Politics

Trump Administration Credited With Cutting $378 Million In Regulatory Costs

(REUTERS/Joshua Roberts)

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Nick Givas Media And Politics Reporter
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American Action Forum (AAF) published an analysis of deregulation under President Donald Trump, and found his administration’s polices have saved the government $378 million in total costs.

The analysis examines the effects of Trump’s Executive Order #13771 — forcing government agencies to eliminate two existing regulations for each new one. It showed most of the reduced costs came from streamlining paperwork and delaying implementation of pending regulation. AAF is a non-profit entity led by Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, and frequently comments on national economic and political policy.

AAF found only a “fraction of one percent” of the savings came from changes in regulation.

The report breaks down the savings into five categories:

Shifting of responsibilities (away from public sector to contractors)

Delays (such as extending compliance deadlines)

Paperwork (including information collection requests, applications, and reporting)

Regulatory changes (modifications in how the regulation functions)

Withdrawal of rules

Paperwork accounted for almost half the savings with $179 million, and another $136 million came from delays. Most of which applied to Obama administration rules. The report found only $1.1 million came from regulatory changes.

“The likely reason is that these actions [paperwork, delays] are less controversial and require less justification than major changes. They also require less time,” the analysis reads.

AAF says there is a chance for an even higher level of savings in 2018, and predicts the Trump administration will go after regulations from the Department of Labor and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“Some of the rules that the Administration will likely rescind or substantially revise are the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan and Waters of the United States rules (both of which the agency proposed to rescind this year), and the Department of Labor’s overtime rule. There are potentially billions in savings from these rules alone,” the report concludes.

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