Trump Campaign Press Release - Biden Would Drown The Economy In A Sea Of Red Tape

Biden would reverse the Trump Administration's historic deregulation, smothering the economy with red tape in the middle of a comeback

Key Takeaways:

• President Trump has led an historic effort to cut red tape
  
  • So far, the Trump Administration has eliminated 7 regulations for every 1 new regulation – totaling $50 billion in savings
    
  • The Council of Economic Advisers has said these deregulatory efforts will increase household incomes by $3,100 per year
    
• But just as the Great American Comeback is underway, Joe Biden would stifle it with new regulations
  
  • Federal regulations cost the economy an estimated $1.9 trillion annually, and have slowed growth by trillions for decades
    
• When Biden was Vice President, the federal government imposed a staggering $872 billion in new regulations on the U.S. economy
  
  • These regulations hit businesses in every sector, and created 583 million hours' worth of paperwork to comply with
    
• Biden has promised to bring back job-killing regulations like those resulting from the Paris Climate Accord, which would have cost 400,000 American jobs?
  
  • Biden has been campaigning on job-killing emissions regulations from when he was Vice President, which would have cost $292 billion, led to double-digit electricity price increases, and killed more than 220,000 jobs
    

DURING JOE BIDEN'S TIME AS VICE PRESIDENT, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IMPOSED $872 BILLION IN NEW REGULATIONS ON THE ECONOMY

According To The American Action Forum, From 2009 To 2016 The Federal Government Finalized 3,012 Regulations At A Cost Of $871.6 Billion. ("Regulation Rodeo," American Action Forum, Accessed 7/16/20)

• The Paperwork Hours Required To Comply With These Regulations Numbered A Staggering 583 Million. ("Regulation Rodeo," American Action Forum, Accessed 7/16/20)

The Obama-Biden Administration Marked "A New Age Of Regulation" With Plenty Of New "Mandates" And "Higher Fines". "Over the last year, the Obama administration has pressed forward on hundreds of new mandates, while also stepping up enforcement of rules by increasing the ranks of inspectors and imposing higher fines for violations. A new age of regulation is well under way in Washington, a fact somewhat obscured by the high-profile debates over the health care overhaul and financial oversight system and by fresh calls for greater federal vigilance spurred by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the deaths of coal miners in West Virginia." (Eric Lipton, "With Obama, Regulations Are Back In Fashion," The New York Times, 3/12/10)

These New Regulations Imposed Billions In Costs On Industries Across The Economy

The Energy And Environment Sector Was Burdened With $527.9 Billion In Regulations. ("Regulation Rodeo," American Action Forum, Accessed 7/16/20)

The Healthcare Industry Was Burdened With $109.7 Billion In Regulations. ("Regulation Rodeo," American Action Forum, Accessed 7/16/20)

The Transportation Sector Was Burdened With $46.6 Billion In Regulations. ("Regulation Rodeo," American Action Forum, Accessed 7/16/20)

The Agriculture Industry Was Burdened With $4.3 Billion In Regulations. ("Regulation Rodeo," American Action Forum, Accessed 7/16/20)

FEDERAL REGULATION IMPOSES STIFLING COSTS ON U.S. BUSINESSES AND SLOWS ECONOMIC GROWTH

Regulations Imposed By Federal Agencies Cost The U.S. Economy $1.9 Trillion Annually. "The aggregate cost of federal regulation remains more than $1.9 TRILLION annually – and that is a conservative estimate based on publicly available data from government, academia, and industry and the inherent unknowability of such costs." (Clyde Wayne Crews, "Ten Thousand Commandments 2020," Competitive Enterprise Institute, 5/27/20)

Federal Regulations Have Reduced Real GDP Growth By 2 Percent Per Year Since 1949, Costing Trillions. "Federal regulations added over the past fifty years have reduced real output growth by about two percentage points on average over the period 1949-2005. That reduction in the growth rate has led to an accumulated reduction in GDP of about $38.8 trillion as of the end of 2011. That is, GDP at the end of 2011 would have been $53.9 trillion instead of $15.1 trillion if regulation had remained at its 1949 level." (Mark Perry, "Federal Regulations have Lowered Real GDP Growth By 2% Per Year Since 1949 And Made America 72% Poorer," American Enterprise Institute, 6/26/13)

BIDEN FOUGHT FOR RED TAPE AS VICE PRESIDENT, AND NOW HE WANTS TO BRING IT BACK

Biden Promised That He Would Rejoin The Paris Climate Accord Which Was Projected To Weaken The U.S. Economy By $2.5 Trillion And Cost 400,000 American Jobs

Biden Promised To "Re-Enter The Paris Agreement On Day One Of The Biden Administration." "Biden will rejoin the Paris Agreement, but simply rejoining is not enough. Biden will use every tool of American foreign policy to push the rest of the world to raise their ambitions alongside the United States. A Biden Administration will: Re-enter the Paris Agreement on day one of the Biden Administration and lead a major diplomatic push to raise the ambitions of countries' climate targets." ("Climate," Biden For President, Accessed 12/13/19)

• "As President, I'll Rejoin The Paris Climate Agreement On My First Day In Office ..." (Joe Biden, "Statement From Vice President Joe Biden On The Anniversary Of The Paris Climate Accord," Medium, 12/12/19)

The Heritage Foundation Estimated That Adhering To The Paris Climate Agreement Would Cost The U.S. 400,000 Jobs, Cost The Average Family Of Four $20,000 In Income, And Cost The U.S. Economy $2.5 Trillion. (Nicolas Loris, "Staying in Paris Agreement Would Have Cost Families $20K," The Heritage Foundation, 11/5/19)

Biden Has Touted His Work On The Job-Killing "Clean Power Plan"

In A Campaign Video, Biden Touted Working With Barack Obama On Carbon Emissions Regulations Known As The "Clean Power Plan." JOE BIDEN: "For more than three decades I've led on this issue. I wrote one of the first ever climate change bills ever introduced in the United States Senate. As Vice President, I oversaw the single largest investment in clean energy in our nation's history, over $90 billion. I fought along with President Obama to double the efficiency of our cars which would reduce our oil consumption by 12 billion barrels, for a clean power plan that limited carbon emissions from both existing and new power plants." ("Biden Plan For A Clean Energy Revolution & Environmental Justice," YouTube, Accessed 12/13/19)

The Clean Power Plan For New And Existing Power Plants Contained 2,238 Pages Of Regulations. "President Obama's Clean Power Plan for existing and new power plants stretches to a combined 2,328 pages, exclusive of supporting documents and fact sheets. The language is Orwellian, with talk of "a partnership between the EPA and the states under which the EPA establishes emission guidelines and the states take the lead on implementing them by establishing emission standards or creating plans that are consistent with the EPA emission guidelines." It's no partnership if Big Brother is imposing its will on the different states." (Diana Furchtgott-Roth, "Obama's 'Clean Power Plan' Punishes Workers, Consumers, And States That Voted For Romney," National Review, 8/10/15)

An Analysis By NERA Economic Consulting Projected The CPP Regulations Would Cost As Much As $292 Billion. "NERA Economic Consulting has produced an analysis of the Clean Power Plan (CPP) recently finalized by the Obama Administration, aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions from new and existing power plants by 32 percent nationwide. NERA's calculates the CPP could add $29 billion to $39 billion in costs to utilities or as much as $292 billion in added costs between 2022 and 2033, exclusive of added transmission, distribution and natural gas infrastructure costs." ( "Economic Analysis of Clean Power Plan Shows High Cost, Minimal Benefits," The Heartland Institute, 12/2/15)

• "As A Result Of These Added Costs, Consumers In 40 States Could See Double-Digit Electricity Price Increases, And 28 States Could Face Electricity Price Spikes Greater Than 20 Percent." ( "Economic Analysis of Clean Power Plan Shows High Cost, Minimal Benefits," The Heartland Institute, 12/2/15)

The U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Estimated The Economy Would Average 224,000 Fewer Jobs Each Year Due To The CPP, With A Peak Decline In Employment Of 442,000 Jobs. "On average, from 2014 to 2030, the U.S. economy will have 224,000 fewer jobs (Table ES-3), with a peak decline in employment of 442,000 jobs in 2022 (Figure ES-1). These job losses represent lost opportunities and income for hundreds of thousands of people that can never be recovered." ("Assessing The Impact Of Potential New Carbon Regulations In The United States," Institute For 21st Century Energy, 5/28/14)

When Biden Was Vice President, New EPA Regulations Inflicted $50 Billion In Costs On The Economy

In May 2016, The Obama-Biden Administration Announced "Historic" And Costly Regulations On The Oil And Gas Industries. "The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a new rule that will target emissions from new or modified oil and gas wells — and prevent 11 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by the year 2025, the agency said. 'It doesn't make sense that the administration would add unreasonable and burdensome regulations when the industry is already leading the way on methane reductions,' said Kyle Isakower, API's vice president of regulatory and economic policy, in a call with reporters Thursday. 'The last thing we need is more duplicative and costly regulation' that could stifle innovation and potentially lead to higher energy costs. The group's leaders also questioned EPA's estimates of what the new regulations would cost the industry, and said that by imposing a 'one-size-fits-all' approach to regulating methane emissions, the EPA would saddle companies with new monitoring and record-keeping responsibilities, when companies already have good reason to find inventive ways of avoiding leaks." (Chris Mooney, "Obama Administration Announces Historic New Regulations For Methane Emissions From Oil And Gas," The Washington Post, 5/12/16)

The Obama-Biden Administration Issued An Average Of 500 New EPA Regulations Per Year. "The House Subcommittee on Energy and Power held a hearing this week to review the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) regulatory activity under the Obama Administration, which highlighted the President and EPA's blatant disregard for the Constitution and State authority. The hearing also addressed the drastic impact increased regulations have on U.S. energy and the economy as a whole. Since President Obama assumed office in 2009, the EPA has published over 3,900 rules, averaging almost 500 annually, and amounting to over 33,000 new pages in the Federal Register. The hearing highlighted growing concerns from states and affected entities about the mounting complexity, costs, and legality of EPA rules." (Justin Sykes, "Nearly 4,000 EPA Regulations Issued Under President Obama," Americans For Tax Reform, 7/6/16)

New EPA Regulations Under The Obama-Biden Administration Added $50 Billion In Annual Costs. "The compliance costs associated with EPA regulations under Obama number in the hundreds of billions and have grown by more than $50 billion in annual costs since Obama took office. Such high costs, especially those related to the energy sector, ripple throughout the economy, impacting GDP, killing thousands of jobs, and increasing the cost of consumer goods." (Justin Sykes, "Nearly 4,000 EPA Regulations Issued Under President Obama," Americans For Tax Reform, 7/6/16)

The Obama-Biden Administration Imposed Some Of The Strictest And Costliest Regulations On Oil And Gas Ever. "President Barack Obama's enemies have long accused him of waging a 'war on coal.' But a very different war on oil and gas is coming next. The newest phase of Obama's environmental agenda has the oil and natural gas industry in its crosshairs, with plans to curb greenhouse gas pollution from rigs and refineries, tighten oversight of drilling on public lands and impose a strict ozone limit that industry lobbyists slam as 'the most expensive regulation ever.'" (Elana Schor, Obama's Quiet War On Oil," ? Politico, 8/14/15)?

Biden Personally Lobbied Congress To Pass Dodd-Drank, Which Created New Regulatory Agencies And Hundreds Of New Burdensome Rules On The Economy

Biden And His Campaign Have Said He "Fought Hard To Get Votes" For The Passage Of Dodd-Frank. "Bernstein has publicly commented that Biden 'fought hard to get votes for Dodd-Frank,' presumably by talking to his colleagues in the Senate. The Biden campaign has backed this up" (Ryan Grim And David Dayen, "Joe Biden's Mysterious Claim That He Whipped Votes For The CFPB," The Intercept, 10/16/19; Jamal Brown, Twitter, 10/16/19)

Dodd-Frank Unleashed 2,300 Pages Of New Federal Rules On The Financial Sector. "Yet Dodd-Frank, with its 2,300 pages, will unleash the biggest wave of new federal financial rule-making in three generations. Whatever else this will do, it will not make lending cheaper or credit more readily available." (Editorial, "The Uncertainty Principle," The Wall Street Journal, 7/14/10)

Dodd-Frank Called For Hundreds Of New Rules By Dozens Of Agencies And Created Two Entirely New Agencies. "This surge will continue. Sarbanes-Oxley delegated 16 rule-makings to the executive branch, yet the Dodd-Frank financial law calls for literally hundreds of new rules by dozens of agencies, and two entirely new agencies." (Editorial, "Obama's Rules Revelation," The Wall Street Journal, 1/19/11)

Dodd-Frank's Financial Regulations Created "Financial Uncertainty" Among Market Investors. "U.S. financial regulators will enter an intense period of rulemaking over the next 6 to 18 months, and market participants will need to make strategic decisions in an environment of regulatory uncertainty." ("Summary Of The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform And Consumer Protection Act, Enacted Into Law On July 21, 2010," Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, 7/21/10)

Dodd-Frank Was Described As "Complicated" And Containing "Substantial Ambiguities." "The legislation is complicated and contains substantial ambiguities, many of which will not be resolved until regulations are adopted, and even then, many questions are likely to persist that will require consultation with the staffs of the various agencies involved." ("Summary Of The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform And Consumer Protection Act, Enacted Into Law On July 21, 2010," Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, 7/21/10)

Harvard Finance Professor Hal Scott Referred To Dodd-Frank As A "Massive Revamp Of American Regulation" Creating "Uncertainty." "This Massive Revamp Of American Regulation Creates Uncertainty For Now, And, With Basel III, Significant Costs In The Future, With Uncertain Benefit." (Hal Scott, Op-Ed, "Little To Celebrate On Dodd-Frank's Birthday," Financial Times, 7/19/11)