Trump signs executive order on deregulation in hopes of helping economy

President Donald Trump said the coronavirus has attacked our nation’s economy and health, so he signed an executive order Tuesday on regulatory relief. He said it will help support economic recovery.

It’s too early to know how the order will affect Southwest Florida, but relaxing regulations has been the president’s practice during the pandemic. For example, he removed barriers that might slow the development of a COVID-19 vaccine.

This executive order starts by offering relief to businesses trying to recover. In it, the president said the government should “give businesses, especially small businesses, the confidence they need to re-open…”

So he’s demanding deregulation.

“When you think about the times that we suspend regulations, they’re during crisis times. And if something is an impediment, if it’s a handcuff to you, if it’s restrictive in an emergency, that tells you that it’s restrictive when it’s not an emergency,” said Victor Claar, an economist at Florida Gulf Coast University.

He said some regulation must remain to protect consumers, even keep them safe, but two local congressmen want even more deregulation.

“What has happened though over the decades is that regulators and bureaucrats just continue to put one regulation on top of another on top of another and rarely looking at how to get rid of those regulations that again are no longer needed,” said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart.

“If we can ease a regulatory burden from the federal perspective and make it easier for them to transition in to back to getting work and getting their employees hired back, I think it’s a good thing,” said Rep. Greg Steube.

Might these deregulations become permanent? Answering that is part of the president’s executive order. He wants all government agencies to look at the more than 600 regulatory changes he has enacted during the pandemic and report to the Office Management and Budget which ones should become permanent.