Trump wants to cut regs by 75 percent

President Trump reiterated his campaign promise Monday to try and cut 75 percent of regulations.

“We’re going to be cutting regulation massively,” Trump said during a White House meeting with business leaders. “We think we can cut regulations by 75 percent, maybe more.”

This isn’t the first time the president put a figure on the number of regulations his administration intends to repeal. In October, Trump said he planned to cut “70 to 80 percent of the regulations.”

Trump on Monday said regulations are “out of control.”

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At the time Trump was sworn in on Friday, the Federal Register contained 89,535 regulations published since 1994 — many of which Republicans say are outdated and duplicative.

Critics say regulations have been piling up since the government’s rulebook was first launched in 1935. But regulatory advocates are warning of “disastrous consequences” if Trump cuts so many rules.

“There is no way for President Donald Trump to slash regulations by 75 percent without cutting into bedrock public protections that hold Wall Street accountable, keep our water and children safe from lead poisoning, and contain food contamination outbreaks,” said Amit Narang, regulatory policy advocate at the left-leaning Public Citizen.

Doing so would “permit corporations to rip off consumers, poison our environment, [and] cheat and mistreat workers,” he added.

Trump has offered few specifics about how his administration intends to cut so many regulations. While Republican lawmakers can repeal a small number of recently published rules through the Congressional Review Act, they have less authority over rules that have been on the books for years.

House Republicans have expressed interest in passing the Searching for and Cutting Regulations that are Unnecessarily Burdensome (SCRUB) Act. This would establish a commission to repeal old rules.

But the SCRUB Act has little chance of passing the Senate, as Democrats could filibuster the bill.

The Trump administration would likely need to write new rules that repeal the outdated regulations.

This story was last updated at 6:16 p.m.