Under orders to slash regulations, 11 of 16 top federal agencies went on a cutting frenzy last year, eliminating old rules, many from the Obama era, for a total saving to taxpayers and business of $7.8 billion.

In a key sign of the new trend, nearly a third of the administration’s regulatory actions were actually moves to cut rules and red tape, according to a calendar year end review from American Action Forum.

Overall, federal agencies cut $16.4 billion in regulations but added $8.6 billion in new rules.

“Rulemaking activity increased notably in the second year of the Trump administration, following the trend of other recent administrations. The reason for this increase is straightforward: In its second year, an administration has more personnel in place and can advance rules begun in year one. The difference for the Trump administration is that a significant portion of regulatory activity this year was deregulatory,” said the new report.

While new administrations typically expand regulations to fit their agenda, the Trump agenda has been focused on deregulation and some 70 percent of federal agencies complied, said the report from AAF’s policy experts Dan Bosch and Dan Goldbeck.



(American Action Forum)



The Departments of Health and Human Services, Transportation, and the Interior accounted for the bulk of the cuts, totaling over $10 billion.

When looked at the cuts in a fiscal instead of calendar year time frame, the Department of Labor moves up to second place.

Those cuts helped offset the handful of agencies that added costly regulations, notably the Department of Agriculture. It added $5.2 billion, most of that in one rule covering a bioengineered food disclosure standard.

“The Trump administration ramped up deregulatory activity in 2018, resulting in government-wide net regulatory savings for the first time since AAF began tracking. It achieved this by more than doubling its final deregulatory action rate,” said the experts.