Many critics in academia and the think tank community love to level attacks on President Donald Trump's regulatory reforms. This is not surprising given how controversial Trump, the man, is and given that deregulation can be controversial too. And while Trump's red tape cutting effort has been nowhere near perfect, it's time to set the record straight: There is far more to these reforms than the critics let on.
As background, the president issued Executive Order 13,771 soon after taking office. Its “2 for 1” requirement received the most attention: Two regulations must be identified for elimination each time a new one is put forward. However, perhaps more important is the “regulatory budget” it set up, which essentially set a cap on new regulatory costs executive branch agencies can impose.
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