Renewed Focus on Education and Legislative Affairs
February 15, 2025
Ending Coercive COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates in Schools
President Trump issued an executive order to prevent schools from mandating COVID-19 vaccines for students.
The order emphasizes parental rights and freedom of choice regarding children's healthcare decisions.
It directs the Secretary of Education to create guidelines clarifying schools' legal responsibilities regarding parental authority, religious freedom, disability accommodations, and equal protection, as applicable to COVID-19 mandates.
The Secretary of Education is also tasked with creating a plan within 90 days to end coercive vaccine mandates in schools, consistent with applicable laws, and possibly including proposed legislation.
This plan must include a list of institutions not complying with the guidelines and detail methods for preventing or rescinding federal funding from these non-compliant schools.
The executive order explicitly states that it doesn't create any new enforceable rights or benefits.
White House Legislative Affairs Appointments
President Trump announced new appointments to the White House Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA).
These appointments include liaisons for both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
The appointees have previous experience in legislative roles within Congress and the Trump administration.