Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day for July 20, 2018
The Number of the Day columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
July 20, 2018: During the first year of the Trump administration, the Brookings Institution reports that lobbyists met formally an average of 3.8 times per week with federal regulators. While that figure is down from 4.8 meetings per week in the third year of the Obama administration, it is up from the first year of both the Bush (1.8) and Obama (2.2) administrations.[1]
President Obama’s chief regulator “Cass Sunstein contends that these meetings do not influence OIRA’s decision-making.” However, Brookings observed that “the sheer number of them suggests that lobbying groups view them as valuable.”
The Brookings Institution study noted that the increase in regulatory lobbying during the Trump administration was driven by interest groups, not business. In fact, when it came to efforts reducing the regulatory burden, these nonprofit groups had more meetings with regulators than businesses did. As Brookings put it, “much of this form of lobbying seems to be a response to Trump’s deregulatory agenda, which has clearly evoked a reaction from liberal interests.”
Finally, the Brookings study noted that the increase in lobbying took place despite the fact that the Trump administration added far fewer regulations than either the Bush or Obama administrations.
Earlier Numbers of the Day reported that the annual budget for federal regulatory agencies is $70 billion. There are approximately 283,996 federal regulators. That’s twice as many as in 1990, five times as many as 1960. Those figures do not include the IRS and certain other agencies with significant regulatory power.
Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology.
- July 19, 2018 – 1,370 percent increase in overdose death rates since War on Drugs was launched
- July 18, 2018 – 52 lower court rulings overturned by Supreme Court in most recent term
- July 17, 2018 – 34 percent of American adults enjoy driving a great deal
- July 16, 2018 – 72 percent of adults very proud to be an American
- July 13, 2018 – 29 percent of Americans have six months of savings in the bank
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Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
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