Executive Order 14208: Ending Procurement and Forced Use of Paper Straws

What does Executive Order 14208 do?

Agencies had to end paper-straw purchasing and review related internal policies; a White House strategy was separately requested.

Later primary evidence reviewed September 24, 2026: GSA issued a procurement class deviation citing this order's paper-straw direction; the memorandum says its deviated regulatory text does not itself use the words 'paper straws'. Official source. The cited steps do not establish every downstream effect.

Reading the operative provisions of Executive Order 14208

EO 14208 concerns federal procurement and federal facility policies. It directs agencies to stop buying paper straws and to review internal policies that require their use, subject to law and available appropriations. It does not regulate restaurants, state or local governments, or private consumers. A federal agency can change its purchasing rules, but a contract already awarded may remain subject to its terms until lawfully amended or completed.

The order also directed White House policy staff to develop a national strategy within 45 days. That strategy and agency procurement revisions are distinct implementation steps. A change to federal purchasing can affect only the government’s own contracts and facilities unless another law applies. The order expressly leaves state and local restrictions outside its federal reach, so a city ordinance or school-district rule must be assessed under its own authority.

A reader looking for an actual purchasing change should check the agency solicitation, contract modification, or facility notice. The presidential text states the direction; the procurement record shows which products, contracts, and dates were affected. Read Executive Order 14208 in the Federal Register.

The 45-day strategy deadline was a planning requirement, while individual agency purchases changed through procurement actions. Federal contracting officers still had to follow acquisition rules, address existing contract clauses, and document any modification or new solicitation. The order’s phrase “as practicable” recognizes that a change may depend on contract timing and available products. It supplies no basis for a state government or private business to demand that another purchaser change its own straw policy.