President Trump has made removing expensive and unneeded regulations a cornerstone of his domestic economic agenda. Thanks to the administration's efforts, American businesses are able to spend more time growing, innovating, and hiring—and less time worrying about new burdens from unelected bureaucrats in Washington. Now with the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging the economy, the president is doubling down on the successful strategy of deregulation to lead the economic recovery.
At the directive of an Executive Order signed yesterday, President Trump required government agencies to “combat the economic consequences of COVID-19 with the same vigor and resourcefulness with which the fight against COVID-19 itself has been waged.” Reining in unnecessary impositions upon the private market is the appropriate approach to ensuring greater prosperity for all, but the principles of deregulation can also be used to promote public health access and reduce healthcare costs.
With a government as large as ours, it can be difficult for bureaucrats to know where to start. Luckily, our friends at Americans for Tax Reform have a useful list of more than 500 regulations suspended by federal and state agencies to help combat COVID-19. If agencies need a place to look in order to start cutting, we recommend they take a peek at their list.
The road to full economic recovery may be long, but we can shorten the timeline by getting burdensome and unnecessary regulations out of the way. We applaud the president and the administration for continuing to find the appropriate balance between protecting public safety and growing the economy.