All Knowledge & Insights By Date

On May 22, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the release of a new federal report, Making Our Children Healthy Again (MAHA Assessment) issued by the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission. The MAHA Commission was established by Executive Order (EO) 14212 to: (a) study the scope of the childhood chronic disease crisis and any potential contributing causes, including the American diet, absorption of toxic material, medical treatments, lifestyle,...

President Donald Trump’s initial 100 days in office during his second term have marked a significant shift in the United States’ approach to chemical regulation, emphasizing deregulation and industry facilitation over more traditional environmental and public health safeguards. President Trump’s actions, inactions, and policy choices during his first 100 days seem to have come at a cost, as polls show his approval rating has decreased to 39 percent, an 80-year low for a...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has long navigated the complex intersection of science, law, policy, and public trust. Under the Trump Administration, EPA faces renewed scrutiny. The Administration seeks regulatory rollbacks and is pursuing a broader deregulatory strategy that many believe risks sacrificing hard won environmental protections in the name of economic growth. While early promises to reduce bureaucratic red tape struck a chord with a number in industry, implementation...

Among the less-noticed, less-reported implications of “firing” federal employees for whatever reason (or no reason) is the process under current law and regulations that applies to reducing or eliminating programs and positions within the U.S. government. Known as a reduction in force (RIF), these procedures are arcane, complicated, and could have many unintended impacts even if imposed to attain targeted reductions in specific parts or programs of the federal workforce. The Executive Order...

President Trump, on January 31, 2025, issued Executive Order 14192, “Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation.” This has been referred to as President Trump’s “ten-to-one deregulation initiative” that he spoke about when he was campaigning. If this initiative seems familiar, it may be because you remember Executive Order 13771, “Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs,” issued on February 3, 2017, by President Trump in his first term. That Executive Order called for...

The U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Advocacy (Advocacy) has announced that it will be hosting regional small business roundtables “to hear firsthand from small businesses facing regulatory burdens [on] … which federal agency regulations should be considered for reform or elimination,” and “which regulations are problematic for your business,” as a result of the recent Executive Orders 13771 and 13777 on regulatory reform. The first two roundtables in this series...

President Trump’s February 28, 2017, Executive Order (E.O.) directing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to rescind and replace the Clean Water Rule (CWR) is the latest development in the attempt to resolve the long-standing question of which surface waters and wetlands may be federally regulated and subjected to permitting under the Clean Water Act (CWA).  Critics of the CWR assert that it would have drastically expanded...

On March 1, 2017, President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) 13777, Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda, issued on February 24, 2017, was published in the Federal Register. 82 Fed. Reg. 12285.  This EO follows closely on the heels of his previous EO concerning government regulations (EO 13771), but is different in that it is intended to further and enforce President Trump’s EO as well as EO’s issued in prior administrations, instead of creating an entirely new set...

On February 2, 2017, Dominic J. Mancini, Acting Administrator of the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) issued interim guidance in a questions and answers format (Q&A) to implement President Trumps’s recent Executive Order (EO) regarding the costs of agency rulemaking, Memorandum:  Interim Guidance Implementing Section 2 of the Executive Order of January 30, 2017, Titled “Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory...

On February 2, 2017, Dominic J. Mancini, Acting Administrator of the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) issued interim guidance in a questions and answers format (Q&A) to implement President Trumps’s recent Executive Order (EO) regarding the costs of agency rulemaking, Memorandum:  Interim Guidance Implementing Section 2 of the Executive Order of January 30, 2017, Titled “Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory...