Trump’s Fall Unified Agenda on Regulations Shows Deregulation’s Toxic Consequences
Dec. 14, 2017
Trump’s Fall Unified Agenda on Regulations Shows Deregulation’s Toxic Consequences
Statement of Amit Narang, Regulatory Policy Advocate, Public Citizen’s Congress Watch Division
Note: Today, the U.S. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs released its fall 2017 unified agenda on regulatory and deregulatory actions.
For the first time, the Trump administration is making clear that critical public protections will not be issued unless agencies find other public protections to eliminate. This is due to President Donald Trump’s dangerous and radical executive order on deregulation. The results are not pretty.
A quick scan of the unified agenda reveals that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has decided to kick the can down the road by further delaying stronger standards for lead in our drinking water, which now are not expected to be finalized before 2020. Making matters worse, the EPA is claiming the rule must comply with the executive order, meaning the EPA will have to find at least two other regulations to get rid of before it can protect children and the public from unsafe lead levels in drinking water. This is exactly why Public Citizen and other organizations sued over the executive order in February.
The latest unified agenda is a perfect illustration of the deeply harmful real-world impacts of Trump’s deregulatory push. Corporate interests may celebrate, but the public will pay.
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