Joe Biden built up the Deep State before he left. Now the war is on.
Because White House officials have warned Trump of landmines left for him by Joe Biden.
Trump Allies Warn Him Of Long-Term Battle To Axe Biden-era Policies
In the wake of President Donald Trump’s first executive orders, the focus has swiftly turned to dismantling the regulatory framework established by the Biden administration. While Trump’s early directives have set the stage for a strong pushback against the so-called “whole-of-government” approach championed by Biden, unwinding the extensive network of regulations and policies tied to climate change, racial equity, and social issues will be a time-consuming and complex endeavor.
Biden’s legacy of regulatory action, which extends across a range of sectors from health care to environmental policies, is not easily reversible. Repealing these regulations will require a combination of legal challenges, congressional interventions, and a lengthy process of rewriting or rescinding specific rules through formal procedures.
As Sarah Parshall Perry, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, shared with reporters, “Final agency rules cannot simply be undone by the president (by Executive Order, for example), but they often indicate that a change-of-rule is coming.” Perry pointed to Trump’s executive order on gender identity, which directed agency heads to review and, if necessary, rewrite rules that conflict with the understanding of ‘s*x’ as male and female under federal law. This rule review process is already underway, signaling a shift in how agencies will approach issues like gender identity in future policies.
Some of the Biden administration’s most contentious regulations are already in the crosshairs. For instance, the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) foster care rule — which mandates that children must be placed in homes that affirm their beliefs about gender — has become a focal point for reversal. Similarly, the redefinition of “s*x” in Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which includes gender identity, is likely to face legal challenges and potential rollback efforts.
Moreover, the administration issued regulations that aim to increase electric vehicle production by automakers and require corporations to disclose risks associated with climate change. These rules could face significant pushback, particularly from Republican lawmakers and business groups, who argue that such regulations could stifle economic growth and impose undue burdens on industries.
One of the primary tools available to Congress in the effort to reverse these regulations is the Congressional Review Act (CRA). This law allows lawmakers to overturn regulations within 60 days of their finalization. Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune highlighted this strategy in a January 15 Axios interview, noting that Republicans might attempt to use the CRA to undo a “fairly lengthy list” of Biden-era regulations.
An early example of this approach was seen when Texas Sen. Ted Cruz led a group of Republican senators in introducing a CRA resolution aimed at reversing a Federal Communications Commission order. This order would have subsidized off-campus Wi-Fi hotspots for schoolchildren. The CRA could be used in other instances to overturn regulations from the final days of the Biden administration, as lawmakers seek to rein in what they view as overreach.
Legal Challenges and Rulemaking Revisions
For older regulations, legal challenges in court may also play a pivotal role in unwinding the Biden administration’s legacy. In some instances, rules that were implemented could face challenges based on constitutional grounds, or their practical impacts might be contested. Additionally, some regulations could be revised or repealed through the same notice-and-comment rulemaking procedures used for the introduction of new regulations.
Beyond the legislative and legal processes, President Trump’s first term also set a precedent for slowing down the implementation of new regulations. On his first day in office, Trump established a Department of Government Efficiency and froze federal rulemaking until new proposals could be reviewed and approved by Trump-appointed officials. His administration also implemented a 60-day delay for published rules to take effect, ensuring that rules were thoroughly vetted for their legal, factual, and policy implications.
In line with his administrative agenda, Trump directed a freeze on federal grant spending, focusing on reviewing expenditures related to foreign aid, non-governmental organizations, and policies associated with the Green New Deal and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. A memo issued by Matthew Vaeth, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, criticized what it called the “use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies,” framing these actions as wastes of taxpayer dollars that do not directly improve the lives of Americans.
Trump’s Executive Orders and Their Impact on Gender Ideology
Trump’s executive order on gender ideology, in particular, has created a framework for revising rules that reflect a broader shift in the federal government’s stance on issues like gender identity. One of the key changes involves rescinding specific guidance documents issued under the Biden administration, such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Harassment Guidance, which defined s*x-based discrimination as including so-called “gender identity.”
Clyde Wayne Crews, a regulatory expert at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, noted that such guidance documents — often referred to as “regulatory dark matter” because they operate outside the formal rule-making process — can be easily overturned by the current administration. “Despite Trump’s flurry of orders, we still await Trump reissuing his requirement for guidance document portals and public protections, as well as his one-in, ten-out promise,” Crews added, referring to Trump’s pledge to eliminate two existing regulations for every new rule introduced.
Faced with mounting opposition and concerns over the unpopularity of some of his administration’s regulatory actions, President Biden moved to withdraw several controversial proposed rules toward the end of his term. Notable among these were rules that would have rescinded free speech protections for religious student groups and promoted DEI initiatives in federal apprenticeship programs. Biden also withdrew a proposed Title IX rule regarding gender identity in athletics, citing ongoing court cases. On January 9, a federal judge blocked the implementation of the administration’s redefinition of Title IX to include gender identity.
While much of the focus has been on unwinding specific Biden-era regulations, regulatory experts like Crews argue that a broader solution is necessary to address the root cause of overregulation: Congress’s ongoing delegation of legislative power to federal agencies. During Trump’s term, the federal government saw historically low levels of new regulations, while the Biden administration’s policies have led to what Crews described as the “largest Federal Register in history.”
“To restore order, meaningfully reduce government scope, and eliminate what Trump called ‘harmful executive orders and actions,’ the 119th Congress and the president must confront not solely Biden’s regulatory legacy, but also Congress’s spending-fueled complicity in overreach,” Crews concluded, calling for comprehensive legislative reforms to rein in the growing power of federal agencies.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
