The OIRA Module: Published Research

President Obama signed executive orders (13,563 and 13,610) as part of an effort to “eliminate red tape.” The president told federal agencies to “modify, streamline, expand, or repeal” existing regulations. The final set of “retrospective reports” from the administration, released recently, reveal that executive agencies have added more than $22 billion in costs, up from $16 billion in the January 2016 update, and $14.7 billion in the July 2015 update. In addition to these net costs from an ostensibly deregulatory exercise, paperwork increased by 17.1 million hours.

The American Action Forum (AAF) reviewed the most recent publicly released plans from cabinet agencies. AAF found that the retrospective reports often contain new regulations instead of ways to streamline or eliminate redundant regulations. Key findings include: