Trump expands presidential authority over independent agencies, excluding central bank

President Trump signed an executive order on February 18, 2025, that fundamentally restructures how independent regulatory agencies operate in relation to the White House. The order, titled “Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies,” requires bodies like the SEC, FTC, FCC, FDIC, and CFPB to submit all significant proposed and final regulations to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review.

What the order actually does

The executive order establishes two core mechanisms for expanding presidential oversight. First, independent agencies must route their significant regulatory actions through OMB review, a process that has traditionally applied only to executive branch agencies, not independent ones. Second, each affected agency must create a White House Liaison office designed to align the agency’s legal and policy interpretations with those of the Attorney General.

The Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors and the Federal Open Market Committee are explicitly carved out from these requirements. Monetary policy decisions remain untouched by the order, preserving the central bank’s autonomy.

The legal backdrop and why it matters now

This executive order arrives alongside ongoing Supreme Court litigation that challenges the legal boundaries of presidential authority over independent agency officials, a debate that traces back to the 1935 case Humphrey’s Executor v. United States. That ruling established that Congress could create agencies whose leaders the president couldn’t fire at will, a legal foundation for the independence of bodies like the SEC and FTC.

What this means for crypto investors

For anyone holding digital assets or building in the crypto space, the SEC is the agency to watch. Under this new framework, the commission’s enforcement priorities and rulemaking could be subject to White House review before they take effect.

No specific cryptocurrencies were mentioned in the executive order, and immediate crypto market reactions have been minimal.

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