WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump is trumpeting the rolling back of federal rules and regulations in his administration\u2019s first year even as critics say he has tried to dismantle important protections for the environment, consumers and others, and that his claims are overblown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor many decades, an ever-growing maze of regulations, rules, restrictions has cost our country trillions and trillions of dollars, millions of jobs, countless American factories, and devastated many industries,\u201d Trump said Thursday, flanked by giant stacks of paper he said represented regulations that have stifled economic growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut all that has changed the day I took the oath of office and it\u2019s changed rapidly, Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump signed an executive order days after taking office in January that directed agencies to identify two regulations to cut for every new one they intended to issue. Agencies also had to offset any new regulatory costs with cuts by eliminating existing rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump said his government had well surpassed its goal, eliminating 22 regulations for every new rule it enacted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe blew our target out of the water,\u201d Trump said, crediting the moves for boosting economic growth and sparking stock market gains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Neomi Rao, the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, said the administration had completed 67 deregulatory actions and taken three regulatory actions through the end of September that would result in a cost savings of $570 million a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those deregulatory actions include a wide range of actions, including the withdrawal of guidance documents and reductions in paperwork burdens, and a dozen regulations killed by Congress, Rao said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 1,500 regulations other rules and regulations have been withdrawn, delayed, or are under reconsideration, officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deregulation has been a priority during a year in which Trump\u2019s legislative agenda has faced headwinds in Congress, including the Republican failure to repeal and replace former President Obama\u2019s health care law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump\u2019s former strategist, Steve Bannon, has described the goal as \u201cthe deconstruction of the administrative state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve begun the most far-reaching regulatory reform in American history,\u201d Trump said, claiming that \u201cthe never-ending growth of red tape in America has come to a sudden, screeching and beautiful halt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To demonstrate his efforts, Trump used large golden scissors to cut a red ribbon draped over stacks of paper representing regulations on the books in 1960 versus today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe must liberate our economy from years of federal overreach and intrusion so that we can compete and win on the world stage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump, in his remarks, said he did plan to keep certain regulations in place protecting workers\u2019 health and safety, ensuring clean water and air, and protecting the country\u2019s natural beauty. But he said, \u201cevery unnecessary page in these stacks represents hidden tax and harmful burdens to American workers and to American businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Stuart Shapiro, a Rutgers University professor who worked at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs during the Clinton and Bush presidencies, cast cold water on the claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s some reality there and a lot of bluster,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deregulatory actions must go through the same review process as imposing new rules, and just because they are listed on the agenda doesn\u2019t mean they will become effective, Shapiro said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis administration has done very little regulating,\u201d Shapiro said. \u201cThey haven\u2019t used their discretion to create new regulations \u2014 certainly nothing like the Obama administration, but also not like most previous Republican administrations have done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The announcement came the same day as the White House released the \u201cUnified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions,\u201d an assessment of the executive branch\u2019s rule-making efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump said his government had well surpassed its goal, eliminating 22 regulations for every new rule it enacted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":67720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":15,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[106,31,15,33],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1982,1151],"class_list":["post-21939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-management","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"6L6XRXA4BVFORKKTAX4TN2KFDE","arc_canonical_url":"\/management\/2017\/12\/14\/trump-relishes-progress-on-rolling-back-federal-rules\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n