In 2023, the Biden administration published over 90,000 pages in the Federal Register (“FR”). This was second only to Obama’s record-setting 95,894 pages in 2017, but Biden will be taking this title from Obama this year as we soar to new heights of federal overreach. In fact, since election day last month, the Biden administration has published nearly 16,000 pages in the FR. Once something is published in the FR, it takes enormous effort to even attempt to undo it.
The question is — why let it get that far? If the government shuts down, so does the Federal Register, which could prevent hundreds of additional rules from being finalized or proposed. This is a truly historic opportunity for Trump, DOGE, and the Republicans.
We should learn from Obamacare — and do what we can to prevent things from being adopted in the first place (in this case demand a shutdown). It is very complicated to undo regulatory efforts. For example, a final rulemaking would require a new proposed and final rule be completed to undo it. This can create risk that an agency could be sued; worse yet this could result in a “sue and settle” outcome.
