Donald Trump Orders The End Of Y2K Preparedness Regulations

In an effort to crack down on wasteful government paperwork, the White House announced that it is doing away with a federal requirement that few knew was still in existence – work on the Y2K bug.

Yes, the Y2K bug that was thought at one time to be the apocalyptic end of computer systems and electronics as we knew them – at the turn of the century – is apparently still a thing being tackled by government workers.

In fact, these regulations had been requiring updates for the bug, something which, by its very name, could only have been relevant in the year 2000.

Via Bloomberg:

Seventeen years after the Year 2000 bug came and went, the federal government will finally stop preparing for it.

The Trump administration announced Thursday that it would eliminate dozens of paperwork requirements for federal agencies, including an obscure rule that requires them to continue providing updates on their preparedness for a bug that afflicted some computers at the turn of the century. As another example, the Pentagon will be freed from a requirement that it file a report every time a small business vendor is paid, a task that consumed some 1,200 man-hours every year.

Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, likened the move to “cleaning out our closets” of items that “everyone agrees is a complete waste of time.”

“Many agencies have forgotten how to deregulate,” Mulvaney added. “It’s been so long since somebody asked them to look backwards.”

A full 17 years in this instance.

President Trump has launched an ambitious effort to roll back government overreach and wasteful regulations, seeking to cut them by 75%.

Bloomberg reports that, thus far, Trump “has signed more laws rolling back his predecessor’s regulations than the combined total of the three previous presidents.”

Do you support Trump’s efforts to eliminate wasteful government programs and policies? Share your thoughts with us below!

Rusty Weiss has been covering politics for over 15 years. His writings have appeared in the Daily Caller, Fox... More about Rusty Weiss

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