In what is expected to be a final blow to the SEC’s adoption of the Climate Change rules it adopted last year, Acting SEC Chair Mark Uyeda announced that the Commission will not defend its climate change rule in the courts. This signals a significant shift in the SEC’s stance on climate-related disclosures for publicly traded companies.
When the Enhancement and Standardization of Climate Disclosures for Investors was approved by the SEC in March 2024, it was met with multiple challenges in courts. As a result, the Commission paused the Rules’ adoption and filed a legal motion to consolidate the various cases in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. At the time, former Chair Gary Gensler pledged to “continue vigorously defending the Final Rules’ validity in court.”
With a new President in the White House and a Presidential Executive Order mandating a regulatory freeze, Uyeda on February 11 ordered the Commission staff to “notify the Court of the changed circumstances and request that the Court not schedule the case for argument to provide time for the Commission to deliberate and determine the appropriate next steps in these cases.”
Uyeda and fellow Commissioner Hester Peirce voted against the Rule’s adoption in 2024. Both had argued that the Commission lacked statutory authority to impose the rules, with Peirce adding “only a mandate from Congress should put us in the business of facilitating the disclosure of information not clearly related to financial returns.”
Commissioner Peirce also had argued that “only a mandate from Congress should put us in the business of facilitating the disclosure of information not clearly related to financial returns.”
In his most recent statement, Uyeda commented, “The Rule is deeply flawed and could inflict significant harm on the capital markets and our economy,” and reiterated that the “proposed rules overstepped the SEC’s regulatory authority.”
Uyeda is Acting Chair pending Senate approval of Paul Atkins, who if approved will become the 34th Chairman of the SEC. Atkins too, has been a vocal opponent of the SEC’s proposed climate-related regulations. In a comment letter to the SEC on proposed ESG rules, Atkins wrote that the proposal “oversteps the Commission’s congressionally delegated regulatory authority”.
Certain employees at the IRS, who opted to voluntarily leave their jobs under the Deferred Resignation Program (DRP), are discovering that their role as essential workers means they’re part of an exempt class under the DRP, requiring them to continue working during tax season.
The Trump Administration introduced the DRP in January. The program offered certain federal employees who resign under DRP to not work and still receive their government pay for eight months. To date, approximately 75,000 workers took the government’s offer, which keeps them on the payroll until September 30, 2025, the end of the federal government’s fiscal year.
However, some IRS workers recently received a message from the IRS Human Capital Officer saying that IRS employees in “specific, critical filing season positions” would be exempt from the DRP until May 15, 2025. This includes employees in Taxpayer Services, Information Technology, and the Taxpayer Advocate Service. IRS employees who accepted the DRP and had stopped working, but are now classified under the exempt class, will receive notices to return to work.
Businesses and accountants regularly call the IRS for clarification on tax issues. Although it’s uncertain if the new policies to cut agency staffs will affect the taxpayer “experience” during this tax filing season, the answer may become clear by how long you’re on hold when you call the IRS.
Since President Trump took office and pledged to cut the nation’s federal workforce, the headlines have been dominated with news of “staffing cuts at historic levels.” To set the record straight, Forbes just published an analysis of federal worker staffing cuts and hires since World War II.
Reviewing data from historic Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) monthly jobs reports under 14 past Presidents, Forbes reported that the most cuts to the federal payroll goes to Democrat Presidents Harry Truman and Bill Clinton. Truman takes the #1 spot with 566,000 job cuts following WWII. Clinton takes the #2 spot because he cut 339,000 federal jobs, mainly through a massive buyout program.
President Trump takes the #3 spot so far with the recent termination of 200,000 probationary employees (those who worked less than one year). Trump trimmed an additional 75,000 jobs through his Deferred Resignation Program (DRP). During Trump’s first term in office, he increased the federal workforce by 73,000 jobs.
Forbes reported that only 6 of the 14 Presidents who served since WWII cut the federal worker payroll, and those cuts were implemented by both Democrats and Republicans.
Today’s federal workforce stands at 3.02 million, excluding the 1.3 million active military members.
Presidents with the highest workforce increases include: Lyndon B. Johnson (440,000), Ronald Reagan (197,000), and Joe Biden (138,000).
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