The robust economy under the first Trump administration was aided in part by an executive order that directed federal departments and agencies to eliminate two existing regulations for every one new one.
Its Trump II successor is executive order 14192, “Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation.” This new and improved version requires agencies to get rid of at least 10 existing rules, regulations or guidance for every new rule, regulation or guidance issued. The E.O. says this exercise must translate into marked net savings, with regulatory costs of “significantly less than zero” in the current, 2025 fiscal year.
The latest red tape on the red tape imposed by red-tape factories known as federal bureaucracies has gotten some favorable nods, such as by Susan E. Dudley in Forbes and Clyde Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
The new E.O. could take a bite out of the Administrative State. It does some housekeeping, such as empowering the Office of Management and Budget to hold bureaus accountable through use of uniform estimates and measurements of regulatory costs. And any item of red tape must have appeared in the most recent Unified Regulatory Agenda.
The effects of the changes (good-government improvements) this E.O. makes could prove to be quite constraining on the Administrative State’s minions. Consider an attorney’s explanation of the impact to 401kSpecialist:
“‘To put things in some perspective, in 2024 alone the Department of Labor issued or proposed three significant new ERISA-related regulations (a regulation on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing, a regulation requiring lifetime income illustrations in participant disclosures, and a proposed regulation on fiduciary advice),’ Ari Sonneberg, Chief Marketing Officer and Partner at The Wagner Law Group, wrote in a Law Alert today. ‘The cost to the Department of Labor for just three new regulations under the Trump Administration will be the elimination of 30 existing regulations.’ ”
Multiply that math by all the regulatory agencies in Washington, then think about the scale of Elon Musk’s DOGE efficiency measures and reduction in the federal workforce. Next, factor in the ramifications of the Loper Bright elimination of judicial deference to bureaucrats’ statutory interpretations.
That means the Administrative State may actually be reined in over the next four years.
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