Biden administration imposes $1.7 trillion in regulatory costs

The 26-page report, obtained for the first time by Washington Examinerdescribes the rollout of new federal regulations since President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were sworn in. It accuses the administration of imposing new and costly bureaucratic hurdles on businesses and the economy in order to implement a “radical, left-wing agenda.”

In a statement, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) highlighted the $1.7 trillion figure and said the administration has “implemented a government-wide regulatory blitz” since taking office. Federal rulemaking under Biden has increasingly become a target for Republicans who want to rein in the administrative state if they win in November.

“We know what these new regulatory hurdles mean for the United States: higher costs of doing business, higher prices and less choice in the marketplace,” Comer said. “This economy simply cannot afford to be tied down by bureaucracy or buried under piles of federal paperwork.

“Economic prosperity comes with economic opportunity, but the Biden-Harris administration’s extreme regulatory bloat has only stifled the American dream,” he added.

Republicans on the committee said the Environmental Protection Agency had the highest regulatory costs. The EPA alone accounted for $1.3 trillion of the burden, and the EPA’s light- and medium-duty electric vehicle mandate cost $900 billion.

“These regulatory burdens threaten Americans’ ability to secure high-quality jobs, raise costs for American households, and hurt small businesses,” Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs, said in a statement. “In the Oversight Committee staff report, we exposed the extreme regulatory overreach of the Biden-Harris Administration and its negative impact on the daily lives of American taxpayers.”

Rolling back regulations and the rulemaking process in general has gained a lot of support in the Republican Party caucus over the past few years, and former President Donald Trump has signaled that it would be a priority if elected to a second term.

Republicans have accused federal agencies of using the rulemaking process to circumvent Congress’s legislative authority and rewrite laws to suit left-wing liberal priorities that would not win approval from lawmakers.

During his first term, Trump pushed the idea that for every regulation he created, two others had to be removed from the books. Earlier this month, Trump increased that number to 10 rule cuts for every one added to the federal register.

“I am proud to be the only president in modern history to have achieved a net reduction in regulation during his term, and it was a significant reduction,” Trump said during a speech at the Economic Club of New York. “Today I pledge that in my second term, we will eliminate at least 10 old regulations for every new regulation.”

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If the GOP takes the Senate and holds the House, Republican lawmakers would also pass legislation to overhaul Biden’s rules — and reform the rulemaking and approval process itself.

For example, one plan is to pass the REINS Act, which would require Congress to approve any new “significant rule” proposed by federal agencies before it takes effect.