Federal Regulations Overhaul: Trump Unveils Coordinated Plan for Regulatory Changes

In a significant move, the Trump administration has released the Spring 2025 edition of the "Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions." This comprehensive document outlines the forthcoming and current regulatory priorities across dozens of federal departments and agencies.

The new Agenda reflects Trump's order to "commence the deconstruction of the overbearing and burdensome administrative state." The document features a thinning conventional rulemaking docket, with rescissions, delays, and rewrites, as well as many deregulatory rules.

Press releases accompanying the rollout, such as those from Securities and Exchange Commissioner Paul Atkins and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Acting Chair Caroline D. Pham, are more reflective of the streamlining campaign. A glance at the Unified Agenda website shows dozens of completed actions are streamlining-oriented, including 19 "removal of" entries, 16 "extension" entries, 33 "administrative updates", and 14 "standards updates."

The Departments of the Treasury, Interior, Transportation, Commerce, and the Environmental Protection Agency are among the top five executive departments with the greatest number of rules in the pipeline, accounting for 46 percent of the total. The Department of the Interior alone accounts for 172 long-term priority rulemakings.

The count of active "rulemaking" actions in the Spring 2025 edition of the Unified Agenda is 2,098, a decrease from Biden's 2,233 in Fall 2024 and 2,361 in Spring 2024. Agencies have been closing offices, shrinking reporting burdens, and even trimming staff. The tally of completed actions in the Spring 2025 edition is 911, a jump from 453 in Fall 2024 and surpassing Spring 2024's 689.

The Federal Register depicts 1,760 finalized rules, on track for about 2,590 at year-end, which would be the lowest ever recorded. This suggests that the administration's deregulatory efforts are bearing fruit.

The Federal Communications Commission leads among independent agencies with 134 rules in the pipeline, some of them part of what it calls a "Delete, Delete, Delete" campaign. The new Agenda marks a shift from "whole-of-government" to "one-in, ten-out" as the guiding ethos.

However, it's worth noting that the Agenda's departmental and agency preambles tend toward boilerplate bureaucratese. Also, 183 completed actions appear in the Agenda for the first time, compared with 45 in Fall 2024, suggesting that the Agenda often announces what's already done.

The Agenda surveys long-term priority rulemakings, with long-term priority rulemakings (anticipated beyond a 12-month horizon) rising under Trump to 807, compared with Biden's Fall tally of 645. Of these long-term actions, 110 appear in the Agenda for the first time, signaling deregulation as far as the eye can see.

In conclusion, the Spring 2025 edition of the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions underscores the Trump administration's commitment to deregulation and streamlining government operations. The document provides a comprehensive overview of the current and forthcoming regulatory landscape, offering insights into the administration's efforts to reduce regulatory burdens and promote economic growth.