Staff Reports
President Joe Biden’s administration is on track to surpass even the most ambitious records of federal regulation, adding to the mountains of red tape that seem to have become the hallmark of his presidency. As of Wednesday, the Biden team has cranked out a jaw-dropping 86,712 pages in the Federal Register, marking the third-highest annual total in U.S. history, with a mere two months remaining in the year. If this trend continues, the Biden administration is set to blow past the infamous 100,000-page benchmark, which would put him in competition with his regulatory idol, Barack Obama, who previously topped out at 95,894 pages.
Clyde Wayne Crews Jr., a noted advocate for deregulation, has sounded the alarm bells, warning that crossing into a new era of paperwork—not just another milestone—could mean that American businesses collectively face a million pages of regulations every decade. For those keeping score, that’s less a government than a bureaucratic behemoth, likely plotting its next move in a darkened back office somewhere in Washington.
Regulate us to death https://t.co/5XmlUzU1yF
— SunnyOkie (@SunnyOkie) October 31, 2024
The cavalcade of bureaucratic hurdles getting churned out mostly goes unnoticed by the average American, stuck in the cycle of day-to-day life. However, it hasn’t escaped the attention of former President Donald Trump, who continues to rally against the regulatory onslaught as a key theme in his campaigns. Trump understands what many traditional Americans are waking up to—the choking costs of regulations that hit both Main Street and Wall Street alike, leaving a trail of red ink in their wake.
In the financial sector, the situation has prompted a chorus of discontent from giants like JPMorgan Chase. Jamie Dimon, the company’s chairman, didn’t mince words while discussing the “tsunami of regulations” washing over corporate America. He has effectively called for businesses to stand up and push back against a regulatory regime that seems more interested in feathering its nests than promoting a conducive economic environment. His comments particularly resonated against the backdrop of Vice President Kamala Harris’s ardent support for Biden’s regulatory crusade.
Moreover, the American Bankers Association’s Rob Nichols stressed the urgent need to challenge these choking regulations with hard facts and data, asserting their harmful impacts on consumers and the economy at large. As the Biden administration plays with fire in the form of excessive regulation, the stakes are high for champions of economic freedom who fear that unless there’s a collective pushback, American businesses—and by extension, American workers—will continue to bear the brunt of this unrelenting tide of bureaucratic nonsense.
