President Trump is making a long-term mistake by issuing executive orders to roll back and stop regulatory overreach instead of relying on Congress, business groups say.
"In four years, if there is a different president, this regulatory budget is gone," said Sam Batkins, director of regulatory policy with the conservative group American Action Forum.
Batkins' group specialized in tracking the number and cost of regulations during former President Barack Obama's two terms in office. What he is focused on now is an executive order on deregulation, the "two-for-one" regulatory budget order, issued last month to stop agency overregulation.
The executive order calls for agencies to get rid of two regulations for every new regulation the agencies seek to impose. Trump called the order a "big one" and the first step toward cutting overall regulation by 75 percent, with two of its main targets being the Environmental Protection Agency and regulations imposed on the energy industry.
Environmentalists sued Trump over the order Wednesday, saying that "when you make policy by tweet, it yields irrational rules," said Rhea Suh, the president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a top environmental group that led the lawsuit. "This order imposes a false choice between clean air, clean water, safe food and other environmental safeguards."
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05.13.2024