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🗓️ 23 January 2025
⏱️ 30 minutes
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0:00.0 | from WNYC studios. I'm Brian Lerer. This is my daily politics podcast. It's Thursday, January 23rd. |
0:14.3 | Well, with so many Trump initiatives and orders in his first few days, we'll take another |
0:18.4 | close look at one of them right now. It's the halting of all |
0:22.4 | federal government diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, and the removal from the federal |
0:27.8 | workforce of all employees who work on such programs. They were all being put on temporary |
0:33.0 | paid leave as of 5 p.m. yesterday, and the reporting on this is that they'll be reassigned if the |
0:39.7 | government has the right openings or laid off. One notable part of this is that Trump canceled a |
0:46.5 | nearly 60-year-old executive order from President Lyndon Johnson that required non-discrimination |
0:53.4 | and affirmative action by federal |
0:55.6 | contractors. It was one of Johnson's initiatives after Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of |
1:01.0 | 1964. Here is LBJ the following year. |
1:05.6 | You do not take a person who for years has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bringing up to the |
1:15.8 | starting line of a race and then say, you are free to compete with all the others, and still |
1:23.1 | justly believe that you have been completely fair. |
1:28.3 | But on Monday night, Trump canceled that executive order, saying this as he signed the |
1:33.9 | reversal. |
1:34.9 | Here's a big deal, merit. |
1:36.9 | Our country is going to be based on merit again. |
1:40.9 | Can you believe it? |
1:43.0 | So with more on this, and to help invite calls and texts from federal |
1:47.5 | workers and others is Russell Contreras, Justice and Race Reporter, at Axios, who's been on this story. |
1:54.8 | Russell, thanks for coming on with us. Welcome to WNYC. Good to be with you, brother. |
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