Trump Administration Accomplishments (Part II: ‘Massive Deregulation’)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 20, 2021

“Instead of 2-for-1, we eliminated 8 old regulations for every 1 new regulation adopted.”

Yesterday, MasterResource highlighted the energy- and climate-related actions summarized by the Trump Administration itself. Today, we reproduce their highlights regarding deregulation in general.

Make no mistake: there were increasing regulation and restrictions in some areas to counter the deregulation in others, energy included. Note the bullet near the bottom of the list below:

• Placed a moratorium on offshore drilling off the coasts of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida.

That was to help win some swing states. Same for ethanol subsidies for the Midwest. Politics is politics; you can’t win them all.

What sank Trump–and Trump policies–was the Pandemic itself, not his interventionist policies as argued here. The Pandemic, in Crisis & Leviathan style, reversed the economic boom and led to panicked policy at different levels of government. And the Pandemic led to mail-in voting where votes could be harvested. (I’m not saying the election was stolen, just that the new rules favored Biden/Harris.)

Trump Administration Highlights

Here are the actions which, in the administration’s own words, “ended the regulatory assault on American businesses and workers.” (The highlight list also includes benefits from regulation, particularly in the environmental area.)

We report, you decide: critics rightfully point out areas of increased regulation (such as in trade and immigration) and other areas of the economy.

• Instead of 2-for-1, we eliminated 8 old regulations for every 1 new regulation adopted.
• Provided the average American household an extra $3,100 every year.
• Reduced the direct cost of regulatory compliance by $50 billion, and will reduce costs by an additional $50 billion in FY 2020 alone.
• Removed nearly 25,000 pages from the Federal Register – more than any other president. The previous administration added over 16,000 pages.
• Established the Governors’ Initiative on Regulatory Innovation to reduce outdated regulations at the state, local, and tribal levels.
• Signed an executive order to make it easier for businesses to offer retirement plans.
• Signed two executive orders to increase transparency in Federal agencies and protect Americans and their small businesses from administrative abuse.
• Modernized the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for the first time in over 40 years.
• Reduced approval times for major infrastructure projects from 10 or more years down to 2 years or less.
• Helped community banks by signing legislation that rolled back costly provisions of Dodd-Frank.
• Established the White House Council on Eliminating Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing to bring down housing costs.
• Removed regulations that threatened the development of a strong and stable internet.
• Eased and simplified restrictions on rocket launches, helping to spur commercial investment in space projects.
• Published a whole-of-government strategy focused on ensuring American leadership in automated vehicle technology.
• Streamlined energy efficiency regulations for American families and businesses, including preserving affordable lightbulbs, enhancing the utility of showerheads, and enabling greater time savings with dishwashers.
• Removed unnecessary regulations that restrict the seafood industry and impede job creation.
• Modernized the Department of Agriculture’s biotechnology regulations to put America in the lead to develop new technologies.
• Took action to suspend regulations that would have slowed our response to COVID-19, including lifting restrictions on manufacturers to more quickly produce ventilators.

Successfully rolled back burdensome regulatory overreach.

• Rescinded the previous administration’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule, which would have abolished zoning for single-family housing to build low-income, federally subsidized apartments.
• Issued a final rule on the Fair Housing Act’s disparate impact standard.
• Eliminated the Waters of the United States Rule and replaced it with the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, providing relief and certainty for farmers and property owners.
• Repealed the previous administration’s costly fuel economy regulations by finalizing the Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles rule, which will make cars more affordable, and lower the price of new vehicles by an estimated $2,200.

Americans now have more money in their pockets.

• Deregulation had an especially beneficial impact on low-income Americans who pay a much higher share of their incomes for overregulation.
• Cut red tape in the healthcare industry, providing Americans with more affordable healthcare and saving Americans nearly 10 percent on prescription drugs.
• Deregulatory efforts yielded savings to the medical community an estimated $6.6 billion – with a reduction of 42 million hours of regulatory compliance work through 2021.
• Removed government barriers to personal freedom and consumer choice in healthcare.
• Once fully in effect, 20 major deregulatory actions undertaken by the Trump Administration are expected to save American consumers and businesses over $220 billion per year.
• Signed 16 pieces of deregulatory legislation that will result in a $40 billion increase in annual real incomes.

Appointed a historic number of Federal judges who will interpret the Constitution as written.

• Nominated and confirmed over 230 Federal judges.
• Confirmed 54 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, making up nearly a third of the entire appellate bench.
• Filled all Court of Appeals vacancies for the first time in four decades.
• Flipped the Second, Third, and Eleventh Circuits from Democrat-appointed majorities to Republican-appointed majorities. And dramatically reshaped the long-liberal Ninth Circuit.

Appointed three Supreme Court justices, expanding its conservative-appointed majority to 6-3.

• Appointed Justice Neil Gorsuch to replace Justice Antonin Scalia.
• Appointed Justice Brett Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy.
• Appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

APPENDIX: “Safeguarding the Environment”

Took strong action to protect the environment and ensure clean air and clean water.

• Took action to protect vulnerable Americans from being exposed to lead and copper in drinking water and finalized a rule protecting children from lead-based paint hazards.
• Invested over $38 billion in clean water infrastructure.
• In 2019, America achieved the largest decline in carbon emissions of any country on earth. Since withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord, the United States has reduced carbon emissions more than any nation.
• American levels of particulate matter – one of the main measures of air pollution – are approximately five times lower than the global average.
• Between 2017 and 2019, the air became 7 percent cleaner – indicated by a steep drop in the combined emissions of criteria pollutants.
• Led the world in greenhouse gas emissions reductions, having cut energy-related CO2 emissions by 12 percent from 2005 to 2018 while the rest of the world increased emissions by 24 percent.
• In FY 2019 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cleaned up more major pollution sites than any year in nearly two decades.
• The EPA delivered $300 million in Brownfields grants directly to communities most in need including investment in 118 Opportunity Zones.
• Placed a moratorium on offshore drilling off the coasts of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida.
• Restored public access to Federal land at Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
• Recovered more endangered or threatened species than any other administration in its first term.