On Tuesday, President Trump signed an executive order intended to speed economic recovery by cutting unnecessary regulations.
During a Tuesday Cabinet meeting, Trump signed an executive order instructing federal agencies to slash all “unnecessary regulations that impede economic recovery.”
According to the White House, the executive order will direct federal agencies to identify regulations that can be temporarily waived to promote economic growth.
The order then asks the agencies to determine whether any of the hundreds of regulations that were previously suspended due to Coronavirus could be suspended permanently.
Trump said, “I’m directing agencies to review the hundreds of regulations we’ve already suspended in response to the virus and make these suspensions permanent where possible.”
President Trump signs Executive Order giving Cabinet members authority to cut regulations.
Full video here: https://t.co/1NXrzbhqNL pic.twitter.com/P6j6ikzavC
— CSPAN (@cspan) May 19, 2020
Moments before Trump signed the order, he addressed U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao directly. He said, “Elaine, you can do things that nobody would believe in your department, Department of Transportation. So good luck. I’m signing this, it gives you tremendous power to cut regulations.”
Fox News reports that more than 600 regulations are up for review under the executive order.
“We’re fighting for the livelihoods of American workers, and we must continue to cut through every piece of red tape that stands in our way.” pic.twitter.com/pmisSDtJTb
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 19, 2020
“If a bureaucratic rule needs to be suspended during a time of crisis to help the American people, we should ask ourselves if it makes sense to keep it at all,” said Acting Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought explained.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) suspended Hours of Service (HOS) regulations for truckers hauling certain supplies in all fifty states shortly after Trump declared the Coronavirus to be a national emergency in March. The HOS waiver has been extended twice and is now valid through June 14, 2020.
This is not the first time that Trump has signed an executive order aimed at deregulation. In January 2017, he signed an executive order requiring lawmakers to eliminate two regulations for every new regulation enacted by federal agencies.
This is a developing story.