President Trump signed an executive order today (Friday, 2/24/2017) aimed at reducing red tape, he said. Trump said the order “directs each agency to establish a regulatory reform task force which will ensure that every agency has a … team of dedicated people to research all regulations that are unnecessary, burdensome and harmful to the economy and therefore harmful to the creation of jobs and business. Each task force will make recommendations to repeal or simplify existing regulations.”


According to the President, the White House is working to “roll back the regulatory burden so…small business owners and so many others can grow their businesses and thrive.”


At the signing, Trump said, “every regulation should have to pass a simple test: Does it make life better or safer for American workers or consumers? If the answer is no, we will be getting rid of it and getting rid of it quickly. We’ll stop punishing companies for doing business in the United States; it will be absolutely just the opposite. They’ll be incentivized to doing business in the United States.

The new order is not the first by Trump aiming to reduce federal regulations. In January, he signed an executive order that mandates that for every new regulation implemented by federal agencies, two existing regulations must be cut.

Today’s executive order drew immediate protests from environmental groups. “President Trump is rigging the system so corporate lobbyists can lower standards that protect the public health and safety of all people in this country,” Tiernan Sittenfeld of the League of Conservation Voters told NPR. “These task forces will attempt to roll back common-sense protections for the air we breathe, the water we drink and the lands we cherish.”

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