Trump’s White House regulations website is down

On President Trump’s first week on the job, a number of Obama-era policies have already been removed from the White House website, from initiatives on climate change to civil rights and LGBT protections.

Add one more to the list: Regulations.

The White House regulations website was down Monday, and a number of reports on the costs and benefits of regulations from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) had disappeared.  

“Sorry, the page you’re looking for can’t be found,” the OMB website says.

Those OMB reports on the costs and benefits of regulations can still be found on another government website that archives Obama-era documents. But they are not available on the primary White House website, where they are usually stored.

It’s unclear whether the Trump administration intends to republish the regulations reports in the near future.

The OMB did not respond to a request for comment.

The missing reports concerned public interest advocates. Not only have the official government figures on the benefits of regulations been removed from the White House website, but Amit Narang, regulatory policy advocate at the left-leaning Public Citizen, pointed out that Trump suggests that regulations cost the economy $2 trillion, which Narang said over-inflates their expense.

“We are concerned, because we see President Trump claiming false facts when it comes to the cost of regulations and completely ignoring the benefits of regulations,” Narang said.

“It’s weird to put a campaign talking point up on the White House website, which conflicts with the official figures from the federal government,” he added.

The concerns seem to be bipartisan.

On the other side of the aisle, Wayne Crews, vice president of policy at the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute, took to Twitter to call for the Trump administration to “Bring ‘em back.”

Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), Trump’s pick for OMB director, will face confirmation hearings tomorrow before two Senate committees.