Category: MEDIA

“I think it’s a question that the administration has tried to dance around,” John Lewis, deputy legal director at policy think tank Governing for Impact, told The Hill. “Thus far, it seems to want to have it both ways.” 

“The administration can’t have it both ways,” said Adam Grogg, a former deputy general counsel at OMB and now the legal director at Governing for Impact, a left-of-center think tank. “Either it’s an agency covered by FOIA with the authority to do what it’s doing, or it’s purely advising the president and can’t be directing agencies in the way it now is.”

TRANSITIONS — Governing For Impact is adding Adam Grogg, John Lewis and Elisabeth Mabus. Grogg will be legal director and previously was deputy general counsel at OMB. Lewis will be deputy legal director and previously was a trial attorney for DOJ’s Federal Programs Branch. Mabus will be director of strategic initiatives and previously was deputy legal counsel in the Colorado governor’s office.

Adam Grogg, former Deputy General Counsel of the Office of Management and Budget, John Lewis, and Elisabeth Mabus join Governing for Impact.

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Governing for Impact (GFI) announces the hire of three new team members who bring a wealth of administrative law, federal agency, and state government experience to the organization’s efforts to hold the new administration accountable. 

MEET THE NEW TEAM MEMBERS

Adam Grogg, former Deputy General Counsel at the Office of Management and Budget, joins as GFI’s first Legal Director and will oversee GFI’s legal work, including its preparation of legal primers, and regulatory comment practice. At OMB, Grogg advised the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs and agencies throughout government on complex administrative law matters. He previously served in the Office of Legal Counsel and Office of the Associate Attorney General at the Department of Justice, and the Office of General Counsel at the House of Representatives.

John Lewis joins as GFI’s Deputy Legal Director and will help oversee GFI’s legal work. John joins from the Department of Justice’s Federal Programs Branch, where he served as Trial Attorney. He previously worked at Democracy Forward and Mayer Brown LLP.

Elisabeth Mabus joins as GFI’s Director of Strategic Initiatives and will oversee outreach and new projects. She has previously worked as Deputy Legal Counsel in the Colorado Governor’s Office and as an attorney in the Colorado Office of the Attorney General, and has a background in electoral politics at the state and national levels.

“We could not be more excited that Adam, John, and Elisabeth have joined us,” said Executive Director Rachael Klarman. “With our newly expanded team, GFI will use our deep familiarity with how agencies work and the rulemaking process to fight back against executive overreach.” 

About Governing for Impact

Governing for Impact (GFI) is a regulatory policy organization dedicated to ensuring the federal government works for working Americans, not corporate lobbyists. The policies we design and the legal insights we develop help increase opportunity for those not historically represented in regulatory policy implementation: working people. For additional information about GFI, please visit https://governingforimpact.org/.

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New resource will track hundreds of Project 2025 proposals, provide reporters and civil society groups data on the administration’s executive action agenda

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Governing for Impact (GFI) and the Center for Progressive Reform launched their joint Project 2025 Tracker to monitor the incoming Trump administration’s unilateral efforts to make the new infamous policy blueprint a reality. The tracker — which breaks out the domestic executive action proposals included in the 900-page blueprint — will be updated by GFI’s and the Center’s teams of regulatory lawyers as the Trump administration takes action, providing a comprehensive view of the administration’s implementation of Project 2025. 

Developed by the Heritage Foundation, Project 2025 provides a roadmap for the incoming administration to consolidate power in the presidency so that it can force through an ultra-right-wing agenda. The playbook proposes sweeping changes across 30 federal agencies that will have devastating consequences on workers, the environment, public health, and the rights of millions of Americans. 

“Despite wide media coverage of Project 2025, no centralized resource has been created to easily and comprehensively track its implementation, ” said Rachael Klarman, Executive Director of GFI. “GFI and CPR created the Project 2025 Tracker to close this gap, offering a vital resource for policymakers, legal experts, and advocates to monitor and respond to Trump administration actions. ”

“As a candidate, Trump made his repeated disavowals of Project 2025 a key part of his pitch to Americans to vote for him. That’s why the Center is committed to holding his administration accountable by closely tracking whether it lives up to this promise over the next four years,” said James Goodwin, Policy Director at the Center for Progressive Reform.

During his first term, Trump accomplished over two-thirds of the Heritage Foundation’s agenda. Trump attempted to distance himself from the playbook before the election, even saying he would “black list” people who signed on to the plan. But since November, Trump has appointed several Project 2025 authors to his administration, and already issued directives to implement many of its policies.

About Governing for Impact

Governing for Impact (GFI) is a regulatory policy organization dedicated to ensuring the federal government works for working Americans, not corporate lobbyists. The policies we design and the legal insights we develop help increase opportunity for those not historically represented in regulatory policy implementation work: working people. For additional information about GFI, please visit https://governingforimpact.org/.

About the Center for Progressive ReformThe Center for Progressive Reform is a nonprofit research and advocacy organization that conducts independent scholarly research and policy analysis, and advocates for effective, collective solutions to our most pressing societal challenges. For additional information about the Center, please visit https://progressivereform.org/.

But earlier this month, the researchers at Governing for Impact (GFI) made the case that rescheduling federal workers is wholly unlawful. Essentially, the order blows open a narrow exception to civil service protections for senior political officials and applies it to thousands of career workers across the government.

“You have to go through the process before you can undo a regulation,” said Will Dobbs-Allsopp, policy director at Governing for Impact, a left-leaning thinktank.

 A memo from Governing for Impact out this morning argues accepted wisdom about the legality of Schedule F is wrong, and OMB nominee Russell Vought cannot actually reclassify top civil servants, strip them of their due process protections and fire them, at least not without facing a credible challenge in court.

Policy experts Nina Mast and Reed Shaw are calling on the U.S. Department of Labor to issue new regulations on child labor in order to address higher rates of violations, injuries and school absenteeism, particularly in light of state efforts to roll back protections.

Child labor violations are increasing, and over two dozen states have made moves that are exacerbating the issue, a recent report by Governing for Impact, the Economic Policy Institute and Child Labor Coalition says.