On his first day in office, President Trump hit the pause button on a number of fronts, including issuing executive orders implementing a hiring freeze within the federal government and a freeze on issuing new regulations, among others. The freeze on new regulations is designed to put a stop to any orders that were issued while President Biden was in office, including rules that were sent to the Federal Register but have not yet been published and any released rules that have been issued but are not yet effective.
A department or agency head appointed by President Trump must review and approve rules before they are allowed to move forward, according to the order. The Office of Management & Budget may exempt rules that are deemed to be necessary to address emergency situations or urgent circumstances.
“We strongly support President Trump’s decision to pause all pending rulemakings,” said Greg Baer, President and CEO of the Bank Policy Institute. “Regulatory actions should be grounded in the law, backed by data and developed through a transparent process that ensures accountability and public input — the foundations of good governance. The incoming administration should extend its review beyond pending regulations to include policy statements, interpretive rules and agency actions illegally enforced by regulators as binding rules without going through the required notice-and-comment process.”
The order also implements a 60-day pause any rules that have been published in the Federal Register but have not yet taken effect. The order also recommends opening a new comment period, stating “During this 60-day period, where appropriate and consistent with applicable law, consider opening a comment period to allow interested parties to provide comments about issues of fact, law, and policy raised by the rules postponed under this memorandum, and consider reevaluating pending petitions involving such rules.”
