Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day for August 8, 2018
The Number of the Day columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
August 8, 2018: During the Trump administration, 76 environmental regulations have been overturned or are in the process of being overturned. According to The New York Times, 46 such regulations have been completely overturned while 30 more are in the process.[1]
The list includes 18 regulations dealing with air pollution and emissions, 17 dealing with drilling and extraction, 12 on the topic of infrastructure and planning, nine on animals, seven addressing toxic substances and safety, six about water pollution, and seven on other topics.
Reducing the power of government regulators has been a consistent theme of the Trump administration. An earlier Number of the Day noted that there was a 32% decline in regulatory rules issued during the first nine months of the Trump administration.
This reflected quite a reversal from the prior 21st century presidencies. During the Obama administration, new regulations increased annual regulatory costs by $122 billion. Prior to that, the George W. Bush administration increased regulatory costs by $68 billion annually.
The scope of federal regulatory activity is substantial. For example, 98.5 percent of crimes on the books were never approved by Congress. A total of 70 billion dollars is spent annually on federal regulatory agencies. There are currently 283,996 federal regulators on the payroll. That’s twice as many as in 1990 and five times as many as in 1960. Those figures do not include agencies such as the IRS that also make rulings and regulatory decisions.
The comprehensive nature of the regulatory apparatus leads to a lot of lobbying. There are currently 3.8 formal meetings per week between lobbyists and federal regulators.
Earlier this year, the Mercatus Center released five steps that it believes would improve regulatory decision-making.
Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology.
- August 7, 2018 – 11 hours per day spent interacting with media by average American
- August 6, 2018 – 30.43 billion dollars spent on drunk shopping
- August 3, 2018 – 6 Democratic Senate seats at risk in midterm elections
- August 2, 2018 – 13 Republican governorships at risk in midterm elections
- August 1, 2018 – 34 Republican seats in Congress at high risk in November
- To see other recent numbers, check out the archive.
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Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
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