Tuesday’s Election Was Nothing For Republicans To Smile About
Liberty Unyielding cited CEI on Trump’s deregulation policy.
The ideological composition of the judiciary matters for the economy. Yesterday, a judge blocked the Trump administration’s approval of the Keystone Pipeline, which would help both the economy and the environment. It will transport petroleum more safely and with fewer environmentally-damaging spills than other methods of transportation like rail. But now the Trump administration will have to jump through yet more hoops before it can once again approve this economically important project.
More sympathetic judges would allow such economically-helpful policies to go into effect. They would also make it easier for the Trump administration to repeal or delay burdensome Obama-era regulations. Liberal judges have blocked some of the administration’s delays of Obama-era rules, based on strained reasoning, or procedural technicalities. A Democratic Senate will prevent Trump from appointing conservative appellate judges who might overturn these rulings.
The Trump administration helped the economy by bringing an end to the vast wave of government red tape that occurred under Obama. It has also sought to eliminate existing regulations that are harmful or unnecessary. As the Competitive Enterprise Institute noted, Trump has pruned regulations more vigorously than any president since Reagan, and withdrew or delayed over “1,500 Obama rules” that were in the pipeline. Regulations cost the economy “$2 trillion annually. This amounts to a hidden tax of nearly $15,000 per household.” CEI says eliminating more regulations will result in “more jobs and higher wages,” more “investment,” and higher productivity.