The week in regulations, shutdown edition: Visa fees and regional haze

President Trump demanded that the Justice Department pay him $230 million. He also cut off all trade negotiations with Canada because of a tv commercial and had the White House’s East Wing demolished. Inflation rose to 3 percent. The continued federal shutdown meant another slow week in the Federal Register. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from housing subsidies to fine particulate matter.

 On to the data:

• Agencies issued two final regulations last week, after six the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every eighty-four hours.
• With 2,036 final regulations so far in 2025, agencies are on pace to issue 2,495 final regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 3,248 final regulations in 2024, 3,018 in 2023, and 3,168 in 2022.
• Agencies issued eight proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after five the previous week.
• With 1,246 proposed regulations so far in 2025, agencies are on pace to issue 1,527 proposed regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 1,769 proposed regulations in 2024, 2,102 proposed regulations in 2023, and 2,044 in 2022.
• Agencies published 37 notices last week, after 30 notices the previous week.
• With 15,654 notices so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 19,184 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 25,506 notices in 2024, 22,902 in 2023, and 28,973 in 2022.
• Last week, 183 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 219 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2025 contains 238 pages.
• With 48,556 pages so far, the 2025 Federal Register is on pace for 59,505 pages.
• For comparison, the 2024 Federal Register has an all-time record 107,261 pages. The 2023 edition has 90,402 pages, and the 2022 Federal Register has 80,756 pages.
• Rules with $200 million or more of economic effects in at least one year qualify as major under Section 3(f)(1). This replaced the former economically significant tag for $100 million-plus regulations.
• However, the $100 million economically significant tag is now revived under a Trump Executive Order, and the $200 million 3(f)(1) tag is going away. Rules from both categories have appeared this year.
• There are eight 3(f)(1) or economically significant regulations so far in 2025, with none in the last week.
• This is on pace for 10 3(f)(1) or economically significant regulations in 2025.
• For comparison, there were 20 3(f)(1) significant regulations in 2024, 28 3(f)(1) and/or economically significant regulations in 2023, and 43 economically significant rules in 2022. Note that these are not apples-to-apples comparisons, since 3(f)(1) and economically significant rules have different thresholds.
• This year’s section 3(f)(1) and economically significant regulations have estimated costs ranging from net savings of $702 million to $21.90 billion.
• For context, the cost tally for 2024’s 3(f)(1) significant regulations is net savings of $16.42 billion to 26.45 billion. 2023’s 3(f)(1) and/or economically significant regulations estimated costs range from $62.60 billion to 90.48 billion. Cost estimates for 2022’s economically significant rules range from $45.28 billion to $78.05 billion. The exact numbers depend on discount rates and other assumptions.
• There was one new final regulations last week meeting the broader definition of “significant,” after none the previous week.
• So far this year, there are 110 new regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant.” This is on pace for 135 significant regulations in 2025.
• For comparison, there were 339 such regulations in 2024, 290 in 2023, and 255 in 2022.
• So far in 2025, 513 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 629. Twenty-one of them are significant, on pace for 26. Earlier transparency problems at FederalRegister.gov affecting this and other statistics have been fixed as of October 3, 2025. Our thanks to the people responsible.
• For comparison, in 2024 there were 770 regulations affecting small businesses, 76 of them significant. In 2023 there were 789 regulations affecting small businesses, 79 of them significant.

All of last week’s new final regulations:

• Zero-based regulatory budgeting at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
• HUD’s Home Investment Partnerships Program.
  
  

And all of last week’s proposed regulations:

• Bombardier airworthiness.
• Prohibition on use of reputation risk by the National Credit Union Administration.
• Zero-based regulatory budgeting at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
• IRS rules for domestically controlled qualified investment entities.
• Increased visa fees for immigrants.
• Fine particulate matter in Arizona.
• Regional haze in Nevada.
• An upcoming IRS hearing on tipped occupations will be conducted via phone and not in-person.

For more data, see Ten Thousand Commandments and follow @10KC and @RegoftheDay on Twitter. See also CEI’s Agenda for Congress.