The 'Freedom to Compete Act' Makes One Executive Order Permanent Law: What We Don't Know Matters Most

The “Freedom to Compete Act of 2025” is short, but its impact could be massive. This bill has one core job: taking Executive Order 14267—a set of policy directives previously issued by the President—and making it official, permanent federal law (SEC. 2).

The Upgrade: From Executive Order to Permanent Statute

Think of an Executive Order (EO) like a temporary company policy issued by the CEO. It’s effective immediately, but the next CEO can scrap it with the stroke of a pen. This bill, however, is Congress taking that temporary policy and voting it into the company bylaws. By "codifying" EO 14267, the bill gives its rules the full weight of a statute. This means that whatever policies, requirements, or restrictions were in that order are now locked in, and future Presidents can’t simply reverse them with a new executive action. If you benefit from the policy in EO 14267, this is good news for stability; if you are burdened by it, you’re stuck with it until Congress passes a new law to change it.

The Policy Black Box: Why the Details Matter

The biggest challenge in analyzing this bill is that we don’t know what Executive Order 14267 actually says. The bill text is purely procedural—it just says, “We’re making this EO a law”—without listing the contents. This is like buying a car based only on the promise that it’s fast, without knowing if it’s a reliable sedan or a high-maintenance race car. The real-world impact depends entirely on the substance of that order.

For example, if EO 14267 dealt with federal procurement rules—say, requiring all government contractors to offer four weeks of paid parental leave—then this bill makes that requirement permanent. That would be a huge win for employees of those contractors, but potentially a significant new cost for small businesses trying to secure government contracts. Conversely, if the EO imposed new, complex reporting requirements on certain industries (like finance or manufacturing), codifying it means those compliance costs are now permanent fixtures for those businesses.

The Real-World Stakes: Who Wins and Who Pays?

Because this bill is procedural, it creates a high-stakes situation where the beneficiaries and those negatively affected are determined solely by the hidden text of EO 14267. Those who liked the original order gain stability and assurance that the policy won’t be overturned by the next administration. However, those who disliked the original order—perhaps because it created new regulatory burdens or costs—now face a much tougher fight to change it. They can no longer wait for a new President to undo it; they must lobby Congress to pass an entirely new law, which is a much heavier lift. In short, this bill is less about creating new policy and more about making an existing, unstated policy permanent and difficult to change.