Freedom

Story by Zach Halaschak, Washington Examiner

The Biden administration has imposed an estimated $1.7 trillion in new regulatory costs since entering office, according to a new report from Republican staff on the House Oversight Committee.

The 26-page report, obtained first by the Washington Examiner, outlines the growth of new federal regulations since President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were sworn into office. It accuses the administration of imposing new and costly bureaucratic hurdles on businesses and the economy 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 “pushed a whole-of-government regulatory blitz” since entering office. Federal rulemaking under Biden has increasingly become a target of 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 fewer choices in the marketplace,” Comer said. “This economy simply can’t afford to be tied down with red tape or buried under heaps of federal paperwork.

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

Regulatory costs associated with the Environmental Protection Agency were the highest, Republicans on the committee found. The EPA alone accounted for $1.3 trillion of the burden, with the EPA’s electric vehicle mandate for light- and medium-duty vehicles costing $900 billion.

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

Rolling back regulations and the rulemaking process more generally has gained a lot of traction within the GOP caucus over the past few years, and former President Donald Trump has signaled that if he is elected to a second term, doing so will be a priority.

Republicans have accused federal agencies of using the rulemaking process to circumvent Congress’s legislative authority and rework the law to conform to the Left’s liberal priorities that would not be able to gain approval from lawmakers.

During his first term in office, Trump pushed the idea that for every regulation created, two others must be removed from the books. Earlier this month, Trump upped that to 10 cut regulations for every one added to the federal register.

“I’m proud to be the only president in modern history to achieve a net regulatory reduction during my term, and it was a substantial reduction,” Trump said during a speech at the Economic Club of New York. “I’m pledging today that in my second term, we will eliminate a minimum of 10 old regulations for every one new regulation.”

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

For instance, one plan is to pass the REINS Act, which would require Congress to approve every new “major rule” proposed by federal agencies before they go into effect.