Former President Joe Biden’s green light to federal regulators resulted in a historic increase in costs and red tape that landed on everyone.
According to a new audit of the regulations and rules unleashed by the Biden bureaucracy, the one-term Democratic president broke all records in total costs and added paperwork.
“According to the aggregated collection of self-reported estimates from federal agencies, the cumulative total of regulatory costs under the Biden administration added up to more than $1.8 trillion — far exceeding any preceding administration on record,” the report from American Action Forum noted.
What’s more, the regulatory watchdog found that Biden added 356 million new hours of paperwork to Wall Street and Main Street.
Biden cemented his reputation as regulator-in-chief last year when his team blew past his 2021 record by adding regulations worth about $1.3 trillion, according to AAF Director of Regulatory Policy Dan Goldbeck.
“The results on the cost side are remarkable. With a grand total of $1.8 trillion in cumulative regulatory costs, the Biden administration leaves its predecessors in the dust,” he wrote in the report shared with Secrets on Wednesday.
By comparison, President Donald Trump’s regulatory costs were among the lowest over the four years he served before Biden came into office.
Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency leveled the most costly regulations at $1.3 trillion, largely due to programs targeting emissions.
Trump has promised to kill up to 10 Biden regulations for every new one he releases. He has not put that in an executive order.
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But given Trump’s first-term record, Goldbeck said he expects a much lower cost impact.
“While the past year’s rulemaking activity may have pushed this sum way over the top, it was built on a steady foundation of agency action in the early years, and although initial details are somewhat scarce, one expects the incoming Trump administration to head in a very different direction. As such, the Biden ‘record’ is likely secure for at least the next few years — and given its sheer scale, for some time thereafter,” Goldbeck said.