More than 125 “anti-competitive” agency regulations have been submitted to the White House to eliminate or narrow, the Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in April directing agency heads, along with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) chairman and Attorney General, to identify regulations that “reduce competition, entrepreneurship, and innovation.”
The DOJ’s Antitrust Division also launched an Anticompetitive Regulations Task Force in March, inviting public comment to identify regulations that hurt “consumers, workers and businesses.” The antitrust division and the FTC consulted with agencies on regulations identified by the public.
“In America we believe in free markets, not central planning by government regulators or powerful monopolists,” said Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division said in a statement to the DCNF. “Lowering barriers to entry by removing anticompetitive regulations will free America’s innovators and entrepreneurs to do what they do best: drive America’s future success.”
Some agencies have already started the process of rescinding or modifying regulations.
Rules on the list submitted Tuesday include Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations giving contracting preferences to businesses owned by “socially and economically disadvantaged individuals,” according to a letter FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson submitted Tuesday to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
“Such restrictions treat business owners differently based on race or sex as they compete for federally funded contracts,” Ferguson wrote. “Conferring these preferences to firms having nothing to do with price or quality may drive up costs or reduce quality.”
The list also includes Department of Education regulations allowing higher education institutions to include textbook and supply costs in tuition fees, a Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) rule requiring table saws to include finger detection technology, per the letter. Certain Department of Agriculture Forest Service requirements for grazing permits that “inhibit entry by the younger generation of ranchers” were also identified.
“Over the years, the Federal Register has swollen with all manner of regulations that create barriers to competition, entrepreneurship, and innovation that hinder American growth,” Ferguson wrote. “In some cases, dominant incumbent firms may manipulate the regulatory process to entrench themselves and lock out new competitors.”
The ultimate decision on these regulations “rests with the President, acting through his delegate agencies, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the substantive agency responsible for the regulation,” Ferguson noted.
“But these proposals represent months of hard work from expert FTC and Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyers and economists, as well as representatives of agencies across government,” he wrote.
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