One-In, Two-Out: Trump v. Federal Regulations

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President Trump made his eighth executive action Monday, January 31, 2017. The Trump Administration’s so-called “One-in, Two-out” Plan is designed to deregulate federal agencies by giving the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) the authority to oversee any new regulations. It is now more difficult for these agencies to create new regulations that affect private businesses because the plan requires them to eliminate two regulations in order to conceive a new one, and to do so, these agencies are required to submit their selections for elimination along with the newly proposed regulation to the OMB for approval or denial.

Besides eliminating two preexisting regulations, the OMB is now also obligated to ensure that new regulations do not create additional costs for private businesses. The executive order calls it “essential to manage the costs associated with the governmental imposition of private expenditures required to comply with federal regulations.” As such, Donald Trump told agencies explicitly that costs for new regulations this year “shall be no greater than zero” in total unless otherwise authorized. This fulfills another of Trump’s campaign promises to considerably deregulate the private sector.