Presidential Documents

Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 17 / Tuesday, January 28, 2025 / Presidential Documents 8249 

Memorandum of January 20, 2025 

Regulatory Freeze Pending Review 

Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies 

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the 

laws of the United States of America, I hereby order all executive departments 

and agencies to take the following steps: 

(1) Do not propose or issue any rule in any manner, including by sending 

a rule to the Office of the Federal Register (the ‘‘OFR’’), until a department 

or agency head appointed or designated by the President after noon on 

January 20, 2025, reviews and approves the rule. The department or agency 

head may delegate this power of review and approval to any other person 

so appointed or designated by the President, consistent with applicable 

law. The Director or Acting Director of the Office of Management and 

Budget (the ‘‘OMB Director’’) may exempt any rule that he deems necessary 

to address emergency situations or other urgent circumstances, including 

rules subject to statutory or judicial deadlines that require prompt action. 

(2) Immediately withdraw any rules that have been sent to the OFR 

but not published in the Federal Register, so that they can be reviewed 

and approved as described in paragraph 1, subject to the exceptions described 

in paragraph 1. 

(3) Consistent with applicable law and subject to the exceptions described 

in paragraph 1, consider postponing for 60 days from the date of this 

memorandum the effective date for any rules that have been published 

in the Federal Register, or any rules that have been issued in any manner 

but have not taken effect, for the purpose of reviewing any questions of 

fact, law, and policy that the rules may raise. During this 60-day period, 

where appropriate and consistent with applicable law, consider opening 

a comment period to allow interested parties to provide comments about 

issues of fact, law, and policy raised by the rules postponed under this 

memorandum, and consider reevaluating pending petitions involving such 

rules. As appropriate and consistent with applicable law, and where necessary to continue to review these questions of fact, law, and policy, consider 

further delaying, or publishing for notice and comment, proposed rules 

further delaying such rules beyond the 60-day period. 

(4) Following the postponement described in paragraph 3, no further action 

needs to be taken for those rules that raise no substantial questions of 

fact, law, or policy. For those rules that raise substantial questions of fact, 

law, or policy, agencies should notify and take further appropriate action 

in consultation with the OMB Director. 

(5) Comply in all circumstances with any applicable Executive Orders 

concerning regulatory management. 

As used in this memorandum, ‘‘rule’’ has the definition set forth in section 

551(4), title 5, United States Code. It also includes any ‘‘regulatory action,’’ 

as defined in section 3(e) of Executive Order 12866 of September 30, 1993, 

as amended, and any ‘‘guidance document’’ as defined in section 2(b) of 

Executive Order 13891 of October 9, 2019 (Promoting the Rule of Law 

Through Improved Agency Guidance Documents), when that order was in 

effect. Thus, the requirements of this memorandum apply not only to ‘‘rules’’ 

as defined in section 551(4) of title 5, but also to any substantive action 

by an agency (normally published in the Federal Register) that promulgates 


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8250 Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 17 / Tuesday, January 28, 2025 / Presidential Documents 

or is expected to lead to the promulgation of a final rule or regulation, 

including notices of inquiry, advance notices of proposed rulemaking, and 

notices of proposed rulemaking. They shall also apply to any agency statement of general applicability and future effect that sets forth a policy on 

a statutory, regulatory, or technical issue or an interpretation of a statutory 

or regulatory issue. 

The OMB Director shall oversee the implementation of this memorandum, 

and any communications regarding any matters pertaining to this review 

should be addressed to the OMB Director. The OMB Director is also authorized to establish a process to review pending collections of information 

under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, as codified in chapter 35, 

title 44, United States Code, and to take actions that the OMB Director 

deems appropriate based on that review, consistent with applicable law. 

Should actions be identified that were undertaken before noon on January 

20, 2025, that frustrate the purpose underlying this memorandum, I may 

modify or extend this memorandum, to require that department and agency 

heads consider taking steps to address those actions. 

The OMB Director is authorized and directed to publish this memorandum 

in the Federal Register. 

This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law. 

THE WHITE HOUSE, 

Washington, January 20, 2025 

[FR Doc. 2025–01906 

Filed 1–27–25; 8:45 am] 

Billing code 3110–01–P 


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