Independent federal agencies establish and enforce the rules that define the shape of our economy and society. From preventing the next financial crisis to antitrust enforcement, and from employment discrimination to net neutrality, independent agencies’ decisions impact the lives of every American.
Unfortunately, information about independent agency leadership and voting records has been scattered and opaque, making it difficult for the public to hold these powerful bodies accountable. In this vacuum, corporations, with their ability to purchase specialized expertise, have succeeded in setting the agenda to serve their narrow interests at the expense of the public good.
The Revolving Door Project’s agency spotlight and routine agency leadership tracking updates monitor agency personnel in order to help civil society ensure they play a role in choosing who gets these critical jobs. Because while the public interest-minded are only intermittently focused on appointments, we can rest assured that sectors of corporate America diligently monitor each and every one of these jobs, regardless of how seemingly obscure the agency might be.
April 02, 2025 | The American Prospect
Trump Quietly Decimates a Pivotal Labor Relations Agency
The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service has been destroyed. It provided free collective-bargaining mediation and saved hundreds of millions of dollars in labor costs.
March 19, 2025
Blog Post Congressional OversightEthics in GovernmentFinancial RegulationIndependent AgenciesRevolving DoorSECTrump 2.0
Tough Questions for Paul Atkins
Senators shouldn’t go easy on Trump’s nominee to lead the SEC. Here are some things they ought to ask him about.
March 12, 2025
Wall Street Bankers Salivate Over Postal Privatization
Corporate profiteers want to ransack an institution older than America itself.
March 10, 2025
DOGE & Co Set Their Sights on Americans With Disabilities
Cuts to the Social Security Administration will hurt Social Security beneficiaries, particularly the most vulnerable among them.
March 06, 2025
Former Schumer Staffer Spins Crypto Revolving Door
Jen Brown, Senator Chuck Schumer’s former Banking Counsel, joins the cryptocurrency investment firm Paradigm in a clear conflict of interest.
February 19, 2025
The Revolving Door Project Condemns Trump’s Illegal Takeover Of Independent Agencies
In response to President Trump’s lawless actions, Executive Director of The Revolving Door Project, Jeff Hauser and Senior Researcher Toni Aguilar Rosenthal released the following statement:
January 30, 2025
Revolving Door Project Condemns Trump Administration’s Illegal Firings, Implores Congress To Conduct Oversight
Donald Trump has now illegally fired multiple Democratic members of independent agency boards, including Gwynne Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board and Jocelyn Samuels and Charlotte Burrows from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, years before their actual term expiry dates. In so doing, Trump has demonstrated yet again, an abject disregard for the basic rule of law, as well as an apparent willingness to engage in authoritarian-esque hostile takeovers of any part of the government able to provide a check to his power.
January 29, 2025
Impoundment: An Illegal Power Grab That Will Harm People
On Monday, the Trump administration illegally ordered a “pause” in all federal grant and loan programs, cutting people off from critical programs in order to grab power for Trump himself.
January 29, 2025
Agency Spotlight Update January 2025
Democratic sluggishness in the Senate this fall left dozens of crucial nominees to the independent agencies floundering, and led to at least twenty outstanding nominations (or renominations) ultimately being returned, unconfirmed, to former President Biden this January.
January 28, 2025
Trump's FDIC Hastens the Next Banking Crisis
When the next banking crisis happens, remember that Trump and his loyalists weakened already short-handed regulatory agencies.
January 15, 2025 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter
Tough Questions For Trump Nominees: The Lee Zeldin and Scott Turner Edition
We urged a more aggressive and justifiably confrontational approach in our recommended questions for Doug Burgum, Chris Wright, Russell Vought, Pam Bondi, and Scott Bessent, which you can read here and here. Today we’ll get into questions for Lee Zeldin, nominee for the Environmental Protection Agency, and Scott Turner, nominee for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
November 15, 2024
Hackwatch 2024 Election/TransitionCongressional OversightEconomic MediaEconomic PolicyExecutive BranchIndependent Agencies
Picket Lines, Battle Lines, Applause Lines
As the Biden Administration Enters Its Twilight, Let’s Face Facts
November 12, 2024
Immediate Action Must Be Taken On Independent Agency Nominations
Democrats have resoundingly lost the White House, the Senate, and may soon lose the House. The Party has 68 days to ensure the presence of public advocates on numerous important governing bodies before the incoming Trump administration fully delivers on its promised systematic attack on governance, accountability and regulation.
October 10, 2024 | The Hill
Harris should promise to elevate FEMA head to Cabinet
The FEMA director has been elevated to a cabinet-level post once before: under President Clinton in 1996. Even that relatively small step could make a huge difference.