Trump’s Regulatory Freeze

One of the ‘Executive Orders’ that President Trump issued with much public fanfare yesterday was “Regulatory Freeze Pending Review”. This is a relatively normal pause in the Federal rulemaking process when a change in Administration occurs. This allows for the incoming administration start putting their stamp on the regulatory process from day 1. Trump’s order is not significantly different than the one issued by Biden’s OMB Director in 2021.

Federal agencies were told to stop sending new rulemakings to the Office of the Federal Register, until such time as Trump appointees in that Agency have had a chance to review the rulemaking. Trump would allow the OMB Director (or Acting Director) to “exempt any rule that he deems necessary to address emergency situations or other urgent circumstances, including rules subject to statutory or judicial deadlines that require prompt action.

For rules that have already been sent to the OFR, but not yet published, agencies would be required to pull those rules pending similar reviews. These are rules that the OMB (through the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OIRA) would have already approved, but have not yet been published in the FR. The Director of the OMB would similarly be allowed to intervene to allow publication.

Rules already published in the Federal Register, but prior to their effective date, would have their effective dates extended until 60-days from January 20^th, 2025 (March 2^nd by my count) to allow for a review of those rules by Trump appointees. If any of these reviews “raise substantial questions of fact, law, or policy, agencies should notify and take further appropriate action in consultation with the OMB Director.”