President Trump: Cutting Red Tape for American Businesses
Source: https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/articles/president-trump-cutting-red-tape-american-businesses/February 14, 2017
The American free enterprise system is the greatest engine for economic success in the world, and this week President Donald J. Trump is taking more steps to roll back the burdensome, Obama-era regulations that are crippling our businesses.
Today, President Trump signed legislation (House Joint Resolution 41) eliminating a burdensome regulation that threatened to put domestic extraction companies and their employees at an unfair disadvantage. By halting this regulation, the President has removed a costly impediment to American extraction companies helping their workers succeed.
President Trump has been steadfast in his commitment to reducing the regulatory burdens on everyday Americans, their pocketbooks, and their businesses. He has required that for every new Federal regulation, two existing regulations be eliminated.
“This is one of many that we’ve signed, and we have many more left. And we’re bringing back jobs big league, we’re bringing them back at the plant level; we’ve bringing them back at the mine level.”
Many members of Congress were in attendance at today’s bill signing, including House Speaker Paul Ryan; Representative Jeb Hensarling, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee; and other members of the House Financial Services Committee.
The Trump Administration is committed to fixing the broken regulatory system, enhancing Americans’ productivity, and unleashing American potential.
President Trump: Cutting Red Tape for American Businesses
Source: https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/president-trump-cutting-red-tape-american-businesses/Issued on: February 14, 2017
GETTING GOVERNMENT OUT OF THE WAY: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed legislation (House Joint Resolution 41) eliminating a costly regulation that threatened to put domestic extraction companies and their employees at an unfair disadvantage.
- H.J. Res. 41 blocks a misguided regulation from burdening American extraction companies.
- By halting this regulation, the President has removed a costly impediment to American extraction companies helping their workers succeed.
- This legislation could save American businesses as much as $600 million annually in regulatory compliance costs and spare them 200,000 hours of paperwork.
- The regulation created an unfair advantage for foreign-owned extraction companies.
BUILDING ON PRESIDENTIAL ACTION: President Trump has been steadfast in his commitment to reducing the regulatory burden on everyday Americans, their pocketbooks, and their businesses.
- President Trump has required that for every new Federal regulation, two existing regulations be eliminated.
- President Trump will initiate fundamental changes to the United States healthcare system to reduce the financial burden on Americans by getting the government out of the way.
- President Trump has placed a moratorium on all new regulations by executive departments and agencies that are not compelled by Congress or public safety.
- President Trump directed his Secretary of Commerce to streamline Federal permitting processes for domestic manufacturing and to reduce regulatory burdens on domestic manufacturers.
- President Trump signed an Executive Order expediting the environmental review and approval processes for domestic infrastructure projects.
- President Trump directed the Secretary of the Treasury to conduct a full review of Dodd-Frank to ensure associated, burdensome regulations receive proper scrutiny.
- President Trump ordered re-examination of the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule, to make certain that it does not harm Americans as they save for retirement.
President Trump Cuts Through More Red Tape
Source: https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/president-trump-cuts-red-tape/Issued on: February 24, 2017
GOVERNMENT WIDE REGULATORY REFORM: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order requiring every agency to establish a Regulatory Reform Task Force to eliminate red tape.
- Each Regulatory Reform Task Force will evaluate existing regulations and identify candidates for repeal or modification.
- Each agency’s Task Force will focus on eliminating costly and unnecessary regulations.
- To hold the Task Forces accountable, agencies will measure and report progress in achieving the President’s directives.
COSTLY REGULATIONS: Regulations have grown unchecked in past Administrations, imposing a steep cost on the American economy.
- The regulations from the last Administration cost American taxpayers $873 billion in total.
- The Obama Administration finalized more than 3,000 regulations.
BUILDING ON PRESIDENTIAL ACTION: President Trump has been steadfast in his commitment to reducing the regulatory burden on everyday Americans, their pocketbooks, and their businesses.
- President Trump has required that for every new Federal regulation, two existing regulations be eliminated.
- President Trump signed an Executive Order instructing Federal agencies to minimize the burden of the Affordable Care Act on Americans while he works to repeal and replace it.
- President Trump signed legislation, House Joint Resolution 38, to prevent the burdensome “Stream Protection Rule” from causing further harm to the coal industry.
- President Trump signed legislation, House Joint Resolution 41, to eliminate a costly regulation that threatened to put American mining and energy companies and their employees at an unfair disadvantage.
- President Trump directed the Secretary of Commerce to develop a plan to streamline Federal permitting processes for domestic manufacturers.
- President Trump signed an Executive Order expediting the environmental review and approval processes for domestic infrastructure projects.
- President Trump directed the Secretary of the Treasury to conduct a full review of the burdensome regulations required by the Dodd-Frank Act.
- President Trump ordered a re-examination of the Department of Labor’s “fiduciary rule,” to make certain that it does not harm Americans as they save for retirement.
President Donald J. Trump is Delivering on Deregulation
Issued on: December 14, 2017
We will get rid of the redundancy and duplication that wastes your time and your money.President Donald J. Trump
SURPASSING GOALS FOR FY 2017: The Trump Administration has far exceeded its promise to eliminate regulations at a 2:1 ratio and impose no lifetime net regulatory costs.
- Agencies have issued 22 deregulatory actions for every one new regulatory action.
- This 22:1 ratio far exceeds President Trump’s promise to eliminate two rules for every one new rule.
- In total, agencies issued 67 deregulatory actions while imposing only three new regulatory actions.
- Federal agencies achieved $8.1 billion in lifetime net regulatory cost savings, the equivalent of $570 million per year.
- These savings go beyond the Administration’s goal of imposing no lifetime net regulatory costs in FY 2017.
- In contrast, the previous administration imposed between $5.7 billion and $15.2 billion in annualized regulatory costs in its final eight months in office.
EVEN GREATER SAVINGS IN 2018: The Trump Administration is committed to producing even greater regulatory cost savings in FY 2018.
- Federal agencies are committed to cutting more than $9.8 billion in lifetime costs for regulations finalized in FY 2018.
- This $9.8 billion in savings would amount to $686.6 million per year.
REGULATORY PLAN FOR FY 2018: Today, the Trump Administration is releasing its first full Regulatory Plan and Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions.
- The Regulatory Plan and Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions gives a detailed look at the Administration’s plan to continue rolling back regulations.
- Agencies plan on achieving even more regulatory rollbacks in FY 2018 compared with FY 2017, and plan to issue at least three deregulatory actions for every one new regulation.
- In this Administration, agencies have withdrawn or delayed 1,579 planned regulatory actions.
- 635 regulations were withdrawn.
- 244 regulations were made inactive.
- 700 regulations were delayed.
- For the first time, the Federal regulatory database will identify whether regulations are anticipated to be net regulatory or deregulatory.
- Reginfo.gov will now provide a list of inactive regulatory actions, not released in previous administrations.
President Donald J. Trump is Following Through on His Promise to Cut Burdensome Red Tape and Unleash the American Economy
Source: https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trump-following-promise-cut-burdensome-red-tape-unleash-american-economy/Issued on: October 17, 2018
An ever-growing maze of regulations, rules, restrictions has cost our country trillions and trillions of dollars, millions of jobs, countless American factories, and devastated many industries.President Donald J. Trump
ENDING OVERREGULATION: President Donald J. Trump is delivering on his promise to get rid of unnecessary, outdated, and duplicative regulations.
- The Trump Administration is releasing findings that show the President’s regulatory reform efforts saved American families and business owners $23 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2018.
- This progress builds on the Administration’s significant regulatory reforms in FY 2017.
- President Trump’s historic regulatory reform is a complete change in direction, with Americans actually seeing an overall decrease in regulatory burdens.
- The Administration issued 176 deregulatory actions last year, eliminating 12 regulations for every new one according to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
- The President has again exceeded his pledge to cut two regulations across the year for every new one.
- Since taking office, President Trump’s efforts have achieved $33 billion in regulatory savings.
- In a stark contrast, President Obama imposed $245 billion in burdensome regulatory costs on the American people in his first 21 months in office.
- Businesses are finally being freed of Washington’s overreach and the American economy is flourishing as a result.
REAL RESULTS: President Trump’s efforts to cut burdensome and unnecessary red tape are bringing real change and delivering real results for Americans.
- The Department of Labor made it easier for small businesses to provide better health insurance to their employees through association health plans.
- The Department of Veterans Affairs greatly expanded veterans’ ability to use telehealth services, giving them access to state-of-the-art healthcare everywhere.
- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has taken action to free our fishermen from burdensome red tape while also promoting responsible fishing practices.
- For instance, areas off the coast of New England have been opened to commercial sea scallop harvesting for the first time in years, netting an economic benefit of $654 million.
- The Department of Health and Human Services reduced paperwork for nursing facilities, inpatient hospitals, and home health providers, saving $8.2 billion in regulatory costs.
DEREGULATION WILL CONTINUE: The Trump Administration will continue its bold reforms to roll back burdensome red tape in FY 2019.
- President Trump’s regulatory reform efforts are accelerating, and we will continue to take a responsible approach to addressing overly burdensome regulations in FY 2019.
- The Department of Transportation and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have proposed amendments to existing Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards.
- These amendments could save up to $340 billion over the lifetime of new vehicles.
- The EPA and Army Corps of Engineers have proposed new rulemakings that would reassess the Obama Administration’s burdensome “Waters of the United States” rule.
- The EPA has proposed the Affordable Clean Energy rule, which would replace the 2015 Clean Power Plan (CPP).
- In some scenarios, avoided compliances costs total $6.4 billion compared to the CPP.
Remarks by President Trump in Meeting with Workers on “Cutting the Red Tape, Unleashing Economic Freedom”
Issued on: October 17, 2018
Oval Office
11:15 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, and welcome to the Oval Office. On Monday, I traveled to Florida and Georgia to meet with first responders and to visit with those affected by the devastation of Hurricane Michael. And yesterday, Mike Pence traveled also to the two states and he saw devastation like he’s never seen before. We’re in the same category. It was something. Something horrible.
Thousands of federal employees and military personnel have been deployed to assist in the massive recovery effort. One of the biggest we’ve ever done, and we’ve had some pretty big hurricanes. This was just about at the top.
We will not rest until every community has been fully restored. The restoration efforts here is bigger than the others, because the winds were so powerful. They literally lifted businesses and houses and factories — everything in its way. They would literally lift not only the house, they would lift out the foundations, in many cases. They ripped out foundations that were set deep. And nobody has seen anything quite like this.
We’re here today to discuss my administration’s historic effort to reduce job-killing regulations. We have set a record on killing regulations. No administration has knocked out as many as us, and we have a long way to go.
At the same time, we will have rules, regulations, and other standards which we need, we have to have. But we have knocked out tremendous numbers of unnecessary regulations.
We’ve removed more regulations, and we will continue to get rid of regulations. I think within a period of about another year, we will have just about everything that we’ve wanted. And one of the reasons the economy is so strong is that we’re not hampered by the ridiculous regulations that we were getting rid of and are getting rid of.
EPA, I can tell you — just speaking of one — the things, Mr. Secretary, that we have gotten rid of, it’s unbelievable and totally unnecessary. And I know you have a long way to go. And yet, we’re going to have the best EPA that anybody has ever had — and the strictest, in a certain way.
I want to thank very much Secretary Zinke, Secretary Perdue, Secretary Chao, Director Mulvaney, Administrator McMahon, and Acting Administrator Wheeler, who’s doing a terrific job, by the way, over at the EPA.
And we’re joined today by six really impressive people. People that some of you have gotten to know. People that have been both helped and hurt in lots of different situations, but very spectacular people.
I want to introduce Chris Chinn, a fifth-generation Missouri farmer. Thank you very much, Chris. How’s Missouri been, good?
MS. CHINN: We’re doing good. We had a drought this summer, but we’re recovering.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s good. It’s a great place. It’s a great place.
Luanne Cundiff, a community banker from Missouri, also. Right?
MS. CUNDIFF: St. Charles, Missouri.
THE PRESIDENT: And the community bank business is doing much better now that we got rid of the man that was running the regulatory service that was just absolutely destroying people. How is that going there?
MS. CUNDIFF: Yeah. We have new heads of many regulatory agencies in place now, and they have been boots on the ground trying to listen to concerns from community bankers and address those concerns. So it’s going well.
THE PRESIDENT: It’s a big difference. They’re doing a really good job. And Mick Mulvaney has done a fantastic job in taking that over. We were hampered by a man that was just terrible. And now he’s running for the Governor of Ohio, isn’t that nice? Running for the Governor of Ohio; would be a terrible Governor.
Adam Red, a councilman of the Ute Indian tribe of Colorado. And tell us a little bit about that tribe.
MR. RED: Well, it’s the Southern Ute Indian tribe. We’re the only tribe located in (inaudible), Colorado. We are an energy-producing tribe.
THE PRESIDENT: That means you’re rich.
MR. RED: (Laughs.) Yeah.
THE PRESIDENT: They’re rich.
MR. RED: Yeah.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s good.
MR. RED: Got to be humble. (Laughter.) Yeah, we got money.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s great. But it’s going well?
MR. RED: It’s going well. Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s good. David Boyer, a trucker with ABF Freight. David, thank you very much. I saw you before. Thank you, David.
Benson Waller of Riverview Coal Mine.
MR. WALLER: Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Benson. Chip Kovach, Vice President of Engineering for his family’s small business, City Machine Technologies. How’s that going?
MR. KOVACH: Great. Ever since the administration, we are busier than ever. Having trouble finding good, qualified help. It’s actually a very good problem to have.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re setting records on unemployment or employment, use either word.
MR. KOVACH: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Use either way. Either way, it’s a record.
MR. KOVACH: Supply and demand.
THE PRESIDENT: It’s good. And a lot of people are being trained and we’re training a lot of people. And companies are coming into our country now at a record clip, and they’re all coming in and training large amounts of people. And frankly, I like them training them better than anybody. But I heard you’re doing really well, and that’s really nice.
Do you have anything to say, anybody? This side?
MS. CHINN: The agriculture industry is very appreciative of everything that you’ve done. You’ve brought attention back to rural America, and we appreciate it. We’ve had a struggling infrastructure system. High-speed Internet access in Missouri — over 60 percent of our rural Missourians don’t have access to affordable, high-speed Internet.
THE PRESIDENT: Right.
MS. CHINN: And the work that you’ve done with Secretary Perdue to get many out into our rural communities, we really appreciate the reverse-path auction through the FCC. Missouri was awarded $254 million of that. It’s going to connect 95,000 homes to high-speed Internet. And we just really appreciate it. Missourians appreciate what you’re doing on their behalf to make their rural communities vibrant again, and to help the agriculture industry pass on to that next generation of farmers and ranchers.
THE PRESIDENT: Great. Well, it’s my honor. And you have a great race going on out there.
MS. CHINN: We do.
THE PRESIDENT: And that will make a big difference. A very positive difference, the outcome. I won’t say it because I’m not a political person, so I won’t discuss that. (Laughter.) I won’t discuss that in front of the press, okay?
Go ahead. How about yourself?
MS. CUNDIFF: That’s funny.
So Missouri is well represented here. Again, I’m from St. Charles, Missouri, representing the community banking sector. I actually —
THE PRESIDENT: Have you seen a big difference in community banking over the last couple of years?
MS. CUNDIFF: We have. Actually, much has changed. We actually had a meeting here last March to talk about issues we needed to work on. And the Treasury implemented some suggested changes, and you signed a law in May of this year — Senate Bill 2155.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s right.
MS. CUNDIFF: A reg relief bill. And the tone has certainly changed —
THE PRESIDENT: They actually needed — think of it: They needed a regulatory relief bill. The regulations were so bad, they needed relief from regulations, which is somewhat of a classic.
Go ahead.
MS. CUNDIFF: But my — I think my message here is we have so much more to do. We have a lot of positive things happening. You talked about workforce issues being a good problem to have, but it is still a problem. But we need to forge ahead, because we, as an example bank, we’re kind of falling in the gap for that particular regulation. We’re too small to benefit from some provisions, and too large —
THE PRESIDENT: You’re in the middle.
MS. CUNDIFF: We are in the middle. So we have lots of ideas on how to modernize some existing regulations that are on the books. So we look forward to working with —
THE PRESIDENT: We’ll do that.
MS. CUNDIFF: Yeah.
THE PRESIDENT: Good. And go ahead, tell me about your situation.
MR. RED: Thank you, Mr. Trump. I’d like to start by saying thank you to your administration and also Secretary Zinke. I’m on his Royalty Policy Committee. So, I mean, we’re tasked with streamlining the red tape.
Also, our tribe — I mean, I can’t thank you enough for your work in rolling back some of these regulations that we are ruled by. Our tribe has faced hurdles for years, and now we’re starting to see some of the light come through with the work.
THE PRESIDENT: Your tribe had some big problems. You couldn’t get to what you wanted to get to.
MR. RED: Exactly.
THE PRESIDENT: And now you’re able to do it.
MR. RED: Exactly. And I mean, your administration has given deference back to the tribes to make the decisions on what happens on their land, and that was our goal to begin with. We shouldn’t be told from outside sources what is best for us.
THE PRESIDENT: Good. Well, good. You’re doing a great job.
MR. RED: Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: I’ve seen what you’ve done in a short period of time. It was fantastic.
MR. RED: Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Congratulations.
Tell me.
MR. BOYER: Everything is good right now. It is good.
THE PRESIDENT: Big difference, right?
MR. BOYER: We’re working. I’ve run from Westfield, Virginia to Memphis, Tennessee, and I’ve never seen as many signs out — “Help Wanted,” “Help Wanted.” You go through Knoxville, you go through Nashville, Memphis, you look up on the warehouses — “Help Wanted” and “We’re Hiring.” And we’ve never seen that before.
THE PRESIDENT: Best it’s ever been.
MR. BOYER: It is.
THE PRESIDENT: Best it’s ever been.
MR. BOYER: Best time I remember.
THE PRESIDENT: Therefore, we should do well in the midterms. They never report how well we’re doing, which they don’t like to do.
That’s good. Come here. Appreciate it.
Go ahead.
MR. WALLER: On behalf of all of the hardworking men and women in the coal industry, we want to thank you for your support. It means a whole lot. Back in 2016, times were really tough. And the company that I worked for actually had downsized, you know, for the first time in the history of the company.
But the particular mine that I work at, I just want you to know that, in the last several months, we’ve added a hundred people. And we’re looking to add —
THE PRESIDENT: It’s a big difference, right?
MR. WALLER: Yeah, we’re looking to add to 150 more.
THE PRESIDENT: Saved that industry. That industry was gone. And it’s a very important — really, a very important asset for our country. That industry was gone. It was going to be out. And we would’ve had a big problem if it was gone. And they have great people in that industry. And that’s what they want to do, right? Clean coal.
MR. WALLER: That’s right.
THE PRESIDENT: What they do today, the technology on coal is so incredible. What they can do with coal today is from a different world. Good, beautiful clean coal. And you’re back working, right?
MR. WALLER: Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s fantastic.
MR. WALLER: Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Are you Kentucky?
MR. WALLER: Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Good. That’s good. Say hello to everybody. I just left Kentucky. (Laughter.)
MR. WALLER: Hello, Kentucky.
THE PRESIDENT: You know, we had a big rally there the other night. It was incredible. Thousands and thousands of people outside of the arena. They couldn’t get in. It was something really special, and they appreciate what we are doing.
MR. WALLER: Yes, they do.
THE PRESIDENT: So, just say hello.
Go ahead.
MR. KOVACH: Well, business has been off the charts across the board — steel, energy, oil, and gas. Our customer base — we’re actually — we repair equipment. We are helping steel mills resurrect plants that were shuttered 10 years ago, bringing them back up to production to make American steel.
THE PRESIDENT: So one of things we’re most proud about is what’s happened with our steel industry. Our steel industry was dead. Our aluminum — the aluminum industry was dead. It was dead as a doornail — both of them.
And steel in particular, but aluminum also — steel is through the roof now. We’re taxing the dumpers, the nations that dump. And they dump a lot of garbage — steel. Sand steel, mud steel, bad steel — not strong steel. And then we use it to fabricate beams for buildings and parts for airplanes, and they find it’s no good. And in many cases, they don’t know about until long afterwards, and in some cases when it’s too late.
So now we’re taxing them, and very, very heavily. And what’s happening is the steel industry is thriving. I mean, literally, in a period of a year, the steel industry is just a hot industry right now. So it’s been a great thing to see. Thank you very much.
Vice President, do you have anything to say? Mike?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to thank these six great Americans for coming in and helping to tell the story of this economic boom of 4.2 billion new jobs created and new signed legislation to pass the largest tax cut and tax reform in American history.
But what you and I both hear as we travel around the country is what we heard again this morning: Is that — the fact that this President and this Congress has actually passed more laws repealing federal red tape than any administration in American history is making just as much a difference in the prosperity of the nation.
So I want to thank all these folks, all the members of our Cabinet for coming here and helping to tell the story about rolling back red tape, rolling back taxes, getting this economy rolling again. But our promise to all of them, Mr. President, like you always say, is: We’re just getting started.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s true. That’s true.
Administrator, tell me. EPA? Give us a little talk.
ADMINISTRATOR WHEELER: So far, under your leadership, we’ve rolled back 28 regulations, saving the American public $1.5 billion. You have another 54 deregulatory actions planned over the next year. At the same time, though, our air is getting cleaner, our water is getting cleaner. Air is 73 percent cleaner than it was in the 1970s. So we’re deregulating, but we’re protecting the environment at the same time.
THE PRESIDENT: And you’re opening up and allowing businesses to open and thrive, as opposed to — they can’t do it.
ADMINISTRATOR WHEELER: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Great job.
Linda? Please.
ADMINISTRATOR MCMAHON: Well, it’s terrific. Mr. President, thank you very much for your vision of a commonsense approach to job growth. If you cut taxes, you roll back regulations, you get out of the way of small businesses, they will start to grow and expand. And that’s exactly what we’re seeing. And I have the benefit of being out on the road and interacting with companies like City Machine Technologies in Youngstown, and seeing exactly what they’re doing. So, rollback of the regulatory environment really is boosting the businesses, and I see it and I feel it.
THE PRESIDENT: Great. Great job, Linda. Thank you.
Elaine?
SECRETARY CHAO: Mr. President, who would have thought a year ago that GDP growth for the third quarter would be 4.2 percent? People were surprised it was even over 3 percent in the second quarter. It was 2.2 in the second quarter.
THE PRESIDENT: They didn’t think so. (Laughter.)
SECRETARY CHAO: The unemployment rate is now at 3.7 — it’s the lowest in about 50 years. And at the Department of Labor, the previous eight years, the overall avalanche of regulations was strangling job creators, employers. And the Department was basically sending out about $3.1 billion annually in regulations that were not all useful. They didn’t help safety. And David Boyer is here; he has driven over 2 million miles, without accidents, and he also will be named —
THE PRESIDENT: You never had an accident?
MR. BOYER: (Inaudible) driven 6 million miles —
THE PRESIDENT: I want him to drive for me. Well, how about you — (laughter) — I’ll let (inaudible). That’s pretty good, David.
SECRETARY CHAO: And he will be named the National Trucker of the Year by the American Trucking Association.
THE PRESIDENT: Wow. That’s big stuff. (Applause.)
SECRETARY CHAO: So we want responsible regulations but regulations that make sense, that are not overly burdensome, that are not duplicative — you know, duplicative that don’t make sense. And so, at the Department of Transportation, that’s been our guidance as we go forward.
THE PRESIDENT: Thanks a lot. Thanks, Elaine.
So, Mr. Secretary, the largest landlord in the world. (Laughter.) At least the largest in this country, I guess.
SECRETARY ZINKE: Mr. President, I’d like to highlight the Southern Utes. This is an example of when you empower a great nation to do great things — they get free healthcare and free education. You know, and things are pretty tough out in Indian Country, but when you empower a great people to do great things by deregulating and making sure that they’re involved in decision-making — and many times, sovereignty should mean something — this is a great example of the empowerment and the ability to shape your own future in Indian Country (inaudible) Southern Utes.
THE PRESIDENT: So, Secretary, tell us about energy and what’s happened with energy. We’ve become the biggest in the world. A lot of it is because of what we’ve done. Tell us just quickly about that.
SECRETARY ZINKE: We are the largest oil and gas producer on the face of the planet. Inconceivable 600 days ago. For the first time in 60 years, we’re exporting liquid natural gas. And what it means is there’s $20 trillion of untapped wealth in this country. Energy — all above. And as you know, Mr. President, we’re all the above.
We just want it made it America. And by having energy made in America, I don’t want to ever be held hostage. I don’t want to see your kids see what I’ve seen. There’s a lot of reasons to fight, but fighting for energy is not one of them. And economically, we’re seeing a rebirth. We have the lowest unsubsidized price in gasoline on the face of the planet, and that’s because American energy has delivered.
THE PRESIDENT: So we’re the largest in the world now — energy. And you said 600 days, and that’s right. It’s been — it’s taken place very quickly. We’ve made it possible. We’ve opened it up. And thank you. And just if you look at oil prices, we’re very happy we did, because it would not be a pretty picture right now. But now we don’t need others. In the old days, we needed others, and that’s how we got involved in the Middle East. We don’t need others now.
Mick?
DIRECTOR MULVANEY: Mr. President, this is our second deregulatory day here. We had a chance to talk about this in the Cabinet a little bit. And the really good news — I don’t think anybody has talked about it — is that we’re actually doing better this year than we did last year. As good a year as we had last year on deregulation, this year is actually even better. More things taken off the books, more things slowed down. More savings for people. That’s because it’s a priority for you.
And everybody in the Cabinet has pulled in the same direction on this because they know it’s a priority for you. It’s been a priority for them. And the results are real. We have real, tangible savings. And everybody around here is benefitting from it.
On the banking front — which I sort of spent some time with across the street in my other job — the neat thing about that is that you look around the table — even the folks with the cameras — everyone here needs their community banks to be strong because they need access to capital, folks need mortgages, they need to borrow money for cars. And when our banking industry is strong, everybody else here does better. And we’ve made some real good progress on that the last couple weeks.
THE PRESIDENT: Good job. Sonny?
SECRETARY PERDUE: Mr. President, I’ve told you before, but your deregulatory agenda, as well as your trade agenda for American agriculture, has been tremendous. The farmers, ranchers, and foresters of America appreciate what you’ve done and understand that your heart for rural America is greater than they’ve seen. They understand that you’ve got a heart for the working men and women who produce our food and fiber out here.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Sonny. Thank you. Would you like to say —
ADMINISTRATOR RAO: Sure. I think, Mr. President, one thing that we could highlight is that regulatory reform is in part about furthering individual liberty and the rule of law. And Americans are hardworking and productive, and when government gets out of the way, we can see that jobs are created, businesses grow, and innovation flourishes, which benefits, really, all Americans. So thank you for that.
THE PRESIDENT: Well stated. Thank you very much.
Well, thank you all very much. We’ll talk for a little while. And we appreciate it. Thank you all very much.
Congratulations on 2 million miles. Two millions miles — that’s a lot of miles.
Q Mr. President, you talk about unnecessary regulations, but earlier this week, your administration proposed a new regulation on the drug industry, in terms of the price of drugs being disclosed in their television advertisements. So, for you, sir, what’s your criteria to make a determination between unnecessary and necessary —
THE PRESIDENT: It’s a very simple criteria: We want to get drug prices down. And we’re going to have advertising — subject to final approval, we’re going to have advertising of drug prices so that people can see how much drugs are, and they can price them.
Right now, you’re not allowed. In fact, pharmacies aren’t even allowed to talk about prices. They’re not allowed to talk about competitors. They’re not allowed to say that, “Well, this drug is this much, and this drug is that much.” You know that. It’s against the law.
We’re opening it up so that these people have to be more competitive. And it’s going to have a huge positive impact on drug prices, we think.
And so, essentially, even when they advertise on television, they’re going to talk about the pricing. So when people are sitting at home, they can say, “Wow, that drug is X dollars, and this drug is the same drug by a different company, and it’s here.” I think it’s going to have a huge competitive advantage. We’re bringing drug prices down.
Not only did Pfizer and Novartis and others cut the price after I called them, and cut it very substantially — and I thank them for that; they made a big price increase, and then they cut — but we are now going to cut the price of drugs very, very substantially.
So I actually like that question. I’m very proud of that.
Q Well, I’ll ask another one then, sir. (Laughter.) Republicans generally have —
THE PRESIDENT: This is going to be a beauty, right? (Laughter.) Go ahead.
Q Republicans generally have suggested that they don’t want to pick winners and losers in the economy —
THE PRESIDENT: Right.
Q — by putting their finger on certain industries to succeed and certain to fail. But you’ve taken a different approach. You’ve picked winners and losers in terms of steel and aluminum, coal, and —
THE PRESIDENT: No, not losers. No. I want to only pick winners. I want winners in our economy. Steel was — we weren’t going to have a steel industry. Steel is a very important, you know, category. It’s not like — let’s say, even making that, or making a piece of wood that nobody knows where it’s going.
We need steel. We need steel for defense. We need steel for many things. But maybe more importantly than anything, we need steel for defense and potential defense. We can’t be buying our steel from China and from other places that maybe someday you have conflict with. Hopefully not.
We have reinvigorated our steel industry, and it’s a tremendous thing. We’ve reinvigorated aluminum. Aluminum was a disaster. We have reinvigorated — and others.
No, I want every business to thrive. Our miners now are thriving. Our miners now are absolutely thriving. And clean coal is a great thing. And it’s another source. It has to compete against natural gas. It has to compete against a lot of different things, including solar and including wind and including all of those things.
Now, they’re much, much more expensive, as you know. They’re much, much more expensive. In fact, they need subsidy. And if you don’t give them subsidy — I don’t like energy that needs subsidy. But if you don’t give them subsidy, they don’t work — solar, wind, et cetera. They need massive subsidy.
You take a look at the money that was spent on these windmills that are killing all birds and lots of other problems, and destroying values. And I’m okay with — I don’t like giving subsidy to that, though. Especially when you have energy that’s so abundant for 500 years. That’s so abundant that, frankly, is in many cases one-tenth and even better than that — the cost.
So — but I’m for all industries. There’s nothing that I don’t like. I want it all working. That’s why we’re doing so well.
Q Mr. President, there’s been concern you might have been giving cover to the Saudis.
THE PRESIDENT: No, not at all. No. I just want to find out what’s happening. In fact, Secretary of State Pompeo is going to be back probably late tonight or early tomorrow morning. He went to Turkey; he went all over. But he spent a lot of time with the Crown Prince, and he’s going to have a full report. I’m not giving cover at all.
With that being said, Saudi Arabia has been a very important ally of ours in the Middle East. We are stopping Iran. We’re not trying to stop — we’re stopping Iran. We went a big step when we took away that ridiculous deal that was made by the previous administration — the Iran deal — which was $150 billion and $1.8 billion in cash. What was that all about?
And they are an ally. We have other very good allies in the Middle East. But if you look at Saudi Arabia, they’re an ally and they’re a tremendous purchaser of not only military equipment, but other things.
When I went there, they committed to purchase $450 billion worth of things, and $110 billion worth of military. Those are the biggest orders in the history of this country — probably the history of the world. I don’t think there’s ever been any order for $450 billion. And you remember that day in Saudi Arabia where that commitment was made.
So they’re an important ally, but I want to find out what happened, where is the fault, and we will probably know that by the end of the week. But Mike Pompeo is coming back; we’re going to have a long talk.
Q Why not send the FBI over? We’re talking about a man who lived across the river in Virginia. Why not send the FBI in to figure all this out?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, he wasn’t a citizen of this country, for one thing. And we’re going to determine that. And you don’t know whether or not we have, do you?
Q Well, I —
THE PRESIDENT: No, but do you know whether or not we’ve sent the FBI?
Q Have you sent the FBI?
THE PRESIDENT: I’m not going to tell you. (Laughter.)
Q Well, then I don’t know. Why won’t you tell us?
THE PRESIDENT: Why would I tell you? Go ahead.
Q Have you asked for this audio, video, intelligence that the Turks (inaudible)?
THE PRESIDENT: We have asked for it, if it exists. We have asked for it.
Q You have asked? But you haven’t gotten it?
THE PRESIDENT: We’ve asked for it, if it exists.
Q Are you surprised that they haven’t turned it over?
THE PRESIDENT: No. I’m not sure yet that it exists. Probably does. Possibly does. I’ll have a full report on that from Mike when he comes back.
Q Thank you, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s one of the things I very — that’s going to be the first question I ask him.
Q Mr. President, there’s been some talk after the midterms about spending being reined in up on the Hill. I’m curious, is there any programs that you’d like to see kind of reined —
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I will tell you that I’m having a Cabinet meeting in a little while, and we’re going to ask every Secretary to cut 5 percent for next year.
And last year — first year — I had to do something with the military. The military was falling apart. It was depleted. It was in very bad shape. And that’s why we went for two years — $700 billion and $716 billion. And that took place over a period of two years. We have repurchased and purchased jets, missiles, rockets, all forms of military equipment — ships, submarines.
We’ve rebuilt and are in the process of rebuilding our military to a level that it’s never been before. I had to do that. In order to get the $700 [billion] and the $716 billion — those numbers have never been heard of before — I had to give the Democrats — I call it “waste money.” Things that I would never have approved. But we had to do that in order to get the votes, because we don’t have enough Republican votes to do this without them.
So when you look at the border — how bad it is — that’s because the Democrats want it to be bad because they don’t give us the votes. That’s why I hope we do very well in the midterm.
But we’re going to be asking for a 5 percent cut from every Secretary today.
Okay, we’re going to see you at the Cabinet meeting because you’re coming in for a couple of minutes so we can discuss at length. And I just want to talk to these great folks and wish them best wishes. They’ve done a fantastic job and we really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Great job.
Thank you very much. We’ll see you in a couple of minutes.
END
11:42 A.M. EDT
OMB Acting Director Russ Vought: Spending addiction threatens American economic resurgence By Russ Vought
Source: https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/omb-acting-director-russ-vought-spending-addiction-threatens-american-economic-resurgenceMarch 11, 2019
Over the past two years, President Trump has unleashed the American economy through his taxpayer-first, pro-growth policies. Passing historic tax reform, cutting back unnecessary Washington regulations, and strengthening domestic energy policies has put the nation on an accelerated path to economic prosperity. Since the election the American economy has gained 5.3 million new jobs, as this administration’s policies have lowered consumer price growth, put more money in everyday American’s pockets, and vastly improved the economic health of the nation.
Yet, America’s return to prosperity is under attack.
It is no secret that our nation’s $22 trillion debt, which nearly doubled under the Obama administration, is unsustainable. The Congressional Budget Office warned just weeks ago that, if left unchecked, our national debt would “reduce national saving and income, boost the government’s interest payments, limit lawmakers’ ability to respond to unforeseen events, and increase the likelihood of a fiscal crisis.”
Understanding this threat, President Trump on Monday unveils A Budget for a Better America; a new outline for government spending that invests in critical national priorities while restraining spending to give taxpayers the best value for their tax dollar. In total, the president’s 2020 Budget keeps his promise of a 5 percent cut to non-defense discretionary spending, reduces deficits by over $2.7 trillion over 10 years, and balances the budget in 15 years, by 2034.
Since his first year in office, and again in the budget we are laying out, President Trump has pushed for more reductions to wasteful Washington spending than any other president in history. Unfortunately, Congress has repeatedly ignored these taxpayer savings and plowed ahead with irresponsible budgets that increase our deficits and size of government. This needs to stop.
It’s not that Americans are taxed too little, it’s that Washington spends too much.
The president’s budget was written with the everyday American taxpayer in mind. All across the country, hardworking taxpayers have to balance their household budgets, finding ways to do more with less and save for the future. Our federal agencies and departments should be held to the same level of responsibility and accountability.
Throughout the process of creating this budget, the administration identified a number of wasteful, duplicative, and ineffective programs that should not be funded by your tax dollars.
The Department of Labor Inspector General found fraud and abuse within the Senior Community Service Employment Program where its largest grantee misused nearly $4.2 million in taxpayer funds on unreasonable executive compensation, personal travel, and even Netflix subscriptions.
For instance, $68 million is being spent every year on international labor activities, including promoting unions in countries in South America. The Department of Labor Inspector General found fraud and abuse within the Senior Community Service Employment Program where its largest grantee misused nearly $4.2 million in taxpayer funds on unreasonable executive compensation, personal travel, and even Netflix subscriptions. Over $600 million is spent a year on 85 education and cultural exchange programs, despite the fact that only 1 percent of the 1 million international students that came to the U.S. in the 2017-2018 academic year came through one of these programs. And the government spends $35,000 per student – more than tuition at many universities – to send tens of thousands of youth to poorly run Job Corps centers. These centers are ineffective at helping participants get jobs and allowed nearly 14,000 safety and security incidents in 2017 alone—including 31 deaths, over 2,000 violent assaults, and nearly 4,000 drug-related incidents. This has to stop.
President Trump’s budget would restructure, reduce, and in many cases eliminate wasteful discretionary programs. Recognizing the long-term implications of mandatory program spending, the budget includes more than $1.9 trillion in savings and reforms over ten years while extending the solvency of these programs and keeping our promise to America’s seniors.
By refocusing the budget to spend taxpayer dollars more efficiently and effectively, agencies will be able to more adequately provide necessary services to the American people. And key national priorities like the following will continue to be met:
Restoring Our Military. The budget includes $750 billion for national defense to support the rebuilding of our military. This provides the resources necessary to support the National Defense Strategy, including funding for the largest pay increase in a decade for our military, procurement of 12 battle force ships and 110 fighter aircraft, and creation of the United States Space Force.
Securing Our Border. To adequately secure our border and ensure the safety and security of the American people, the budget includes $8.6 billion for construction of the border barrier, and $506 million to hire over 2,800 additional law enforcement officers and critical support personnel at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Investing in the Next Generation. It is essential to this administration and to the future of the nation that we properly educate the future leaders of America. The president’s FY 2020 Budget makes significant investments in school safety, school choice, and workforce development. In addition, the president’s budget seeks to make institutions of higher education more accountable for the value they provide to their students by sharing the financial responsibility of student loan repayment.
A Budget for America’s Future reinforces the pro-growth policies that have led to historic job growth and prosperity, cuts wasteful spending, and balances in 15 years. It’s time for Congress to come to the table, work with the president, and rein in Washington’s spending addiction.
Russ Vought is the Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Acting OMB Director Russ Vought: Trump keeps promise to tame bureaucracy that runs roughshod over Americans By Russ Vought
Source: https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/russ-vought-trump-tame-federal-bureaucracyOctober 9, 2019
When President Trump took office in 2017, he promised the American people that he would clean up Washington’s regulatory overreach. He pledged to make government accountable to the people. And he has made good on his promises by driving the largest deregulation effort since President Reagan took office over 30 years ago.
This has supported an unprecedented economic comeback—with over 6.4 million jobs created since President Trump’s election, the lowest unemployment rate in half of a century, and nearly 2.5 million people raising themselves out of poverty since 2016.
This week, the president will build on his success by signing two Executive Orders that will level the playing field for American families and small businesses and shine a light on the Federal bureaucracy that runs roughshod over American citizens.
President Trump’s “Transparency and Fairness” Executive Order protects Americans against secret or unlawful bureaucratic interpretations of rules and guards against unfair or unexpected penalties for non-compliance. American families and entrepreneurs are not the enemy, and it is long past time D.C. stopped treating them as such.
Take this example: After one family started construction on a home in a subdivision in Idaho, the Environmental Protection Agency declared their property a federally protected wetland. The government ordered the family to restore the land or face a daily fine of up to $75,000. The family’s request for a hearing was rejected and the agency claimed its order could not even be challenged in court.
They were denied due process and threatened with fines of millions of dollars. This is not only un-American; it just does not make sense. American families and small businesses should not need law degrees to live their daily lives. They should be afforded the opportunity to understand and comply with a rule, and to have their side of the story considered by the agency, not get hauled into court with a costly surprise lawsuit.
Americans should expect that government of, by, and for the people will respect those very same people. This administration is committed to making government agencies transparent and accountable to the taxpayers. It is not only the right thing to do—it is a big boost to the economy, too.
President Trump’s “Bringing Guidance out of the Darkness” Executive Order stops agencies from skirting the laws that let the American public provide input on government rules that can limit their freedom. Too many agencies have found it easier to impose costly and excessive mandates through informal interpretations buried on their websites instead of going through the regular public review process Congress requires for agency rules.
Put simply, large government agencies often allow political agendas to improperly influence their interpretation of the law and how it applies to you. Worse still, they deny you a seat at the table when they do it.
These “guidance” documents and materials bypass the basic rights of Americans to have input into rules that impact their livelihoods. Rogue agencies have for too long used innocuous-sounding “guidance documents” to curtail the freedoms of American farmers, homeowners, and small businesses, to name only a few impacted groups.
In 2015, for example, the Department of Labor issued a blog post that reclassified many independent contractors as employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
This so-called guidance created confusion, raised costs, and drastically multiplied legal liability for businesses. But the agency did not give businesses or the independent contractors with whom they work the opportunity to provide comment. The agency forced them to comply or face serious reprisal. Thankfully, this ill-conceived guidance was rescinded by the Trump Administration in June 2017.
The Trump administration wants to prevent such abuses of authority from happening again. Americans should expect that government of, by, and for the people will respect those very same people. This administration is committed to making government agencies transparent and accountable to the taxpayers. It is not only the right thing to do—it is a big boost to the economy, too.
Deregulation has real-dollar consequences for American families. Government-wide regulatory reform actions will save the average American household $3,100 in coming years. And benefits are already being felt across the economy—the Trump administration reduced regulatory costs by $33 billion in its first two years alone. In stark contrast, the Obama-Biden administration *increased* regulatory costs by more than $245 billion during its first two years.
This is money that entrepreneurs and small businesses can use to create jobs, raise wages, and invest in important capital improvements. It is money that families can use on their priorities, whether that is buying a first home or saving for their children’s education.
Thanks to President Trump’s vision and leadership, this administration has been laser-focused on rolling back the abuses and high cost of the regulatory deep state.
From his first week in office, President Trump challenged the government to roll back two old regulations for every new one. In Fiscal Year 2017, we far surpassed his goal and rolled back 22 regulations for every new one. In FY 2018, we rolled back 12 rules for every new rule.
The impact of these two new Executive Orders will massively multiply the work President Trump has already done to drain the D.C. swamp.
President Trump is not only returning control over the government to the people and state and local governments, he is revitalizing the economy so Americans from all walks of life, and from every state, have the opportunity to prosper. He is making the federal government work for Americans again.
Russ Vought is the Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Remarks by President Trump on Rolling Back Regulations to Help All Americans
Source: https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-rolling-back-regulations-help-americans/Issued on: July 16, 2020
South Lawn
4:17 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you very much, everybody. Please. That’s a nice crowd on a nice, cool day. (Laughter.) It’s beautiful, though. Might be hot, but it’s beautiful.
We’re here today to celebrate and expand our historic campaign to rescue American workers from job-killing regulations. Before I came into office, American workers were smothered by a merciless avalanche of wasteful and expensive and intrusive federal regulation. These oppressive, burdensome mandates were a stealth tax on our people — slashing take-home pay, suppressing innovation, surging the cost of goods, and shipping millions of American jobs overseas — millions and millions and millions. It never ended.
Nearly four years ago, we ended this regulatory assault on the American worker, and we launched the most dramatic regulatory relief campaign in American history by far. No other administration has done anywhere near. (Applause.) Thank you.
At the heart of this effort was a revolutionary promise: For every one new regulation issued, we pledged that two federal regulations would be permanently removed. We not only met that ambitious goal — which, at the time, people said was impossible — we vastly exceeded it. For every one new regulation added, nearly eight federal regulations have been terminated. (Applause.) Been an incredible achievement.
As you can see behind me, we have removed the gigantic, regulatory burden Americans have been forced to carry for decades, freeing our citizens to reach their highest potential. Our historic regulatory relief is providing the average American household an extra $3,100 every single year. And we’re going up from that number. (Applause.) We’re going up from that number. Think of that: $3,100 per household.
Joining us today is Vice President Mike Pence. Thank you, Mike. (Applause.) Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Wilbur, thank you very much. (Applause.) Labor Secretary, Eugene Scalia. Thank you. Thank you, Gene. (Applause.) Health and Human Services Secretary, Alex Azar. Thank you, Alex. (Applause.) Transportation Secretary, Elaine Chao. Thank you, Elaine. (Applause.) We had a great day in Georgia yesterday, cutting regulations like nobody has ever seen before.
EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. Thank you, Andrew. Thank you very much. (Applause.) OMB Acting Director, Russ Vought. Thank you, Russ. (Applause.) And Small Business Administrator — I love her name — Jovita Carranza. Jovita, thank you. Thank you. (Applause.) And CMS Administrator Seema Verma. Thank you, Seema. (Applause.)
Great people. Those are great people. They do an incredible job. (Applause.)
I also want to thank the many state and local, tribal leaders who join us in this great cause. Thank you very much, and thank you for being here. We appreciate it. Thank you all very much.
What we have achieved together is truly without precedent — never happened before. The previous administration added over 16,000 pages of heavy-handed regulations to the Federal Register. That’s why nothing got done.
Under my administration, we have removed nearly 25,000 pages of job-destroying regulations — more than any other President by far in the history of our country, whether it was four years, eight years, or, in one case, more than eight years.
The prior administration piled up more than 600 major new regulations — a cruel and punishing regulatory burden that cost the average American an additional $2,300 per year. Think of that: The average American, $2,300, regulation — hitting low-income Americans, by far, the hardest. These regulations also inflicted a steep economic toll on African American communities.
By contrast, our reforms are putting more money into the pockets of hardworking Americans. In addition to saving every family more than $3,000 per year, my administration has just issued another reform that my Council of Economic Advisers estimates will lower the price of new vehicles by more than $2,200 per vehicle. And I think we’re going to get that up to $3,500 per vehicle. (Applause.) It’s very exciting.
And, by the way, the vehicles will be better, they’ll be stronger, and they’ll be safer. Our regulation cuts are also delivering massive savings on broadband Internet services, and some home energy bills will be really historically cut — it’s actually amazing — as well as historically low gasoline prices. Gasoline prices — you look today — I think it was $1.99.
At the same time, we saved our oil companies — we’re now the largest since we’ve been here — the largest energy source in the world. Nobody is even close. So it’s great. But we saved them. They had a hard time a number of months ago — and, frankly, for a long time — but we’ve saved them. But $1.99, they were telling me — and, in some cases, lower than that.
We’re bringing back consumer choice in home appliances so that you can buy washers and dryers, showerheads and faucets. So showerheads — you take a shower, the water doesn’t come out. You want to wash your hands, the water doesn’t come out. So what do you do? You just stand there longer or you take a shower longer? Because my hair — I don’t know about you, but it has to be perfect. Perfect. (Laughter and applause.)
Dishwashers — you didn’t have any water, so you — the people that do the dishes — you press it, and it goes again, and you do it again and again. So you might as well give them the water because you’ll end up using less water. So we made it so dishwashers now have a lot more water. And in many places — in most places of the country, water is not a problem. They don’t know what to do with it. It’s called “rain.” They don’t have a problem.
And old-fashioned incandescent lightbulbs — I brought them back. I brought them back. (Applause.) They have two nice qualities: They’re cheaper and they’re better. They look better, and they make you look so much better. That’s important to all of us. (Laughter.) But they’re better and much cheaper. And they were mandated out, legislated out. And we brought them back, and they’re selling like hotcakes.
We stopped the egregious abuse of the Clean Water Act, which extreme activists have used to shut down construction projects all across our country. When I signed that legislation, I had many farmers and construction people standing behind me — people that haven’t cried since they were a baby. Some of them never even when they were a baby, and they were crying. Many people were cry- — we gave them back their life. They took away their land. They took away their rights. They took away their life.
By reining in EPA overreach, my administration has returned the agency to its core mission of ensuring clean air, clean water, and a truly pristine natural environment. Our air now and our water is as clean as it’s been in the last four decades.
Yesterday, our country achieved yet another groundbreaking milestone by completing a sweeping overhaul of America’s badly broken infrastructure approval process. It was totally out of control. Instead of taking up to 20 years to approve a major project, we’re cutting the federal permitting timeline — it’s already been done — to a maximum of two years or less; in some cases, even less than one year. (Applause.)
And it’s possible that it won’t qualify. It’s possible that it won’t be good environmentally or safety-wise, in which case, at least in a period of a year or two, we’ll raise the hand and you won’t make it. But most projects will make it, but you won’t go for 10, 15, 18 or 20 years. There are many horror stories that we could relay.
We’re reclaiming America’s proud heritage as a nation of builders. My administration has also eliminated massive regulatory barriers in our battle against the China virus. These actions save countless lives, speeding up the production of equipment. That means ventilators like nobody has ever seen before. Probably the greatest source of manufacturing, the greatest achievements since World War Two. We’re now making ventilators for countries all over the world. And medicine — accelerating the delivery of lifesaving treatments and ensuring that we will have a vaccine in a record time. We’re doing fantastically well on that. That’ll be for another time, another meeting. But we are doing, on therapeutics and vaccines, incredibly well.
No administration in history has removed more red tape more quickly to rescue the economy and to protect the health of our people. When you think of it, we are all set up; that as we get the vaccine or therapeutic — and we’re set up, militarily — we’re going to be delivering it in record time. It’s all set to move. We put an investment upfront. And we have logistical people — generals, great people — they’re going to be delivering this all over the country as soon as we have it. And we’ve made tremendous progress. You’ve been reading about it.
In total, we’ve taken more than 740 actions to suspend regulations that would have slowed our response to the China virus. This includes lifting restrictions on manufacturers so that our great autoworkers could produce more than 100,000 ventilators. So we’ve done over 100,000 in 100 days. Think of that. And we didn’t have ventilators. We weren’t set up for ventilators. We became a country that’s making a lot of them, helping so many others — countries that are never going to be in a position to make them. They’re complex, they’re expensive, they’re big. Very, very, very tough to do. And we’ve saved a lot of lives.
And there’s never been a person in our country — even though we started with almost nothing; I say the cupboard was bare when we took over. We started with nothing. There’s never been a person in our country — even though we had just absolutely no — we were — we were going on empty — never been one person that needed a ventilator that didn’t get it. Think of that. Not one person — as complex as they are, as big, as expensive. Take a long time to get them done. Not one person has ever needed a ventilator that didn’t get it.
We made telemedicine — (applause). Thank you. Great job. Great — really, a great job. The people here, they get no credit for it. I don’t want any credit. They should get the credit, but they get no credit. But we’ve done a great job helping so many other countries now.
We made telemedicine available to all American patients and allowed doctors to work across state lines. I will tell you, the telemedicine is something that’s really gone up by thousands and thousands of percentage points of percent. Because what happened is people that wouldn’t even think of using telemedicine, all of a sudden, started using it, and it’s really turned out to be good. Really, really turned out to be good, and it solved a lot of problems. So that’s something. There’s been great advancement.
Furthermore, I have ordered federal agencies to look for ways to make these healthcare reforms totally permanent. Vice President Pence is also working closely with state, local, and tribal leaders to streamline occupational licensing. Over 30 states have taken steps to reduce these barriers to unemployment and to employment, and — including a state that I love very much — I have a little history in that state — the great state of Alaska. Thank you very much, Governor, for being here. Mike Dunleavy. Mike, thank you very much. (Applause.)
In Idaho, Governor Brad Little, who is here today with us as well, set a new record for regulatory relief. Good job, Brad. (Applause.) Good. Good governor. Great governor. (Applause.) Two great governors.
The American people know best how to run their own lives. They don’t need Washington bureaucrats controlling their every move and micromanaging their every decision. With each regulation we cut, we’re not only returning the money and the power to our citizens, we are draining the Washington swamp, and they’re not happy about it — I can tell you that. I think you know that. (Applause.) The swamp was deep. I just didn’t know how deep. (Laughter.) Deeper than I thought.
Joining us today are a few of the countless Americans who are personally benefitting from our pro-worker reforms. Joe Cambria owns Cambria Truck Center in New Jersey — a good state, New Jersey — and it’s been really something that he’s seen firsthand how our regulation cuts have helped create thousands and thousands of jobs.
Joe, please come up and say a few words. Thank you, Joe. (Applause.)
MR. CAMBRIA: Thank you, Mr. President. Our company, Cambria Truck Center, has been selling and servicing heavy-duty trucks since 1969, when my grandfather, uncle, and father started the business. In the past three and a half years, the Trump administration has kept its promise to right-size regulations. I want to thank you for that, President Trump.
Regulatory reform in the energy sector creates jobs, reduces costs for our communities, and puts trucks to work. Streamlined permitting and creating an environment that allows for efficient construction and infrastructure repair and development has the same effect.
As a result of these regulatory reforms, our industry has seen record sales of heavy-duty trucks, which have — has been a boon to dealerships like ours, as well as the environment. When new trucks replace older models, there is an environmental benefit: Current power trains have near-zero emissions today — and we’re going electric — as well as increased safety, like shorter stopping distances and collision avoidance technology. Safer on the road.
It has also been nice to hear “Made in the USA” again. Bringing manufacturing back to our shores helps our industry and our entire country.
In short, when we cut red tape, we create an economy that is responsible and sensible. We, as Americans, all win. Thank you, President Trump. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thanks. Good job. Good job. That was easy, wasn’t it? Huh? (Laughs.) Thank you very much. Great job.
Dr. Amy Johnson is a nurse practitioner in rural Virginia. Amy, please come up and share with us how important expanded healthcare and telehealth has been for you and your patients. Thank you. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
DR. JOHNSON: Thank you, Mr. President. Good afternoon. My name is Dr. Amy Johnson and I’m from Bedford, Virginia. Telehealth deregulation has been of substantial benefit to my colleagues and I over recent months during the COVID-19 crisis. Prior to COVID restrictions, our small local hospital that had limited access to specialty services used telehealth for neurological, mental health, and palliative care consults. However, telehealth was not something that was used within our primary-care setting.
Since the deregulation of telehealth restrictions and expansion of guidelines through CMS, we’ve had the opportunity to integrate video and audio visits as part of our patient care experience. During the COVID crisis, there were days when almost all of my visits were done via telehealth. This allowed me to continue to care for my patients, including those that were the most vulnerable, without risking exposure to illness by bringing them into the office setting.
Since we’ve gone back to a more traditional model, we’ve continued to offer telehealth visits, which are a valuable option for home, health, and hospice patients; patients with limited mobility; and patients that remain at high risk.
As a farm safety specialist, I can see the use of telehealth expanding to offer more services to our farming population and rural Americans, including much-needed mental health services, which are unfortunately very sparse.
In addition, access to primary care and to specialty services can be improved in medically underserved areas with deregulation and the use of telehealth services by healthcare providers, increasing the use of preventative healthcare modalities, allowing for more intensive management of patients with chronic diseases and decreasing healthcare disparities.
Thank you, Mr. President. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Great job. Thank you. So that’s been a great help to you, telehealth. It’s been an incredible — it’s been an incredible thing. Great job. Thank you very much.
Jim Chilton is a rancher from Arizona who was crushed by the Obama-Biden administration’s ridiculous Waters of the United States rule — it’s been a catastrophic rule, but it’s gone now — which gave bureaucrats power to regulate every puddle on private land as though it were a lake.
Jim, please come up and tell us of your experience, which I know wasn’t a good one, but it’s a good one now. Please. (Applause.)
MR. CHILTON: I appreciate the invitation, President Trump, to be here. And I appreciate the opportunity to thank you for the deregulation in every area, including the Waters of the United States, cutting the red tape, setting us free as private property owners. Thank you.
Our ranch has approximately 100 dry washes flowing across it. These are little washes with no water. The Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency, who wrote the Obama 2015 regulations, ruled that any dry wash that had more than 12 inches of sand in the bottom became a water of the United States. Hence, we were subject to regulations and oversight from Washington, D.C. and San Francisco. It was outrageous.
I believe that the 2015 rules and regulations were overreaching, caused red tape, and threatened me and other farmers, ranchers, businessmen, and landowners with the possibility of going to jail and facing huge fines.
Thank you, Mr. President, for the Navigable Water Protection Rule that you promulgated. It has set us free. The heavy hand of government is no longer on our shoulders. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Jim. Thank you very much. Thank you, Jim. That was my honor, Jim, and thank you very much. It’s terrible. It was — that you had to suffer so long. They took your property away from you. And you want to take care of your property better than any government is going to tell you to take care of your property. You’ll take care of it better, so we don’t have to worry about that. Thank you very much. Beautifully said. Thank you.
I want to just, as President, say that I will always fight to defend your rights and your freedoms. We’ll fight very hard for your rights and your freedoms. The hard left wants to reverse these extraordinary gains and re-impose these disastrous regulations. They want to take what we’ve taken off, Jim, and they want to — they want to put them back on. And I guess they can do that. You’ll fight them for a little while, but eventually you’ll lose.
And they want to bury our economy under suffocating, relentless landslides of Washington red tape like we had before I got here. We must never return to the days of soul-crushing regulation that ravaged our cities, devastated our workers, drained our vitality — and right out of our people — and thoroughly crippled our nation’s prized competitive edge. It’s what we have: We have great, great people. The greatest people in the world.
Our entire economy and our very way of life are threatened by Biden’s plans to transform our nation and subjugate our communities through the blunt-force instrument of federal regulation at a level that you haven’t even seen yet. You think that was bad? You haven’t even seen it yet. They want to go many times what they put you under in the past.
Under the “unity” platform Joe Biden published with socialist Bernie Sanders, they are proposing — and this is all in writing; it’s done; they agreed — they are proposing to reenter the job-killing, unfair Paris Climate Accord, which will cost our country trillions of dollars — trillions and trillions of dollars — and put us in a very, very bad competitive position relative to the world.
Not surprising to you, China will be greatly advanced under this ridiculous agreement, and so will Russia, so will many other countries. They propose to mandate net-zero emissions from all new homes and buildings, skyrocketing the cost of construction and putting the goal of homeownership out of reach for millions — destroying the look of the home, the beauty of the home.
I’m somebody that’s built many homes, many buildings. If you take a look at this, it doesn’t look good. You still have to sell, right? You still have to sell. But they’ve put it out of reach, from a cost standpoint. Totally out of reach. It’s not practical, it’s not good, and it doesn’t work.
They want to eliminate carbon from the U.S. energy industry, which means abolishing all American oil, clean coal, and natural gas. No coal, no gas, no oil, nothing to fire our massive plants.
The result of this federally mandated shutdown would be the wholesale destruction of the entire energy industry and many other industries, the economic evisceration of entire communities, and the unfettered offshoring of millions of our best jobs to foreign countries and foreign polluters. Millions and millions of jobs would go. Thousands and thousands of countries would be at a level that you’ve never seen. Companies would be disappearing left and right, just like they did with NAFTA, which we terminated for the USMCA, which was another beauty that we’ve done — not for now, but another great beauty.
But thousands of companies, plants, factories would be closed. Under this dismal future, energy would be unaffordable for the vast majority of Americans, and the American Dream would be sniffed out so quickly and replaced with a socialist disaster.
The Democrats in D.C. have been and want to, at a much higher level, abolish our beautiful and successful suburbs by placing far-left Washington bureaucrats in charge of local zoning decisions. They are absolutely determined to eliminate single-family zoning, destroy the value of houses and communities already built, just as they have in Minneapolis and other locations that you read about today. Your home will go down in value and crime rates will rapidly rise.
Joe Biden and his bosses from the radical left want to significantly multiply what they’re doing now. And what will be the end result is you will totally destroy the beautiful suburbs. Suburbia will be no longer as we know it. So they wanted to defund and abolish your police and law enforcement while at the same time destroying our great suburbs.
The suburb destruction will end with us. Next week, I will be discussing the AFFH rule — AFFH rule, a disaster — and our plans to protect the suburbs from being obliterated by Washington Democrats, by people on the far left that want to see the suburbs destroyed, that don’t care. People have worked all their lives to get into a community, and now they’re going to watch it go to hell. Not going to happen, not while I’m here.
The Biden-Bernie plan would also use the weapon of federal regulation to tie the hands of our police departments by abolishing cash bail — think of that. Think of that: bail. “No problem. They killed somebody? Let them out.” Take a look at what’s happening: Crime in New York City up 368 percent from just a short while ago. They got rid of a lot of police, and they’re in the process of doing it a billion dollars. They probably want to abolish. It’s not even believable.
When I first heard about it, when you first heard about it, you didn’t think it was real. You didn’t think it was believable. Just like the Green New Deal. How crazy is that? But they’re actually trying to put it into play. It’ll mean the end of this country.
So by getting rid of bail, they are incentivizing jail and prison closures — they want to get rid of prisons; they don’t think anybody should go to prison — setting loose violent criminals; appointing left-wing social justice prosecutors, like you have in Philadelphia, where people creating and doing the most criminal of acts are let go, in many cases immediately, and making our wonderful cops — our great, great police, cops — subordinate to distant bureaucrats who have never spent a day in their lives fighting crime.
Unlike the socialists, we believe in the rule of the people, not the rule of the unelected bureaucrats that don’t know what they’re doing. We believe in the dignity of the individual, not the iron grip of the state. Our regulatory reforms are vital not only to the success of our economy, but the strength of our democracy and the survival of liberty itself.
My administration will continue pressing forward until we have made every last vestige of Washington fully, completely, and totally accountable to the citizens of the United States. We are putting our faith in the workers who power our country: the doctors who care for our country, the truckers who sustain our country, and the farmers and ranchers who preserve our country in all of its majestic beauty.
The American people are the ones who made our nation great, and together, we will make it greater, by far, than ever before. God bless you and God bless America. Thank you very much for being with us. (Applause.)
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much. Thank you.
We must’ve said something right. I guess we said it absolutely right. It’s about our country. It’s about our country. We want to be strong, we want to respect everybody, but we have to have strong law enforcement. And that’s taking place in the areas that we’re responsible for.
We want others to call us for help. There’s nothing wrong. Let Chicago call. Let Seattle call. We were going into Seattle, all set to go, and then they did it themselves. They heard we were coming in, and the hands went up; they gave up. It’s so terrible when you see what’s happening. Minneapolis — we said, “Get the guard in there.” Three nights: “Get the guard in. Get the Guard.” We got the Guard in. The National Guard. They’ve done a fantastic job. As soon as they showed up, it was like a knife cutting through butter. (Applause.) You saw that, right? After four days of horror.
It wasn’t the police’s fault in — in any of these places. They were told to leave. The police are, generally speaking, they do a great job. They were told to leave. But you saw what happened.
Minneapolis — “Grab — grab your gun and run.” That’s not what they wanted to do. But the National Guard came in, and we did a great job. No problem after that, do you notice?
We just passed a statues and monument executive order. And they were going wild. They — see that beautiful — look at it right there. It’s so beautiful — the Washington Monument. If they had the choice, they’d take it down. And I guarantee you they’d rename it. They want to rename it. They want George Washington out. They want Thomas Jefferson out. They want Abraham Lincoln out. They want abolitionists out.
They don’t know what they want. They just want to destroy our country. We’re not going to let it happen. We’re not letting it happen. (Applause.)
So I’d now like to ask Vice President Mike Pence to say a few words. Thank you, Mike. (Applause.)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Mr. President. It’s a privilege to be with you today. Thank you for bringing together all these great, hardworking Americans to be able to hear their stories and to be able to reflect on the fact that, before the coronavirus hit our country, thanks to your leadership, we built the strongest economy in the history of the world. (Applause.)
In three short years, Mr. President, you kept your promise to the American people. We cut taxes across the board. You fought for free and fair trade, you unleashed American energy, and you rolled back regulations to help all Americans. And after 40 years of over-regulation, Mr. President, you delivered four years of regulatory freedom. (Applause.)
And in our first three years, the results were extraordinary. Businesses large and small created 7 million new jobs, wages rose at their fastest pace in more than 10 years, 2 million Americans were lifted out of poverty, 7 million Americans lifted off of food stamps, and the highest median income in the history of our country.
And, Mr. President, as you just reflected, a centerpiece of that was lifting red tape off the American people and American free enterprise. I remember those days in the campaign four years ago when you promised that for every new regulation, we’d eliminate two rules off the Federal Register. But, as you just said, Mr. President, for every new regulation put on the books, you actually repealed nearly eight regulations off of the American people and the American economy. (Applause.)
And this President has already signed more bills rolling back federal red tape than any President in American history. (Applause.)
They tell us that we’ve saved $220 billion in our economy and, as you said, more than $3,100 for every American household. And beyond all of that, the regulatory reform now has America as the largest supplier of oil and natural gas in the world, and a net-exporter of energy for the first time in 75 years. (Applause.) That’s what your deregulation agenda delivered.
And today, Mr. President, as we continue to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, at your direction, we’re ensuring that our states, our hospitals, and our extraordinary healthcare workers have not only the supplies they need, but the freedom and the flexibility to give every American the same level of care that each one of us would want a family member to have.
And as we meet this moment in this pandemic, we’re also opening up America again. It’s extraordinary to think, Mr. President, at the height of this pandemic, our economy had lost 22 million jobs. But because of the strong foundation that you laid of less taxes and less regulation, in two short months, May and June saw record-breaking job creation. We’ve already added 7 million jobs back to the American economy, and we’re just getting started. (Applause.)
And this record job growth, Mr. President, is a tribute to the resilience of the American people, the strength of their character. It’s a resilience to [of] your leadership, to the agenda that you advanced in our first three years.
But as you said, Mr. President, it’s also a tribute to governors across the country who not only supported your agenda but also, in more than 30 states, governors actually delivered on that same agenda of less taxes and less regulation. And while I’ve been leading the White House Coronavirus Task Force, it’s also been my honor, Mr. President, to lead the Governors’ Initiative on Regulatory Innovation and to work with these extraordinary governors.
The truth is, because of your leadership and example, governors across the country have been reducing the burden of regulations at the state level. And that’s what’s contributed to the strong foundation on which we are standing, and the American recovery has already begun.
Fortunately, as you mentioned, we have two of those great governors with us today. The first is a governor who, in his very first year in office, cut or simplified more than 75 percent of his state’s regulations and cut the Administrative Code by 20 percent. Would you all join me in welcoming Idaho’s great governor, Brad Little, to tell us Idaho’s story of deregulation? (Applause.)
GOVERNOR LITTLE: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Mr. President, it’s a great honor to be here. As the Vice President alluded to, our route to rebound is dependent upon the red truck, not the blue truck. (Laughter.) What we did in — what we did in Idaho, where we had the third lowest unemployment, the third fastest income growth of any of the states, particularly for those at the lower end of the income, was to match up with your regulatory reform and make more opportunities available. Whether it be the spouse of a military veteran that came there that wanted to have their license and their home state transferred, which today I can probably say takes us one half day to get that done so that those people can be there.
THE PRESIDENT: Right.
GOVERNOR LITTLE: Whether it’s a small business that wants to break through and remove the regulatory friction that existed there before. But as this economy changes as a result of what’s taking place, you have to free up all Americans to have that freedom to create a new opportunity.
One of the things that we did that we heard about from the good doctor was telehealth. Between CMS, the department, and what we did in Idaho, we increased telehealth availability in Idaho by 4,000 percent.
Idaho is a rural state. Idaho is a state where accessibility and the cost of healthcare is always an issue. It’s the combination and the teamwork of your administration and what we’ve done made that available to where we will rebound in Idaho.
And thank you very much, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Good. Thank you very much, Brad. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you, Brad.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Governor Little.
And finally, Mr. President, allow me to introduce the governor who told us in December, when you kicked off the Governors’ Initiative on Regulatory Innovation, that in his first year in office, his administration modified or rolled back 239 different regulations in over 100 professions. He is making sure that Alaska is open for business and prospering with less taxes and less regulation. Join me in welcoming Alaska’s great governor, Mike Dunleavy. (Applause.)
GOVERNOR DUNLEAVY: Thank you, Mr. Vice President, and thank you, Mr. President, for having us here today. What you’ve done here for us — for governors and the people of this great country and Alaska — we are part of the great country, by the way, Mr. President; you know that. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: You are.
GOVERNOR DUNLEAVY: The President has been up in our state. We’ve met at least eight times. And when he stops over in Anchorage, Alaska, on his trips, he always wants to meet, and the first thing he says is, “Can we meet the troops?” and “What do you need in the state of Alaska?”
This is a small state, population wise, way up north, but this President sees the importance of that state and its people. This is really about hope, Mr. President — restoring hope and opportunity, and this is what you’ve done. This is really about the art of the possibility. The — as before — as previous, Governor Little said, this — this is — what you’ve done is historic, and it’s going to continue to be historic.
In Alaska, for example, we have communities that are 500, 600 miles off the road system. The telehealth regulations that have been put in place now are not only going to be good for medicine, but they’re going to save lives as a result of the work that you and your team have done.
We look at — we look at our resource development, we look at businesses small and big, and you’ve restored, you’ve renewed hope that it is possible to achieve the American Dream. These regulations over the past 40 years have really, in many respects, killed the American Dream — as you said, “strangle” the American Dream.
And in the end, really, what this comes down to is how does it impact the individual American; the individual Alaskan, in my case. And I want to tell you: What you’ve done is — when the land owner goes and decides that they want to do a little landscaping on their property, do they have to look over their shoulder and wonder if big government is watching them? Can they do what they need to do on their private property? You’ve restored the hope that they can — that they can realize the American Dream. And this goes for our corporations; this goes for our entities, our nonprofit entities; this goes for our native corporations in Alaska. What you’ve done is restore hope and opportunity, and we’re looking forward to more years of this opportunity, Mr. President.
So, thank you very much.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mike. Thank you. (Applause.)
So we have many exciting things that we’ll be announcing over the next eight weeks, I would say. Things that nobody has even contemplated, thought about, thought possible, and things that we’re going to get done and we have gotten done — and we’ve started in most cases. But it’s going to be a very exciting eight weeks, a eight weeks, like I prob- — I think, Mike, we can honestly say nobody has ever going to see eight weeks like we’re going to have. Because we really have — we have — we’re taking on immigration, taking on education, we’re taking on so many aspects of things that people were hopelessly tied up in knots in Congress. They can’t — they’ve been working on some of these things for 25, 30 years. It wasn’t happening.
But you’ll see levels of detail, and you’ll see levels of thought that a lot of people believed very strongly we didn’t have in this country. We’re going to get things done. We’re going to get things done that they’ve wanted to see done for a long, long time.
So I think we’ll start sometime on Tuesday. We’ll be discussing our one plan on suburbia, but that’s one of many, many different plans. Then we’re going into the immigration — the world of immigration, the world of education. We’re going into the world of healthcare — very complete healthcare.
And we have a lot of very exciting things to discuss. But cutting of regulation has been really something that I felt we could do, and we could do fairly easily. Nothing is easy in this country. We had statutory requirements where we’d do phase one, and then we’d have to wait 90 days. We’d do phase two, and we’d have to wait 60 days. You’d do phase three, and we’re set — “Let’s do phase four, sir.” “I’m sorry you have to wait one year.”
But we were able to do things that nobody has ever been able to do, or even close, on deregulation.
And these trucks — this really is a great — a great little example. I don’t know who thought of this idea, but it’s actually quite, quite simple and quite good. Is that Brooke? Quite simple and quite good. I don’t love having that big sucker hanging over my head. (Laughter.) I want to get out of here as fast as possible.
But I do want to thank you all. Incredible people. You’ve done an incredible job. And to the speakers, please, thank you very much. Great job. Thank you very much. Thank you, everybody. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Brad.
END
5:01 P.M. EDT
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