As President Donald Trump and his allies escalate attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs across the country, Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley is doubling down on their defense—and their expansion.
This week, Rep. Pressley introduced the Equity in Government Act, a sweeping piece of legislation aimed at restoring and fortifying the DEI policies dismantled under Trump’s leadership.
The proposed bill seeks to reestablish billions in federal investments across housing, health care, small business, education, and public infrastructure for Black, Brown, LGBTQ+, disabled, and historically marginalized communities.
“This is anti-Blackness on steroids,” Pressley said, denouncing Trump’s anti-DEI push. “Efforts to defund and dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion are resegregation—full stop. And it’s a wholesale attack on civil rights.”
Backed by progressive lawmakers including Rep. Jonathan Jackson and civil rights organizations like the National Action Network and the National Urban League, the Equity in Government Act stands as both a legislative response and a rallying call.
“People need organizing prompts, and this legislation also provides that,” Pressley said. “Because that’s necessary for the movement to remain fortified, emboldened—to keep momentum up.”
Pressley cast the moment as a turning point in American history. She invoked the “Third Reconstruction,” likening today’s fight for equity to the post-Civil War Reconstruction era and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Her framing positions DEI not as a partisan initiative, but as part of a larger national reckoning and a reinvestment in the ideals of freedom, fairness, and opportunity.
“Diversity means everybody,” Pressley explained. “Equity means fair access to opportunity. And inclusion is a pathway to upward mobility—or what some characterize as the American Dream.”
The introduction of the bill comes amid a wave of Republican-led efforts at both state and federal levels to ban or defund DEI programs, particularly in education, corporate governance, and public health.
Trump and his allies have labeled such initiatives as divisive, despite widespread evidence that DEI frameworks help close long-standing racial and economic disparities.
Supporters of the Equity in Government Act argue that restoring and strengthening these programs is essential to maintaining a fair and functioning democracy.
For Pressley and her allies, it’s not just about policy—it’s about progress.
