PUSH in works to roll back business rules.

Effort said to target business regulations during pandemic

Senior White House and Trump administration officials are planning to open an effort in the coming days to repeal or suspend federal regulations affecting businesses, with the expected executive action seen by advisers as a way to boost an economy facing its worst shock in generations, two people familiar with the internal planning said.

The White House-driven initiative is expected to center on suspending federal regulations for small businesses and expanding an existing administration program that requires agencies to revoke two regulations for every new one they issue, the two people said.

The White House also is likely to seek to make permanent some temporary regulations issued by agencies over the past few weeks to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

The White House National Economic Council and its director, Larry Kudlow, are working closely on the plan with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and other officials at the Treasury Department. The Council of Economic Advisers and incoming White House chief of staff Mark Meadows also are involved, as is White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Office of Management and Budget acting director Russell Vought.

The people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a matter that had not been publicly announced, stressed that planning was ongoing and details were subject to change.

The timing of the start of the regulatory rollback is unclear, but some White House officials want the effort to begin by the end of April or in early May as part of President Donald Trump’s push to reopen the economy. White House officials have been exploring a range of measures aimed at generating economic growth after shutdowns meant to contain the novel coronavirus caused more than 22 million Americans to lose their jobs in a span of four weeks.

Public-health experts have warned against prematurely reopening the economy and argued that it could lead to new outbreaks and cause thousands of additional deaths.

Trump has discussed pushing a payroll-tax cut, an infrastructure package and more aid for states and cities in the next negotiations with Congress. By contrast, the regulatory rollback being drafted by White House officials is designed to be accomplished without congressional approval.

“This sounds exactly like the type of opportunistic political move that absolutely should not be attempted right now,” said Jared Bernstein, a former adviser to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

The White House rollback push is taking place as numerous conservative groups present the administration with recommendations for reviving the economy. On Monday, the Heritage Foundation’s National Coronavirus Recovery Commission released a 15-page report with steps for the administration to take, including a repeal of business regulations at the state and federal level. One recommendation, which a White House official confirmed is under consideration, is having the president call on all federal agencies not to enforce regulations against small businesses.

The Heritage report also calls for making permanent temporary rules issued by the Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services and Environmental Protection Agency in response to the coronavirus. A similar measure is also under consideration by the White House.

The administration eased some rules for telehealth, a “long overdue” measure that should be made permanent, said Doug Holtz-Eakin, who has served as director of the Congressional Budget Office and an adviser to numerous Republican politicians.

“A presidential call for a wide-scale policy of nonenforcement would send a very strong signal to businesses that the government is not going to come down hard on them as they try to get back up and running,” the Heritage plan states.

But many of the administration’s regulatory repeals have elicited push-back from environmental and labor groups.

“All attention should be focused on improving the regulatory state to protect the public,” said Lisa Gilbert, vice president of legislative affairs at Public Citizen, a left-leaning watchdog group. “We should be focused on the crisis at hand, not loosening standards.”