New study reveals ‘staggering’ scope of how much DEI was infused into government under Biden

FIRST ON FOX: A study published this week details the degree to which the Biden administration infused DEI policies into the federal government in a report the authors say can serve as a resource for the Trump administration to continue to identify and “destroy” the practice. 

The new study, conducted by the Functional Government Initiative and the Center for Renewing America, identified 460 programs across 24 government agencies in the Biden administration that diverted resources to DEI initiatives.

At least $1 trillion of taxpayer money was infused with DEI principles, the study states.

The study lays out DEI infusion across several federal agencies, including the Defense Department’s plan to “integrate environmental/economic justice tools” into training, FEMA’s need to “instill equity as a foundation of emergency management,” and the Labor Department’s push to “embed equity in a sustainable manner that recognizes the multiple and overlapping identities held by workers.”

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A new study reveals just how entrenched DEI became in the Biden adminisration. (Getty)

On his first day in office, President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 13985, which was aimed at carrying out the stated goal of “advancing equity and racial justice through the federal government.”

“This order mandated a whole of government approach to injecting DEI philosophy into the federal budget,” the study says. “In alignment with this directive, the Biden administration apparently spent trillions in DEI-related initiatives in a manner and at a speed that has shrouded public awareness of the financial burden.”

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The report outlines how, over the next four years, the amount spent on DEI efforts was “staggering.”

“The cumulative budget of these programs exceeds $1.1 trillion,” the report says. “However, this figure does not encompass all DEI-related expenditures, nor does it include every program across these agencies. The findings reveal a substantial increase in DEI spending, largely attributable to policy directives under the Biden administration.”

“Of the programs identified, 10 are exclusively dedicated to DEI and could be considered for quick elimination; 144 allocate significant resources to DEI initiatives and should be reviewed if those are to be ended; and 306 programs incorporate DEI to varying degrees, though the extent of their DEI focus is indeterminate based on the available documentation.”

The report goes department by department and calculates the DEI programs and provides recommendations on how they should be addressed. 

“DEI is deeply rooted throughout all aspects of the federal government, and it needs to be eliminated completely,” Center for Renewing America senior adviser Wade Miller told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

“Thankfully, the Trump administration has already embarked on a vitally necessary complete audit of each and every government program. We offer, in this report, what we hope are additional resources and tools that the new administration and Congress can use to identify, destroy and permanently remove DEI from the federal government.”

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President Joe Biden walks down the steps of Air Force One at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, July 17, 2024. (Susan Walsh/AP)

FGI spokesman Roderick Law explained to Fox News Digital that the dual study “could both expedite the elimination of DEI from the executive branch and show just how quickly pernicious ideologies can spread inside the government.”

“The nature of DEI is both divisive and anti-American,” Law added, “so why force it onto the military or the Commerce Department or the EPA? After President Biden lavishly funded and pushed these controversial principles into every possible area of government, our hope is that raising these questions and offering Congress and responsible executive branch officials tools and suggestions can keep it from happening again.”

The Trump administration has made it a top priority to rid DEI from the federal bureaucracy and the president has signed multiple executive orders aimed at addressing what it argues is a practice that does more harm than good by ignoring meritocracy. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Biden’s office for comment.