And it has set up barriers to enact any new regulations — such as a requirement
that for each new rule, at least two others must be identified for repeal — and ordered every federal agency to create a team of employees to look for more rules that can be eliminated.
It is the leading edge of what Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump’s chief strategist,
described late last month as “the deconstruction of the administrative state.”
Since the Trump administration began, more than 90 Obama-era federal regulations have been revoked or delayed
or enforcement has been suspended, in many cases based on requests from the industries the rules target.
New White House appointees at agencies including the Federal Communications Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency have also personally intervened in recent weeks to block, delay or start the process to nullify other rules, such as a requirement
that corporations publish tallies comparing chief executive pay with average employee wages.
The administration started its campaign against regulation on the afternoon of Inauguration Day, with a memo from Reince Priebus, Mr. Trump’s chief of staff, instructing agencies to halt work on new regulations
and to delay putting completed regulations into effect.
The Trump administration could face a host of similar challenges — the requirement
that agencies must find two regulations to eliminate before enacting any new rules is already being challenged in federal court.