Trump signs four bills to roll back regulations
Moves reverse rules on education, land use, federal purchasing
President Trump rolled back more Obama-era regulations Monday, signing four bills that reverse rules on education, land use and federal purchasing.
Promising to “remove every job-killing regulation we can find,” Trump said more regulation-cutting bills were on the way.
The resolutions of disapproval reached Trump’s desk through the Congressional Review Act, a rarely used tool that allows Congress to fast-track bills to reverse regulations. Before Trump, the law had been used successfully only once in its 21-year history.
Trump has now signed seven, a pace that has surprised even experts. “There are several that weren’t on my radar at all,” said Susan Dudley, director of the Regulatory Studies Center at George Washington University.
Previous bills have reversed Obama regulations barring Social Security recipients with mental impairments from buying guns, restricting the dumping of mining waste in streams and rivers, and requiring energy companies to disclose how much they’re paying foreign governments.
In fact, half of all bills Trump has signed have been these regulation-killing resolutions. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said many of the bills “cancel federal power grabs that took decision-making away from the states and local governments.”
The rules canceled by Trump’s pen include:
The “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces” rule, which barred companies from receiving federal contracts if they had a history of violating wage, labor or work- place safety laws. That regulation, derided by critics as the “blacklisting ” rule, was already held up in court.
“The rule simply made it too easy for trial lawyers to go after American companies and American workers who contract with the federal government,” Spicer said.
President Obama had pushed the rule through an executive order in 2014. But with the rule wiped off the books, Trump then signed an executive order revoking Obama’s order and directing agencies to rescind any policies implementing it.
A Bureau of Land Management rule known as “Planning 2.0,” that gave the federal government a bigger role in land-use decisions. The rule was opposed by the energy industry.
Two regulations on measuring school performance and teacher training under the Every Student Succeeds Act, a law Obama signed in 2015 with bipartisan support.
Trump’s moves effectively preclude federal action on any of those rules. The administration is barred from issuing any new rule that is “substantially similar” to the ones just overturned.