If Republicans gain control of the government in November, they plan to dismantle many federal rules imposed under President Joe Biden. Trump allies and congressional Republicans are working together to undo rulemaking under the Biden administration and reduce the power of executive branch agencies to write and enforce rules without much input from Congress.
The plan involves Trump using executive orders to revise, revamp, and eliminate Biden-era rules, while Congress and Trump would use the Congressional Review Act to expedite votes to cancel recently imposed regulations. Republican lawmakers would also pass legislation to overhaul Biden’s rules and reform the rulemaking and approval process.
Republicans are upset by the increase in rulemaking under Biden, seeing it as a way for the president to make significant changes without Congress’s consent. They believe that undoing Biden’s executive actions and regulations will help revive the economy and industries.
Trump also aims to change the administrative state’s staff by reclassifying tens of thousands of federal bureaucrats to make it easier to remove those who do not align with the president’s agenda. The reclassification would cover about 50,000 policy-influencing positions in the federal government.
If Trump wins, he plans to freeze proposed rules on the first day of his presidency and restore his executive order requiring two old regulations to be eliminated for every new one introduced. Republicans are preparing legislation, such as the REINS Act, to give Congress more control over approving major rules proposed by federal agencies.
Overall, the Republican Party is united in pushing for regulatory reform, with various lawmakers introducing legislation ahead of the election to reshape the administrative state if they gain power. They aim to reverse Biden’s rulemaking legacy and promote Congress’s role in approving major rules to provide long-term certainty for the economy and industries.
