On Monday more than 300 business and industry groups sent a letter to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) calling on Congress to make regulatory reform a priority during the next Congress. The groups specifically called for the passage of the Regulatory Accountability Act, introduced in January 2015 by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Rep. Colin Peterson (D-MN). The Regulatory Accountability Act would help to make the regulatory process more transparent and requires regulating agencies to abstain from imposing unnecessary burdens. So far, in 2016 alone, the Obama Administration has imposed $153.85 billion in final rules with an additional $47.1 billion in proposed rules.

Yesterday the American Action Forum (@AAF) released a new analysis showing that President-elect Trump could roll back at least $1.7 billion in Dodd-Frank regulations upon taking office. The AAF analysis finds that there are at least nine Dodd-Frank rules that fall within the Congressional Review Act’s carryover period, thereby allowing President-elect Trump and Congress to easily rescind those nine regulations.

Eakinomics: Real 100 Day Agenda

The spring of 2017 holds tremendous promise and opportunity for improved policymaking in the United States. And a lot is being put on the table.

In the first one hundred days of the Trump administration the Congress will pass a fiscal 2017 budget resolution containing “reconciliation instructions” to repeal and (perhaps setup the  bill to) replace Obamacare, pass a reconciliation bill repealing Obamacare, pass a fiscal 2018 budget resolution containing reconciliation instructions that will be used to pass tax reform, pass tax reform, raise the debt ceiling, fund the government for the remainder of 2017, fund the government for 2018, raise the cap on defense spending, use the Congressional Review Act to roll back a half dozen or so regulations, overhaul the regulatory state through legislation like the REINS Act, pass a trillion dollar infrastructure program, build a wall (or a fence or a trench), confirm the appointees of the Trump administration, and — yes — confirm a Supreme Court justice.

It’s not realistic to take this literally. Instead, among the most important decisions to be made by the combined leadership of the House, Senate and White House is the exact sequence of legislative initiatives. Put differently, the pressing need is to settle the real 100 day agenda and thereby establish the top priorities. Many deserving initiatives will simply have to take a temporary back seat until later in 2017 or in 2018.

In many ways, it is an embarrassment of riches in opportunities. But it raises the stakes on establishing priorities, developing a legislative game plan, and setting expectations appropriately.