For yet another week the effects of the regulatory freeze remained readily apparent. There were only two rulemakings in the Federal Register with some kind of quantifiable economic impact. In contrast, there were nine notices from agencies officially declaring the delayed enforcement of rules finalized just before inauguration day. Perhaps the most significant developments, however, came in the form of two executive orders (EOs) that potentially hold broad and deep ramifications for the rulemaking process going forward. Across all rulemakings, agencies published $8.2 million in total costs and added 2,268 paperwork burden hours.

REGULATORY TOPLINES

• Proposed Rules: 15
• Final Rules: 27
• 2025 Total Pages: 10,429
• 2025 Final Rule Costs: $6.1 billion
• 2025 Proposed Rule Costs: $180.1 billion

NOTABLE REGULATORY ACTIONS

As noted earlier, there were merely two rulemakings with any appreciable impact: another airworthiness directive for certain Airbus planes and a Federal Communications Commission action producing a slight uptick in paperwork. There were nine notices of delayed effective dates under the auspices of the regulatory freeze memo that pushes enforcement of the rules in question out to late March:

TRACKING TRUMP 2.0

The most consequential regulatory policy actions of the week came in the form of two EOs issued by President Trump. The first seeks to extend greater White House control over the rulemaking review process – and potentially overall functioning – of independent agencies. The second further expands the role and mission of the “Department of Government Efficiency” to undergo a vast review of current regulatory requirements, likely going much further than even the process established under Trump’s latest regulatory budget order. Further thoughts and analysis of the EOs’ potential effects can be found here.

On the Congressional Review Act (CRA) front, be sure to follow the American Action Forum’s (AAF) updated CRA tracker. As of today, members of the 119th Congress have introduced CRA resolutions of disapproval addressing 29 Biden-era rules that collectively involve $136.7 billion in compliance costs. AAF will continue to update this tracker as additional resolutions are introduced and receive votes on the floors of each chamber.

There was not much in the way of actual legislative action involving the CRA this week, but House Republicans did release a list of 10 rules that they “are prioritizing as potential targets for CRA legislation in the coming weeks.” Two of these resolutions are scheduled to go through the House Rules Committee later today, which means one could expect to see a floor vote on them later this week.

TOTAL BURDENS

Since January 1, the federal government has published $186.2 billion in total net costs (with $6.1 billion in new costs from finalized rules) and 25 million hours of net annual paperwork cuts (with 1.7 million hours in increases from final rules).