(The Center Square) – Just a month into office, President Donald Trump has already begun a major overhaul of how things are done in the federal government. But his plans for transformation face a major question: will it last?
Trump has issued a flurry of executive orders, has begun slashing federal spending and shrinking the size of government, but unless Congress aggressively passes laws to codify these cuts and changes, these reforms could be as short-lived as Trump’s remaining four years in office.
For instance, while Trump has begun firing thousands of federal employees who have been working to enforce federal rules, those federal rules remain on the books until the agencies revoke them or Congress passes laws to end the agency or overturn certain rules.
Trump issued two executive orders to help remove federal rules from the books. One requires agencies to remove 10 regulations for every new regulation. Another rule requires agencies to publish comprehensive lists of harmful rules, presumably so Trump can axe them.
“President Trump’s latest executive order takes an important step in the fight against overregulation by requiring federal agencies to identify harmful and unlawful regulations within 60 days,” Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow James Broughel said in a statement. “This initiative will help build an inventory of bad regulations that can serve as a foundation for advancing the administration’s ambitious one-in, ten-out policy. While compiling a list of outdated or burdensome rules is useful, it is only a first step. For maximum impact, the Department of Government Efficiency needs to set clear regulatory reduction goals, establish meaningful metrics to define success, and implement deadlines and incentives to ensure agencies follow through. Without these additional measures, this effort – while worthwhile – will fall short of addressing the broader problem of excessive regulation.”
The federal cuts may face another obstacle since a recent court ruling suggested that Elon Musk may have already acted beyond his executive authority in his work with the Department of Government Efficiency, which seems to be just getting started.
David Randall, director of research at the National Association of Scholars, told The Center Square that if Trump does not root out the foundations of the Department of Education, for instance, it could come back stronger.
“I want to look ahead not just for what’s done under President Trump, but to make sure that the reforms of the Education Department endure, even if a president with different priorities assumes power in Washington,” Randall said. “That means that executive orders are wonderful, but if you don’t get rid of the underlying statute law, the Education Department could spring back to life as horrible as ever.”
Randall pointed out that some agencies have created smaller departments and spread themselves out so much that it could be difficult to name and eliminate every part of an agency.
Federal agencies also have longstanding practices and rules on the books that could simply go dormant during Trump’s term only to reemerge after he leaves office.
“What the Trump administration has done in terms of getting rid of DEI already is wonderful, although there are some deeper changes that need to be made, like getting rid of disparate impact theory…” Randall said. “You also need to have massive financial reform as they are contemplating to make sure you can’t use this weaponization of civil rights law as a hammer blow to all the education departments and colleges. And then as I say, you need to make that endure by the statutory reform that will make sure that the education department will never have that leverage.”
In another example, Trump signed an executive order saying it is the official policy of the U.S. government that there are only two sexes and that DEI policies are done.
Jennifer Sey, CEO and founder of the sports apparel brand, xx-xy Athletics, told The Center Square that while the executive order is important, there is more to be done.
“Here’s what people don’t understand,” Sey said. “I mean, I am so grateful that he did this. As a lifelong former Democrat, I was really grateful to be in the room. And I can’t believe we need an executive order to say there are two sexes, but here’s where we are.
“But executive orders have their limits,” she said. “First of all, it’s not legislation. So the next president can sign a different EO if we have a Democrat president reversing it. So we need national federal legislation and I think we need state by state legislation. Some states have already legislated the exact opposite. These states, some of them are saying, we’re not going to abide by the executive order.”
Sey also pointed out that the federal order is limited to federally funded schools.
“So K through 12 schools, universities, two times as many athletes compete outside of federally funded institutions,” Sey said. “I never competed in school. I competed for a private gymnastics club in the Olympic movement. Twice as many athletes compete there.”
This article was originally published at www.thecentersquare.com
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