Lobbying group presses for relaxation of business regulations

The president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce lobbying group is calling for the incoming Trump administration to ease up on regulations he says have hurt American business growth over the past eight years.

“As the new administration and Congress prepare for the year ahead, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is gearing up to help them unwind many of the burdensome regulations imposed on businesses over the last eight years,” Thomas J. Donohue, the group's CEO and president, recently wrote in a blog post. “We are also ready to aggressively support measures that would reform and modernize the regulatory system itself.”

Donahue said regulations present a major threat to economic growth, specifically citing the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule as something that needs to be undone. He also called on Congress to pass the so-called "Midnight Rules Relief Act," which would prevent presidents from pushing through new regulations at the beginning of their terms.

“As many of the chamber’s member companies can attest, the biggest threat to free enterprise isn’t coming from Congress, the White House, or the courts,” Donahue said. “Rather, it’s coming from federal agencies, which wield their regulatory power to act as an unaccountable fourth branch of government. The power of these agencies has seen unbridled growth over the last eight years. With the new administration and Congress, we have an extraordinary opportunity to reverse that growth and modernize the entire regulatory system.”