The Patriot Post® · Biden the Red-Tape Dispenser

One of the most positive contributions Donald Trump made during his four years in the White House was his administration’s commitment to cutting massive amounts of burdensome government regulations. In fact, this, as much as the passage of the Republican tax cuts, was responsible for fueling the nation’s economic boom.

That economic boom ended with the pandemic shutdowns, but the recovery has been hampered by Joe Biden’s abysmal leadership and implementation of hard-left policies. Biden is dragging the economy into a stagnant malaise.

One example proving this is his administration’s commitment to essentially wrap the American economy in government red tape. In just one year, Americans have been saddled with more than $201 billion in regulatory costs and 131 million hours of new annual paperwork.

Biden has produced three times the amount of new regulatory costs as Obama did in his first year and nearly 40 times the amount of Trump’s. The regulatory action most responsible for placing Biden above the two prior administrations came near the end of 2021 — mandating that auto manufacturers increase fuel mileage to 55 miles per gallon by 2026.

“The total cost of the rule change is expected to be about $180 billion, which makes it the most expensive final rule tracked by the AAF [American Action Forum] since 2005,” the Washington Examiner reports. “In fact, Biden’s inaugural year in terms of regulatory costs would have fallen to second place behind Obama’s first year had that rule not been approved.”

COVID-related regulations totaling $4 billion are the primary culprit for the massive increase in paperwork estimated at over 19 million hours. Biden’s COVID vaccine mandate for companies with 100 or more employees would have added an additional $3 billion in regulatory costs and 80 million hours of paperwork. Thankfully, the Supreme Court struck down that mandate.

When Biden took office, one of his many executive orders was to end and reverse Trump’s effective “one-in, two-out” deregulation policy. Wayne Crews, vice president for policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, observed that Biden has not merely ended Trump’s policy, he “hurled it away with great force, systematically revoking it in word and deed.”

Finally, going into Biden’s second year, don’t expect to see a regulatory let-up. Rather, it appears that his red-tape dispenser is just getting warmed up. The Biden administration is looking to release a slew of environmental regulations in an effort to move forward on the Democrats’ ecofascist agenda. Furthermore, with Biden getting much of his agenda stymied in Congress, look for him to exceed his executive power in an effort to accomplish more of what he wants.