Federal Register Breaks Record by 10,000 Pages

There are records, and then there are records.

A month ago, I blogged that President Barack Obama’s Federal Register, the daily depository of rules and regulations, stood at 81,640 pages for 2016. 

That topped the all-time record—also held by Obama—of 81,405 pages in 2010.

And it happened before Thanksgiving. Since November 17, the Federal Register has been setting a new record every day.

But this morning is special. Today standing at 91,642 pages, the Federal Register is 10,000 pages higher than the prior all-time record.

Ninety-thousand pages is heretofore unheard of. Up until this year, the 80,000 page mark was the shocker, and had been passed just three times (in 2010, 2011 and 2015).

The chart below shows the 15 highest Federal Register page counts. Of the 10 highest-ever counts, Obama holds seven.  

For ideas on how to reform the federal regulatory state, see the relevant section of CEI’s Agenda for Congress and our recent Web Memo, “First Steps for the Trump Administration: Rein in the Regulatory State.”