The SCRUB Act: Washing away Washington’s regulatory grime

The Searching for and Cutting Regulations that are Unnecessarily Burdensome (SCRUB) Act, introduced today by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), is a key step in reinforcing recent Trump executive orders, in particular “Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation” (EO 14192) and “Ensuring Lawful Government and Implementing the President’s DOGE Deregulatory Initiative.”

Both these orders and Ernst’s proposed legislation seek to advance the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) mission to dismantle excessive spending and overregulation—which tend to rise in tandem. By combing through the 178,000-page Code of Federal Regulations, SCRUB targets outdated, redundant, and harmful rules for elimination.

The SCRUB Act’s Regulatory Cut-Go procedures align with Trump’s ambitious 10-for-one regulatory framework, requiring reductions that vastly exceed new additions. SCRUB codifies elements of DOGE and its mission. The bill aims to cut at least 33 percent of cumulative regulatory costs by a deadline of July 4, 2026. The Office of Management and Budget, in coordination with agencies, would certify these savings.

A key component of SCRUB is its reaffirmation of a “major rule” as one with $100 million or more in economic effects. While this threshold is also recognized in the Congressional Review Act and the Regulatory Right-to-Know Act, Biden’s now-repealed Modernizing Regulatory Review executive order had sought to dilute this standard by raising the threshold to $200 million. That change only encouraged more expansive and expansive rulemaking. 

SCRUB would also introduce mandatory review plans to reassess regulations within 10 years. Currently, regulatory cost estimates—already rare—are conducted only before a rule is enacted. Once in effect, the government does little to track ongoing costs or reconsider whether a regulation remains justified. SCRUB would help change that. While DOGE itself may be temporary, the principles of regulatory “scrubbing” should remain permanent.

With federal regulations now costing at least $2.1 trillion annually, a successful SCRUB could save the American people some $690 billion. When regulatory reform is done right, those savings translate directly to economic relief. Proposals for regulatory reduction commissions to tackle regulatory burdens date back to the 1990s, and versions of SCRUB date back over a decade to Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and the 114th Congress.

The SCRUB reform is long overdue, and the timing is critical. Trump’s “Unleashing Prosperity” and “DOGE Deregulatory Initiative” executive orders kick off what is likely to be a series of moves to begin deep cleaning of the unnecessary regulatory stains that hinder prosperity. The broad regulatory streamlining effort, however, requires Congress to mop up the mess and make these reforms permanent. With SCRUB, it would do so.

For more see: “The Federal Spending-Regulation Trap: Here’s An Escape Plan At Last,” Forbes