20,642 New Regulations Added in the Obama Presidency
…More than $22 billion per year in new regulatory costs were imposed on Americans last year, pushing the total burden for the Obama years to exceed $100 billion annually. That’s a dollar for every star in the galaxy, or one for every second in 32 years.
…America’s problem with excessive regulation did not start with the Obama administration, of course. His predecessor George W. Bush was hardly a paragon of deregulation. Although Bush showed restraint during his first term, the number of regulations soared during his final years in office. Under the two administrations combined, their new rules added $176 billion in annual regulatory costs on Americans.
And there is much more to come. Obama’s final year in the White House could be his busiest. Historically, rulemaking increases as presidents scramble to fulfill their regulatory agenda before leaving office. There are already more than 2,000 proposed or final rules in the pipeline—including 144 that are expected to cost $100 million a year or more. These include yet more energy-efficiency mandates for home and commercial appliances, additional food-labeling requirements, stricter fuel economy standards for vehicles, and more stringent limits on consumer access to credit.
(H/T: Daily Signal)
