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3471The Trump administration is moving fast to undo hundreds of federal regulations, with wide-reaching impacts on health, safety, labor, and the environment.
President Donald Trump has directed his agencies to submit lists of rules to cut, and his team is relying on recent Supreme Court decisions to speed up the process and make many rollbacks permanent.
One of the targets is a regulation that requires nursing homes to have more medical staff on duty.
Another is a rule that protects miners from inhaling dangerous silica dust, which can be deadly when it enters the lungs. And these are just the start.
“We have a lot of latitude here and we have the ability to roll back some of these devastating regulations,” said White House spokesman Harrison Fields.
Trump’s Office of Management and Budget Director Russell T. Vought is leading the charge, aiming for what the president calls the “deconstruction of the overbearing and burdensome administrative state.”
Rapid Rollbacks, Fewer Safeguards
Historically, repealing federal rules has taken years.
But this time, the Trump administration plans to either quickly repeal regulations or simply stop enforcing them.
A 1985 Supreme Court decision, Heckler v. Chaney, allows federal agencies to decline enforcement without court review, giving the White House a legal path to ignore certain rules while working to formally kill them.
In one high-profile case, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a notice titled “DELETE, DELETE, DELETE” seeking public input on which rules to eliminate.
The FCC said it’s trying to remove “unnecessary regulatory burdens” and wants to hear from the public about rules that stand in the way of investment, infrastructure, and innovation.
The agency specifically asked for comments on whether rules are outdated, whether the cost outweighs the benefits, and if new technology or market conditions have made certain rules unnecessary.
The deadline for public comments is April 11, with reply comments due by April 28.
From Guns to Groceries
The deregulation push spans nearly every sector. The Labor Department is looking to roll back rules expanding sick leave and overtime eligibility.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is reviewing background check requirements for gun buyers and sellers.
And the Department of Agriculture wants to allow faster meat and poultry processing, which could reduce the number of government food inspectors.
Brooke Rollins, the agriculture secretary, defended the plan.
The New York Times reported that Rollins said these changes would cut “unnecessary red tape, empowering businesses to operate more efficiently and strengthening American agriculture, all while upholding the highest food safety standards.”
But critics say these changes put workers and consumers at risk.
Mark Lauritsen of the United Food and Commercial Workers union warned that if the workforce is under more pressure for speed, with less safety oversight, that would lead to contaminated meat and equipment. And that’s a serious health hazard.
Why the Rush?
Trump’s first-term effort to repeal regulations was slow and often reversed by the Biden administration.
This time, he wants results while still in office. His administration teamed up with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), co-founded by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, to identify rules ripe for removal.
Musk even developed an AI tool to scan the entire Code of Federal Regulations for outdated or vulnerable rules.
“The effects of deregulation will be more or less immediate,” said Donald Kenkel, an economist who served in Trump’s first term.
“It’s going on much more quietly than some of the other fireworks we’re seeing, but it will have great impact.”
What’s Next?
Supporters like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute are already submitting wish lists of rules they want gone.
Meanwhile, experts warn that undermining regulatory systems could have serious consequences.
“Many people don’t realize how high the American quality of life is because of the competent and stable enforcement of regulations,” said Steve Cicala of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
“If that goes away, a lot of lives are at risk.”
The Trump administration argues that this is about cutting waste and making government work better.
But with rules that touch everything from airplane safety to food quality on the chopping block, the stakes are high.
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