate

The administration issued a rescission notice that moves to end the Bureau of Land Management’s Public Lands Rule, a regulation finalized under the Biden administration last year that promotes conservation of federal lands under BLM’s authority. The move is part of the administration’s broader goals to open up public lands for mining and timber and follows on the heels of EO 14154 “Unleashing American Energy” and other executive orders that direct federal agencies to reduce regulatory barriers for extractive industries.

EO 14270 “Zero-Based Regulatory Budgeting To Unleash American Energy,” signed on April 9, “directs certain agencies to incorporate a sunset provision into their regulations governing energy production to the extent permitted by law, thus compelling those agencies to reexamine their regulations periodically to ensure that those rules serve the public good.” In short, this means inserting a one-year expiration date into existing regulations. The mandated reviews could create significant administrative costs for agencies and could lead to the repeal of longstanding regulations on energy production and efficiency. According to former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) General Counsel Matthew Christiansen, “neither FERC staff nor industry stakeholders under the agency's jurisdiction likely have the capacity to comment on each and every agency regulation in this manner.”

An April 17 secretarial order from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, SO 3429 “Consolidation, Unification and Optimization of Administrative Functions,” tasks the Assistant

Secretary – Policy, Management and Budget (AS-PMB) with “the consolidation, unification and optimization efforts within the Department and its Bureaus and Offices,” giving the AS-PMB “all authority necessary to carry out the plan directed herein.” According to a statement from the Center for Western Priorities, the order amounts to an abdication of leadership by Burgum. “The order does not require [the Assistant Secretary – Policy, Management and Budget] to report back to Burgum regarding the reorganization, nor does it reserve any authority to Burgum if [the AS-PMB] were to fire thousands of public lands managers, park rangers, or wildfire specialists across the country.”

Infrastructure

A judge ordered the federal government to release funds allocated under the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and frozen under President Trump’s EO 14154 “Unleashing American Energy.” The funds were halted as part of the administration’s stated goal of “Terminating the Green New Deal” and include funds for wildfire prevention, extreme weather and cybersecurity measures for utilities, and pollution mitigation efforts.

April 16, 2025

Transportation

On April 14, the U.S. Department of Transportation ended a $63.9 million grant to the Amtrak Texas High-Speed Rail Corridor, a project formerly known as the Texas Central Railway that plans to connect Dallas and Houston via passenger rail. Amtrak took the lead on the project, which began as a private endeavor, in April 2024.

New York City’s congestion pricing program will remain in place at least through the summer after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority submitted a proposed schedule for its case against the Trump administration.

Housing

On April 14, the Department of Government Efficiency terminated the entire staff of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, a small federal agency tasked explicitly with coordinating efforts to prevent and reduce homelessness across 19 federal agencies, a task that seeks to increase efficiency and limit redundancies.

Land Use, Energy, and Climate

EO 14260 “Protecting American Energy From State Overreach,” signed on April 8, directs the U.S. Attorney General to identify and take action to end “burdensome and ideologically motivated” state policies and actions that address climate change “or involving ‘environmental, social, and governance’ initiatives, ‘environmental justice,’ carbon or ‘greenhouse gas’ emissions, and funds to collect carbon penalties or carbon taxes.” This takes aim at laws in states such as California, New York, and Massachusetts that have enacted stricter environmental regulations than federal agencies. The order could dismantle states’ ability to set their own energy standards and environmental policies, which would render them powerless to stop fossil fuel extraction. The move will likely face legal challenges but could prompt some states to change course on climate policy.

An executive order from April 8, EO 14261 “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry and Amending Executive Order 14241,” updates EO 14241 to designate coal as a “mineral” under EO 14241, “thereby entitling coal to all the benefits of a “mineral” under that order.” The order calls for an assessment of coal resources on federal lands and a plan to “ultimately enable the mining of such coal resources by either private or public actors.” The order aims to remove barriers to coal mining on public lands, such as federal and state regulations and environmental reviews. The order calls on the Secretary of the Interior to expedite coal leasing using “emergency authorities” and “expedited environmental reviews.”

Infrastructure

The Trump administration terminated a settlement negotiated by the departments of Justice and Health and Human Services that would have required Alabama’s Department of Public Health to improve wastewater treatment and sanitation services in some of the state’s poorest Black communities. The administration called the agreement an “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”

April 9, 2025

Transportation

EO 14151 “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing”

This executive order, one of the most impactful so far, cuts across all federal agencies, targeting “any program associated with diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI); accessibility, or environmental justice.” This broad definition is being used to review and, in some cases, suspend funding for sustainable transportation, public transit agencies, transportation equity programs, bike and pedestrian infrastructure, and road safety initiatives.

Under the order, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has issued multiple memos that halt or attempt to rescind funding for programs that fall under the broad ‘DEI’ umbrella. Examples include:

• A March 10, 2025 memo that rescinds two previous memos issued during the Biden administration, one from 2021 and an update from 2023, both titled “Policy on Using Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Resources to Build a Better America.” The now defunct memos directed the Federal Highway Administration to “Promote and improve safety for all road users, particularly vulnerable ones,” ensure Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance, address environmental impacts, and reflect “the inclusion of disadvantaged and under-represented groups in the planning, project selection, and design process,” among other items. The new memo, titled “U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy Rescinds Memos Issued By Biden Administration That Injected Social Justice, Radical Environmental Agenda Into Infrastructure Funding Decisions” “affirms that these Biden-era policies have no basis in statute and have no role in DOT programs going forward.”
• An undated memo sent around March 11, announcing a review of all projects that include bike lanes, EV charging infrastructure, and any climate change-related projects, specifically calling out projects “whose primary purpose is bicycle infrastructure.” The memo orders a review of all funds granted after January 20, 2021 and could include the $5 billion Safe Streets and Roads for All initiative, which directs funds to projects that improve safety and mobility to local communities. In response, a group of nonprofits sued the administration, arguing that the President cannot rescind funding approved by Congress. The memo states:
  • Identify Programs for which award selections may have included any of the following elements: equity activities, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) activities, climate change activities, environmental justice (EJ) activities, gender-specific activities, when the primary purpose is bicycle infrastructure (i.e., recreational trails and shared-use paths, etc.), electric vehicles (EV), and EV charging infrastructure. Additionally, project-by-project review of selections to identify any project scope elements for potential removal are required for any Programs that meet the criteria below:
    • Statutory language includes equity requirements, climate considerations, or bicycle infrastructure.
    • NOFO mandatory evaluation criteria includes equity and/or climate requirements.
    • Eligible activities included bicycle infrastructure, EV and/or EV charging infrastructure.
• An April 1 memo announcing over $982 million for the updated Safe Streets program with “DEI/climate requirements” removed from the application.

EO 14154 “Unleashing American Energy”

This order encourages energy exploration and production on federal lands to “unleash America's affordable and reliable energy and natural resources.” It also eliminates electric vehicle incentives and terminates “where appropriate, state emissions waivers that function to limit sales of gasoline-powered automobiles.”

This includes:

• A DOT memo from February 5 ended the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, which supported the building of a nationwide EV charging network along major highways, “immediately suspending the approval of all State Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment plans for all fiscal years.”
• Ending the federal exemption that let California mandate the state’s shift to electric vehicles by 2035.

Other actions impacting transportation

Under the new administration, USDOT also:

• Revoked its approval of New York City’s congestion pricing program in a letter to New York Governor Kathy Hochul. The decision is currently being challenged in court by multiple groups.
• Tasked the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) with reducing crime on their systems and providing information to USDOT about crime prevention efforts. The letters threaten to withhold federal funding if the agencies fail to comply.
• Ordered a review of the California high-speed rail project, which is counting on $4 billion in federal funding to complete part of the San Francisco-to-Los Angeles rail line.

Housing

EO 14151 “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing”

This order threatens programs that support fair housing and fight housing discrimination, housing vouchers and other rental assistance programs, homelessness prevention initiatives, and utilities assistance programs that many Americans rely on. For example:

• On February 27, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) revoked grant funding for 78 fair housing organizations that fight against housing discrimination.The organizations sued and, in late March, a judge ordered HUD to release $30 million in frozen fair housing grants, noting that the funds were congressionally allocated.

EO 14154 “Unleashing American Energy”

This order calls for a pause in the disbursement of grants under the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which include housing assistance programs and grants for building retrofits and upgrades. The order states the administration intends “to safeguard the American people's freedom to choose from a variety of goods and appliances.”

So far, HUD has: 

• Fired the entire staff of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which funded heating and cooling assistance for low-income households facing dangerous weather conditions
• Suspended the disbursement of $1.4 billion in funding for energy efficiency retrofits on affordable housing via the Green and Resilient Retrofit program, and 
• Terminated the Construction Material Opportunities to Reduce Emissions (C-MORE) program that funded research into reducing carbon emissions in construction materials.

And on March 24, the Department of Energy announced it is postponing the implementation of three rules that established energy efficiency standards for: central air conditioners and heat pumps; walk-in coolers and freezers; and gas instantaneous water heaters.

EO 14238 “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy”

This executive order calls for drastically reducing or eliminating agencies including the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) and the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund). The CDFI Fund provides capital for local banks and credit unions to finance housing and commercial development in lower-income communities.

• Although the administration is not directly altering the CDFI Fund’s operations, an order to cut staff and agency functions to the “minimum presence and function required by law” could reduce the agency’s ability to perform its functions and disburse funding to time-sensitive projects, potentially delaying or stopping development, according to CDFI experts. 

EO 14168 “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government”

This executive order denies the existence of trans people and could affect their ability to access housing services. For example: 

• According to Shelterforce, “On Feb. 7, newly confirmed HUD Secretary Scott Turner followed this up by saying he would stop enforcement of a 2016 rule that ensures housing and shelter providers serve clients on the basis of their gender identity.”

Other actions impacting housing

• The Department of the Interior and HUD announced a proposal to build housing on federally owned public lands to address the housing crisis. This would be particularly impactful in Western states like Nevada, where roughly 80 percent of the state’s land is federally owned. The departments call the initiative the “Joint Task Force on Federal Land for Housing.”
• HUD announced in a March 6 letter that it will not renew funding for the Emergency Housing Voucher program, which funds rental assistance for extremely low-income Americans in dire circumstances, such as people experiencing homelessness, living in shelters, or on the verge of eviction. 

Land Use, Energy, and Climate

Some executive orders realign U.S. energy policy to deprioritize renewable energy and encourage the domestic production of fossil fuel energy, minerals, and timber. These orders seek to reduce protections for federal lands and curtail the EPA’s power to regulate pollutants, particularly greenhouse gas emissions. The orders could result in worse air quality in cities, less access to heat-reducing green space and parks both within and outside of urban areas, and further damage to communities already disproportionately impacted by air and water pollution from fossil fuel drilling and processing facilities. Discouraging renewable energy could drive up fossil fuel-based energy use and climate-warming emissions and accelerate the displacement of communities in flood- and fire-prone areas.

EO 14154 “Unleashing American Energy,” EO 14213 “Establishing the National Energy Dominance Council,” EO 14225 “Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production,” EO 14241 “Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production”

EO 14154 calls for expedited and expanded mining and mineral extraction on public lands to “unleash America's affordable and reliable energy and natural resources.” The order states it is the policy of the United States to “establish our position as the leading producer and processor of non-fuel minerals, including rare earth minerals.” Some examples of impacts include:

• The order questions the “legality and continuing applicability” of the endangerment finding, which, if reversed, would eliminate the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The EPA relies on this ruling for many of its climate and clean air regulations, which limit air pollutants and protect public health in both urban and rural areas. On March 12, the EPA launched what it calls the “biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history,” announcing that it is “reconsidering” 31 regulations related to air pollution and air quality, indicating that they will roll back many of them to reduce guardrails on oil and gas, power plants, and other industries. 
• A White House memo titled “Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas on the Outer Continental Shelf from Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government’s Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects” withdraws permits for offshore wind power projects and prohibits any new or renewed onshore or offshore wind power projects pending a review of federal practices.

Other impacts on land use, energy, and climate

• The U.S. Forest Service fired thousands of employees, cuts that could hinder fire prevention efforts in wildland-urban interface areas as well as urban forestry projects such as a USFS tree planting grant. 
• The department also laid off thousands of National Park Service employees, primarily probationary employees in their first year of service. Some have since been rehired after a judge ruled that the National Park Service (NPS) wrongly terminated them. The agency also froze hiring for seasonal workers, which most parks depend on during the busy summer tourist season to ensure safety and cleanliness for the millions of Americans who visit national parks. A February 3 Secretary’s Order requires officials to “review and, as appropriate, revise all withdrawn public lands, consistent with existing law,” which could roll back designations for national monuments and other protected areas.
• Due to staff and funding cuts, the National Weather Service is reducing the number of weather balloons it launches, which could limit the accuracy of weather forecasts and reduce the likelihood that people will get timely warnings before major weather events. This could have devastating impacts on dense urban areas and communities in hurricane hazard zones that depend on accurate forecasting to issue warnings and protect local residents.