President Joe Biden's Treasury Department has spent billions on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, reorienting the financial security agency through the lens of a racial equity ideology.

Following a day-one executive order from President Joe Biden, the federal bureaucracy was directed to inject a DEI mindset into its execution of American law.

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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen followed Biden's directive, setting up the infrastructure to oversee department-wide initiatives to promote racial consciousness in Treasury's decision-making.

Two separate but nearly identical offices have been created to oversee the ideology's proliferation departmentwide: the "Equity Hub," whose director is "intersectional" economist Diane Lim, charged to "coordinate efforts to advance equity in all of Treasury’s work"; and the counselor for racial equity, former National Council of La Raza activist Janis Bowdler, whose job it is to "coordinate all offices and workstreams intended to advance equity."

Lim's position pays up to $203,700 per year, while Bowdler makes $161,813.

“This administration continues to put woke, political agendas ahead of American consumers. Treasury Secretary Yellen clearly prefers to focus on counterproductive, racist programs like DEI because Americans are paying more for less at the gas pump, grocery store, and everywhere else," Consumers' Research Executive Director Will Hild told the Washington Examiner. "She is failing miserably to make the economy work for Americans."

"Instead of patting herself on the back for introducing racial politics into the operations of the agency she heads, the Treasury Secretary should be focusing on economic prosperity for all consumers," he added.

According to the Equity Hub's mission statement, "underserved communities" include racial minorities, "those affected by climate change, and communities still living with the impact and legacy of actions and policies that prevented intergenerational financial security."

Treasury also created the "Advisory Committee on Racial Equity," which is focused on perceived racial discrimination against nonwhite people, whether direct or indirect. "Staff envisions the Committee to address topics including, but not be limited to, financial inclusion, capital access, housing stability, federal government supplier diversity and economic development," the description reads.

But the push to include DEI ideology in "all of Treasury's work" has critics saying the Biden administration is building a web to further embed the federal bureaucracy.

“As inflation continues to crush families, Biden’s Treasury Department is prioritizing the entrenchment of radical and divisive policies into a permanent administrative state," Caitlin Sutherland, Americans for Public Trust executive director, told the Washington Examiner. "This is a total waste of taxpayer dollars and should raise red flags for anyone concerned about the DEI bureaucracy that is out of step with the values held by a majority of Americans.”

Some DEI action items from Biden's first year in office were $8.7 billion toward community development financial institutions and minority depository institutions "in order to increase lending to small and minority-owned businesses."

Another $2.5 billion of the $10 billion State Small Business Credit Initiative went to "businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals," most of which was allocated based on "membership in a group that has been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias within American society."

"Treasury will continue to ensure equity is a priority and work with our partners across the Biden-Harris Administration to build a more fair and just economy," Yellen said.

Bowdler had a presentation of her own, noting "accomplishments" from 2021 and 2022. In it, while saying 80% of emergency rental assistance went to very low-income households, Bowdler highlighted the racial and gender makeup of the recipients, where 40% were black, 20% were Latino, and nearly 66% were female-headed households.

Her presentation also noted the department "surpassed women and minority-owned contracting and procurement goals" and awarded $951 million to "small disadvantaged businesses."

Bowdler's office launched a blog series "detailing the origins of racial economic disparities and the implications for national economy" and "incorporated racial equity goals into the Department’s Strategic Plan."

But the prominence of DEI programs is not as easily defined by monetary allocations toward one thing or another, Bowdler's blog post suggests. It is an ideology rooted in academia that seeks to change mindsets systematically, and rhetorical tools are used to reorient institutional missions.

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That is part of the reason why Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) started the Anti-Woke Caucus in the House, telling the Washington Examiner, “Congress must act to combat wokeness at the Treasury Department and in every other federal agency. One of the first bills I introduced after starting the House Anti Woke Caucus would defund Biden’s Furthering Equity Executive Order and Republicans deserve the chance to vote for it on the House floor soon.”

The Treasury Department did not return a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.