Obama Pushes $111.2 BILLION In ‘Midnight’ Regs In 5 Days

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Michael Bastasch DCNF Managing Editor
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The Obama administration published a whopping $111.2 billion worth of regulations in the last five days, according to a new report.

Regulators published $111.2 billion in total costs with $5.7 billion in annual burdens, compared to $71.9 billion in benefits,” writes Dan Goldbeck, a policy analyst at the right-leaning American Action Forum (AAF).

“The main drivers of regulatory burdens included a proposed rule on ‘Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications’ and an Affordable Care Act final rule on home health agencies,” Goldbeck reported.

The Department of Transportation “Vehicle-to-Vehicle” rule is the biggest driver of regulatory costs in the last week. That rule alone is expected to cost automakers $109 billion, or about $5 billion a year.

And it’s only the second-most expensive regulation ever published since 2005.

Last-minute Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations also added to the burden. EPA published a rule on “Risk Management Programs” that costs the economy $131.8 million in every year.

“The per capita regulatory burden for 2017 is $381,” Goldbeck noted.

The Obama administration published $123.5 billion worth of new regulations in 2016, according to AAF, and the administration only ramped up its pushing out of last-minute, or “midnight,” regulations to make it as hard as possible for the incoming Trump administration to rollback rules.

President-elect Donald Trump is three days away entering the White House. Trump’s promise to issue a slew of executive orders his first day to reverse Obama’s policies on immigration and energy.

But executive orders can only take Trump so far, and Congress is expected to pass legislation to repeal Obama-era regulations and make it harder for federal agencies to issue major rules.

Federal agencies are slated to release another $31 billion in regulations after Obama leaves office, though Trump could stop many of these rules from being published in the Federal Register.

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