On June 14, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability held hearing entitled “Death by a Thousand Regulations: The Biden Administration’s Campaign to Bury America in Red Tape.” The meeting shined a light on Biden’s regulatory blitz that, according to Chairman Comer, began on the President’s first day in office. Comer highlighted how sweeping executive orders and unchecked regulations issued by the Biden Administration have resulted in Americans paying higher prices, businesses struggling to make ends meet, and fewer economic opportunities in the marketplace.
In addition, he noted that the Biden Administration targeted positive and necessary regulatory reforms implemented by the previous Administration. Comer stressed that this dramatic expansion of Executive Branch power has come at the expense of the American people, and described how “From sweeping Executive Orders to massive, costly agency regulations, the Biden Administration has spared no expense when it comes to transforming America—much of which has been done without a clear delegation from Congress. In just his first few days in office, President Biden issued far-reaching Executive Orders that radically altered how federal agencies approached climate issues. The Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, and several other agencies launched a government-wide effort to push out regulations to fundamentally change American life. It is estimated that just three of the Biden Administration’s rules will cause $1.5 trillion to be spent over the next decade.”
In addition to the White House, there are over 400 federal departments, agencies, and sub-agencies that also abuse power by issuing regulations that ignore the Constitutional role of Congress.
A revealing new study by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity reports that “As of the end of 2022, the Biden administration imposed new regulatory costs on American households and businesses at a pace surpassing that of the Obama administration during a comparable period. The added costs from these Biden-era final rules, which include both their current and expected future costs, amount to almost $10,000 per household. If regulatory costs continue to rise at the same rate as they did during the Obama administration, the total costs of Biden’s rulemaking over an eight-year period would almost reach $60,000 per household.”
This contrasts sharply with the Trump Administration, which reduced regulatory costs almost as fast as President Obama and Biden were adding them. Without even counting Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s agencies through four years reduced regulatory costs by almost $11,000 per household in present value.
What is the impact on the economy from excess regulation? According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) “The cost of government extends even beyond what Washington collects in taxes and the far greater amount it spends. Federal environmental, safety and health, and economic regulations and interventions affect the economy by hundreds of billions—even trillions—of dollars annually. Regulatory burdens can operate as a hidden tax. Unlike on-budget spending, regulatory costs are largely obscured from public view. They are the least disciplined aspects of government activity, which can make regulation overly appealing to lawmakers. Budgetary pressures can incentivize lawmakers to impose off-budget regulations on the private sector rather than add to unpopular deficit spending. …Just as firms generally pass the costs of some taxes along to consumers, some regulatory compliance costs and mandates borne by businesses will percolate throughout the economy, finding their way into consumer prices and workers’ wages.”
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) notes that the father of the U.S. Constitution, James Madison, “would be horrified to discover that the administrative state has added both rulemaking (legislative) and interpretative (judicial) powers to its enforcement (executive) power.”
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