Paul Bedard of the Washington Examiner highlights one piece of unambiguously good news from the Trump administration’s opening months in office.
The Trump administration has fulfilled one of the president’s key campaign promises to wipe out costly Obama-era regulations, according to a new fiscal year ending report card on the effort.
The American Action Forum found that the administration kept its two-out for every-one in and saved $645 million, and has another $600 million in savings on the way.
“By any measure, it has been a significant period for regulatory reform,” wrote Dan Goldbeck, a research analyst for regulatory policy at the American Action Forum, the center-right policy shop headed by former Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin.
The regulatory cutting has become a Washington fixation with congressional Republicans leading the way after Inauguration Day with huge cuts made through the Congressional Review Act. Trump also signed Executive Order 13,771, demanding more cuts and calling on agencies to consider the cost of regulations before adding more.
In essence, said Goldbeck, Trump created a “regulatory budget” and he has kept his team on it, with the Office of Management and Budget coaching the team.
The Congressional Review Act cuts have already saved $582 billion and Trump’s actions $145 million.
