President Trump regularly boasts that he has cut more government regulations than any other American president. And you know what, he’s correct. New figures released last week revealed that Mr. Trump’s deregulation efforts saved taxpayers $23 billion in fiscal year 2018, following savings of $33 billion in FY2017. At least another $18 billion is expected to be saved in FY2019.
The figures above only include regulations that cost taxpayers $100 million or more a year. Regulations that cost less than $100 million a year are not included in the savings figures above. So, the savings are considerably greater if you consider all of the regulations that have been reduced or eliminated.
You may recall that candidate Trump promised to cut or eliminate two regulations for every new one put in place. Just 10 days after taking office, he issued Executive Order 13771, which requires agencies to offset the cost of any significant new regulation (or guidance) with at least two deregulatory actions.
In fact, he’s done much better than that. In FY2018, Trump cut 4 regulations for every 1 new regulation (57 to 14). Here are some specific examples:
New regulations issued in the first 22 months of the Trump administration were 65% lower than the Obama administration in its first 22 months, and 51% lower than the Bush administration in the same period.
Here’s a sampling of just a few of Trump’s deregulatory actions in FY2018:
- Allowing small businesses and sole proprietors to join together as associations to purchase health care coverage for employees — a cost-savings measure that had been prohibited under Obamacare.
- Opening large areas off the coast of New England to commercial sea scallop harvesting, and increasing flexibility for sustainable catches of bluefin tuna and shark.
- Reducing red tape for skilled nursing facilities, hospitals, and home health care providers.
- Streamlining approval of applications for small-scale exports of natural gas, including liquefied natural gas, from U.S. export facilities.
- Expanding exemptions to the Obamacare contraceptive coverage mandate for religious beliefs.
It is important to keep in mind that the president’s authority to end or modify existing regulations is limited. The White House cannot eliminate regulatory directives from Congress, although the president appoints government agency heads who exercise some latitude in rulemaking priorities.
A regulatory repeal requires adhering to administrative procedures, such as analyzing alternatives and presenting justification for public notice and comment. Litigation occurs often and can be protracted by those who stand to gain from regulations.
In addition, reform is difficult because powerful forces favor the status quo. Regulation is a political spoils system by which various special interests impose their will on the public and profit from government favor.
Fortunately, the president can also guide agency action through Executive Orders, guidance documents and budgeting, as he has done. But reform is hindered by the immensity, complexity and lethargy of the federal regulatory apparatus.
The bottom line is, a president can only do so much in reducing regulation. But even with limitations, the level of deregulation Trump has achieved has had a significant positive impact on the economy. On the other hand, many in Congress never met a regulation they didn’t like.
It is for all these reasons that the annual savings figures quoted above declined each year, as there are fewer and fewer regulations the president is allowed to reduce or eliminate. Fortunately, there are other ways the president can reduce regulations and/or produce savings for taxpayers.
For example, President Trump is said to be considering getting rid of President Obama’s Clean Power Plan which seeks to reduce CO2 emissions by 35% over the next 14 years. The White House estimates the cost savings would be $33 billion over the same period.
As I wrote in my Blog on September 6, the United States reduced its carbon emissions by the most of any developed nation in the world in 2017, down 0.5% – at a time when most other major nations continued to increase them. Best of all, we did it without being required to by heavy-handed regulations!
In closing, while there are many things I don’t like about President Trump, his penchant for deregulating is NOT one of them. His bold efforts to cut costly and unnecessary regulations have helped boost the economy significantly. Keep it up!
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