President Joe Biden’s recent administrative actions have introduced a wave of economic regulations that may be challenging for a potential Trump administration to reverse.
The term “administrative state” refers to the phenomenon of unaccountable and unelected administrative agencies, including the national security apparatus, exercising power to create and enforce their own rules. This ability essentially circumvents the separation of powers between the three branches of government by creating a so-called fourth branch of government not established by the Constitution.
The Associated Press reported a list of many of the rules:
- Limiting auto tailpipe emissions
- Forcing power plants to cut carbon dioxide emissions
- Restricting new oil and gas leases on 13 million acres of a petroleum reserve in Alaska
- Requiring oil and gas companies to pay more to drill on federal lands
- Forcing oil companies to meet stronger requirements to clean up old or abandoned wells
- Reinstating or strengthening more than 100 Green New Deal-type regulations that Trump weakened or eliminated
“The rules are safe in this Congress,” Michael Gerrard, who teaches environmental law at Columbia Law School, told the Associated Press. “All bets are off” if Republicans take over Congress and the White House.
Gerrard’s comment referred to rules implemented before a “lookback period.” Any rules put into action before the deadline cannot be reversed by a potential Trump administration via the Congressional Review Act. When the “lookback period” begins is uncertain, but Axios reported Biden’s deadline to range between this week and September.
The new economic-related rules come while Americans endure higher costs. These costs are closely tied to Biden’s stance on American energy. Biden increased the cost of energy through regulations, executive orders, and other measures, leading to greater reliance on foreign energy.
On Biden’s first day in office, he canceled the completion of the Keystone XL Pipeline. He suspended oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and in New Mexico. Biden’s EPA restricted domestic energy production. In March, the Biden administration began blocking new exports of liquid natural gas.
“He’s unable to drill properly,” Trump said. “He’s destroyed everything we had. We were energy independent. We were shortly going to be energy dominant, and now we have to go into what’s called the strategic reserves.”
