Eakinomics: The Unified Agenda

The Obama Administration became notorious for dropping news about its expensive regulations late on Friday afternoons. This past Friday, the Biden Administration showed it had not mastered this technique as well as its predecessor, dropping its Unified Agenda closer to midday.

Recall that the Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (UA) is a look at the priority regulations that federal agencies are planning to work on over the next year. So, while it arrived a few hours earlier, it did nothing to dispel the notion that it, in the words of Daniel Bosch, “shows that the Biden Administration plans to revive – or in many cases go beyond – the regulatory policies of the Obama Administration.”

One focus of the administration will be environmental rules. In particular: “The Department of Transportation and Environmental Protection Agency plan to propose new fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks next month. The proposal, when finalized, would replace the Trump Administration’s signature deregulatory rule – which saved an estimated $199.5 billion over the previous rule of the Obama Administration. Whereas the Trump Administration rule eased annual required increases in fuel efficiency, the Biden Administration’s UA says the standards ‘shall be the maximum feasible for each model year.’ The implication is the rule will be more stringent than the Obama Administration’s version, which is the most expensive rule recorded in the Regulation Rodeo database.

That’s just the beginning. There will be further rules on methane, air pollution, mercury, and the like. Over at the Department of Energy, the climate goals will dictate rules for energy efficiency. And, the Department of Labor will revisit the controversial fiduciary rule, re-engage in the battle over how tips are handled, and once more impose a new joint-employer rule.

Bosch also note a variety of treats on the regulatory buffet. “These include:

• A rule on Gainful Employment from the Department of Education;
• The Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule from the Department of Housing and Urban Development;
• A rule reconsidering changes to the definition of a showerhead from the Department of Energy that became an ongoing talking point of President Trump;
• A revision of a Trump Administration rule on blowout preventers for offshore drilling operations, which reversed an Obama Administration rule; and
• Several Trump Administration immigration rules, including the Public Charge rule, a rule limiting asylum eligibility, and a rule that raised certain immigration fees.”

So, rest assured, even though the Week in Regulation tracking effort seems to suggest that the Biden Administration is light on regulatory cost, the wave is coming.