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Report: Obama Administration Issued Over $890 Billion in Regulations

Barack Obama
AP
February 3, 2017

Former President Barack Obama pushed more that $890 billion in regulations during his presidency, according to a new study by the American Action Forum.

The figure includes $24 billion worth of midnight regulations that the Obama administration passed in its final three weeks before President Trump entered the White House. Obama issued more midnight regulatory costs during his lame-duck period, $21.7 billion, than any president in history.

"The costs of these $890 billion in burdens must be borne by someone and it is the American people who inevitably end up paying for these rules in some form," said the report, authored by AAF regulatory policy director Sam Batkins.

Over one-third of the Obama era regulations came from the Environmental Protection Agency, the study found, noting that the Departments of Energy and Health and Human Services also issued large percentages of the $890 billion total.

The Environmental Protection Agency issued $344 billion worth of regulations during the Obama administration, the most of any government entity, which led to 36.7 million hours of paperwork. The Department of Energy came in second, issuing $194 billion in regulations over the last eight years that led to 1.4 million hours of paperwork.

Other departments that passed significant regulatory costs included Health and Human Services, which issued $104 billion in regulations as it worked to roll out Obamacare provisions that led to 158 million hours of paperwork, and Transportation, which totaled $58 billion regulations.

The Department of Labor issued $56 billion worth of rules during Obama's time in office.

President Trump was vocal on the campaign trail about cutting regulations, arguing that Obama's rules were burdensome on small businesses and the broader economy.

Trump signed an executive order on Monday to rollback a number of federal regulations on small businesses that would "knock out two regulations for every new regulation" adopted by federal agencies.

"We'll be reducing them big league and their damaging effects on our small businesses, our economy, our entrepreneurial spirit," Trump said before signing the order. "So the American Dream is back, and we are going to create an environment in small business like we haven't had in many, many decades."