Trump Wants to Cut Federal Regulations ‘Below the 1960 Level’

December 14, 2017

[ThinkProgress.org] - Before cutting a red ribbon with oversized scissors Thursday afternoon, President Donald Trump touted his administration’s progress in cutting regulations, saying he wants to return the federal government to the level of regulations that existed in 1960.

Over the past 11 months, the Trump administration has canceled or delayed more than 1,500 planned regulatory actions, “more than any previous president, by far,” the president said at a White House event.

“We’re going to cut a ribbon because we’re getting back below the 1960 level and we’ll be there fairly quickly,” he said.

Trump pledged to cut the Federal Regulatory code back down from more than 185,000 pages in 2017 to the 20,000 pages it was in 1960. 

A progress update on the administration’s regulatory rollback was contained in the semi-annual Unified Regulatory Agenda published by the White House Office of Management and Budget Thursday afternoon.

The federal government implemented the following environmental regulations in the post-1960 era, including:

• Clean Air Act 
• Clean Water Act 
• National Environmental Policy Act 
• Safe Drinking Water Act 
• Superfund

Also in 1960, the United States did not have an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In late 1970, the U.S. House and Senate approved President Richard Nixon’s proposal to create the federal environmental agency.

Other rules and regulations that were implemented after 1960 include:

• Endangered Species Act 
• National Forest Management Act 
• Wilderness Act 
• National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act 
• Federal Land Policy and Management Act 

At Thursday’s event, Trump said he knows that some of the nation’s rules have been beneficial to the nation and that his administration will protect the air, water, and health and safety of workers.

The EPA is working with the Army Corps of Engineers to undo the Clean Water Rule. In October, the Trump administration announced plans to repeal the Clean Power Plan, a policy "regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and aimed at reducing global warming."