Donald Trump Is Expected to Move Quickly to Start Regulatory Rollback
January 20, 2017 by Andrew Ackerman and Amy Harder
WASHINGTON—President-elect Donald Trump is expected to launch swiftly his administration’s deregulatory agenda, according to lobbyists who have discussed the matter with the transition team, affecting rules governing everything from investment advice to mortgage insurance and power-plant emissions.
Among Mr. Trump’s first acts as president Friday may be an order to federal agencies to temporarily cease ongoing rule-making initiatives, these people said. That would mirror steps taken by previous presidents entering the White House as one from the opposing political party leaves.
The new president is also expected to issue directives for federal agencies to delay the start of some key Obama administration priorities that don’t go into effect until later this year. A top target: new rules shaking up the multitrillion-dollar retirement savings industry, due to take effect in April. The Trump administration is eyeing a possible six-month delay for the so-called fiduciary rule, these people said—a move that could give Congress time to revoke the regulation with legislation.
Mr. Trump is likely to make an official statement announcing his intent to repeal climate-change rules that were a top second-term priority for President Barack Obama—though it would take the time to roll them back.
THE TRUMP INAUGURATION
Mr. Trump’s transition team didn’t respond Thursday to a request for comment.
Mr. Trump has said his administration will take aim at regulations across agencies, and he will be backed by congressional Republicans eager to undo some of the more controversial Obama administration initiatives. Yet his promise to eliminate regulations on U.S. businesses will likely take years to fulfill, given the complex steps involved in reversing them and political and legal challenges from Democratic lawmakers and state attorneys general.
Still, there are some regulatory actions that are expected to happen quickly, according to lobbyists who have spoken with transition officials. For instance, the new administration plans to take steps by early next week to delay planned cuts to the Federal Housing Administration’s annual mortgage insurance premiums. The FHA insures mortgages directed at home buyers who have small down payments and often lower credit scores.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees the FHA, announced earlier this month it was planning to cut the premiums for the first time in two years. The cuts are controversial among Republicans, who have been vocal critics of the FHA insurance program for years because they say it leaves the federal government on the hook for too much risk.
David Stevens, president and chief executive of the Mortgage Bankers Association, said in an interview that a delay is a tprudent step for the incoming administration to conduct its own evaluation of the insurance program.
A broad regulatory moratorium may block late actions by regulators during the Obama administration that haven’t yet been published in the Federal Register, which generally occurs in the weeks after regulations are proposed or adopted. That calls into question, for example, the future of a new bailout-prevention rule the Federal Reserve completed last month that has yet to appear in the register.
A Fed spokesman declined to comment.
The Trump administration is also expected to target a handful of energy and environmental regulations, though the new president won’t be able to freeze most of them on his first day in office.
Mr. Trump may announce soon his intent to scrap Mr. Obama’s signature climate rule, an Environmental Protection Agency regulation cutting power-plant carbon emissions, and another EPA rule putting more bodies of water under federal jurisdiction. On the campaign trail, the president-elect vowed to repeal both of those rules. Both are already temporarily delayed by federal courts pending the completion of litigation.
With the help of the GOP-controlled Congress, Mr. Trump is also likely to try to repeal two Interior Department rules that the agency has completed since mid-November, including one setting new standards limiting the amount of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, that oil and natural-gas wells on federal lands can emit, and another one requiring tougher standards for coal mining near streams.
Write to Andrew Ackerman at andrew.ackerman@wsj.com and Amy Harder at amy.harder@wsj.com
