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Congressional Research Serve
Inforrning the legislative debate since 1914
April 23, 2025
Smithsonian Institution: Potential Effects of Executive Order
14253
On March 27, 2025, the President issued Executive Order
(E.O.) 14253, Restoring Truth and Sanity to American
History. Among other actions affecting Independence Hall
in Philadelphia, and monuments and memorials under the
jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior, the order
raised concerns about historic portrayals in exhibits in some
of the museums of the Smithsonian Institution, including
the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National
Museum of African American History and Culture
(NMAAHC).
The order required the Vice President, in his role as a
member of the Smithsonian's Board of Regents, and in
consultation with various White House staff, to seek to
remove improper ideology from Smithsonian museums,
education and research centers, and the National Zoo, and
to recommend to the President any additional actions
necessary to fully effectuate such policies. In addition,
E.O. 14253 requires the Vice President and the Director of
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to work with
Congress to ensure that future appropriations prohibit
expenditure on exhibits or programs that degrade shared
American values, divide Americans based on race, or
promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal
law and policy; and ... celebrate the achievements of
women in the [Smithsonian] American Women's History
Museum and do not recognize men as women in any
respect in the Museum. Finally, regarding the
Smithsonian, the order requires the Vice President, in
consultation with various White House staff, to work with
the Speaker of the House and the Senate majority leader,
to seek the appointment of citizen members to the
Smithsonian Board of Regents committed to advancing the
policy of this order.
Smithsonian Organization
The Smithsonian occupies a unique position.
Governmental, but organizationally and operationally
separate and distinct from the legislative, executive, or
judicial branches of the national government, the
Smithsonian is overseen by the Board of Regents composed
of representatives of each branch. Regents include the Vice
President, Chief Justice of the United States (who typically
serves as the chancellor, or presiding officer of the regents),
three Members of the Senate, three Members of the House
of Representatives, and nine citizen regents.
The Smithsonian oversees entities created by Congress, as
well as entities the Smithsonian established. In addition to
any explicit statutory authority that may exist, the
Smithsonian's current activities arguably might support
the increase and diffusion of knowledge, as stated in law
establishing the Smithsonian.
The Smithsonian is funded through a combination of
appropriated funds, comprising approximately 63% of its
annual budget and staffing, and money generated pursuant
to its authorities to accept and dispose of gifts, bequests, or
money provided to the Smithsonian or one of its
components; seek grants; and raise funds. The Smithsonian
refers to nonappropriated funds as trust funds.
With the exception of Smithsonian Enterprises, which was
established in part to make a profit, and appears to receive
no appropriated funds, Smithsonian entities are funded from
trust resources, appropriated funds, or both. Smithsonian
staff include federal employees paid with appropriated
funds, and others whose pay is provided through trust
funds.
Further information on the organization of the Smithsonian
Institution is available in CRS In Focus IF12718,
Smithsonian Institution: Background, Entities, and
Leadership.
On January 20, 2025, the White House announced a hiring
freeze for executive branch federal employees and E.O.
14151, Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI
Programs and Preferencing. The Smithsonian, due to its
organizational structure outside the three branches,
arguably is not subject to policy promulgated by executive
order. The Smithsonian announced it was instituting a
freeze on its federal hiring, as well as the closure of its
Office of Diversity, soon after the White House
announcements.
Potential Effects of E.O. 14253
The potential scope and effect of E.O. 14253 on the
Smithsonian is unclear. While the executive order directs
the Vice President to work to carry out various provisions
of the order, most of the proposed actions do not appear to
rest solely in the Vice President's authority in his capacity
as a regent. Authorities of the Board of Regents and
congressional processes could have countervailing effects
on the implementation of the executive order.
Efforts to revise Smithsonian operations with regard to any
purported ideological stance of its exhibits or research
would appear to be exclusively subject to the decisions of
the entire Board of Regents pursuant to authorities granted
to it by Congress (which allow for no other restrictions
other than those enacted in law) and bylaws adopted by the
board pursuant to those authorities.
As with most budgetary decisions, efforts of the Vice
President and OMB Director to prohibit expenditures of any
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