Trump revoked 1965 Equal Employment Opportunity Executive Order in January

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Shontel Brown (OH-11) and Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) have introduced legislation to codify critical anti-discrimination protections revoked by President Trump last month. On January 21, President Trump issued an executive order revoking the Equal Employment Opportunity Executive Order 11246, a bedrock civil rights protection first issued by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965. The Equal Employment Opportunity order prohibited employment discrimination by federal contractors on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin.

Brown and Raskin’s legislation, H.R. 989, would codify the Equal Employment Opportunity Executive Order into federal law, restoring these important anti-discrimination protections for Americans employed by federal contractors, which represent one-fifth of the national workforce. To date, 25 members of the House have cosponsored the legislation.