Trump’s 10-for-1 regs order jettisons rulemaking revamp

By Kevin Bogardus | 02/03/2025 01:58 PM EST

The foundational guidance on cost-benefit analysis, long targeted by conservatives, was key to aggressive environmental rules, including on climate change.

Donald Trump speaks at news conference.

Then-President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a Dec. 16, 2024, news conference at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

President Donald Trump has tossed his predecessor’s effort to revamp the rulemaking process, endangering aggressive environmental regulations across the federal government.

Trump signed an executive order Friday geared toward slashing 10 rules for every one issued by agencies. Also included in the order was a pullback of former President Joe Biden’s revised guidance for how the costs and benefits of regulations should be weighed. The revamped version gave greater weight to the benefits of federal rules than its decades-old predecessor, which supported Biden’s campaign against climate change.

Conservatives have long targeted Biden’s foundational guidance from the Office of Management and Budget, known as the revised Circular A-4, and celebrated Trump striking it down.

Advertisement

“Revoking the 2023 circular was the right thing to do,” said Susan Dudley, who led the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the government’s rulemaking hub, during the George W. Bush administration. “The 2023 revisions politicized regulatory analysis, departed from widely accepted analytical principles that had endured through several administrations with very different policy views.”

GET FULL ACCESS