The Biden administration’s federal regulations have amounted to a staggering $1.8 trillion, a figure that dwarfs the regulatory costs under the Trump administration by more than 800 times, according to an analysis by an independent policy institute.

The American Action Forum (AAF), a self-described center-right think tank, reported that President Joe Biden’s tenure has introduced 1,1074 new rules, which have collectively required 342.9 million hours of paperwork.

By comparison, during his first term, President-elect Donald Trump implemented 1,192 regulations with a total cost of $2.1 billion and a paperwork burden of 292.8 million hours.

Under former President Barack Obama, the administration imposed 1,441 regulations, costing $491.3 billion and requiring 288.9 million hours of paperwork.

Biden’s administration has generated roughly 50 million more hours of paperwork than either Trump or Obama at equivalent points in their presidencies.

The Biden administration has largely reinstated regulations from the Obama era while also carving out its own costly regulatory path. “It’s quite a number,” remarked AAF Director of Regulatory Policy Dan Goldbeck, according to the Washington Examiner.

As Trump prepares to begin his second term in January 2025, rolling back regulations will once again be a top priority. “As noted during the campaign, there is little reason to believe this returning Trump administration regulatory policy will be directionally different from that of his first term,” Goldbeck wrote on the AAF website.

Goldbeck also observed the historical significance of Trump’s second term: “Given, however, that President-elect Trump now stands to join Grover Cleveland as the only president thus far to have a second non-consecutive term, the exact nature and format of this section may undergo some changes once that second term begins. Stay tuned.”

Meanwhile, regulatory costs under Biden continue to climb.

Just last week, eight new rulemakings added $3.1 billion in costs and 3.5 million annual hours of paperwork, according to the AAF. These included a proposal from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish cybersecurity standards for specific categories of public infrastructure, as well as a regulation from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that introduced significant administrative requirements.

Biden’s regulations this year have added 89,476 pages to the Federal Register, the second-highest annual total on record, according to the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Last year, the Federal Register expanded by 89,368 pages, marking the third-highest count in history.

{Matzav.com}