It’s practically cliche that during a Republican primary, candidates will compare themselves to Ronald Reagan.
It was actually Reagan who first used the slogan “Make America Great Again” in his 1988 campaign, which Donald Trump saw fitting to use for his as well. Always prepared for whatever could happen in the future, Trump signed an application to trademark the phrase just days after Mitt Romney’s loss to Barack Obama in 2012.
Like every other Republican before him, Trump has compared himself to Reagan in the past on numerous occasions.
And a few months into his presidency, there’s at least one record he’s set that’s quite Reaganesque, and that’s in cutting regulation. It’s been a relatively easy task for him, as it’s required nothing more than a signature on executive orders commanding such regulations be undone.
It was odd that a seemingly boring campaign line calling for fewer federal regulations would win applause, but candidate Donald Trump’s promise was cheered so loudly last year that President Trump made it an early priority in his administration.
And it appears that he is delivering big time, especially on his pledge to kill two regulations for every new one issued. According to a tally provided by the free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute, the president has issued fewer rules than any other president since Ronald Reagan and cut the costs of those regulations significantly.
The American Action Forum, a conservative think tank that charts federal policy and rules, called Trump’s regulatory freeze “historic.” CEI’s Clyde Wayne Crews Jr. said federal agencies haven’t seen such a shift away from red tape since former President Ronald Reagan arrived in Washington in 1981.
Through last Wednesday, Trump has issued 1,063 rules. During the comparable period, former President Barack Obama issued 1,139 rules.
According to the AEI, “What’s more, the cost of the new regulations has dropped from an average of $26 billion to $33 million, or just 0.12 of the past average for the first five months of the year.”
As I noted in a column elsewhere, according to one study, published by the American Action Forum in August of last year, the 600 major regulations Obama added come to a $743 billion cost to the economy. Each has an economic impact of at least $100 million, on a yearly basis, according to the study. To put the cost in other terms, it’s a $2,294 regulatory imposition on every person in the United States.
Tax reform will be the next big boost to the American economy, but given that such a task will take months due to the fact that it has to pass the two houses of Congress, gutting billions in regulations will do for now.
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