Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation
The order requires every federal agency to identify at least 10 existing regulations for repeal before it may propose or finalize any new one, caps net regulatory costs for FY2025 at 'significantly less than zero,' and immediately revokes a 2023 OMB regulatory-analysis framework in favor of its 2003 predecessor.
It establishes a permanent regulatory budgeting system under the OMB Director, who gains authority to set binding annual cost allowances for each agency and to approve or block individual regulations before they can be published.
What this order does
What it orders
The order directs every executive agency to identify at least 10 existing regulations for elimination for each new regulation it proposes or finalizes. For FY2025, the total net cost of all regulations finalized must be "significantly less than zero" as determined by the OMB Director. Starting with the FY2026 Regulatory Plans, agencies must submit aggregated regulatory cost data to OMB, and no regulation may be added to or removed from the Unified Regulatory Agenda without the Director's approval. The order also immediately revokes OMB Circular A-4 (November 2023) on regulatory analysis and reinstates the September 2003 version, and requires the Treasury Secretary and OMB Director to reinstate a 2018 memorandum governing review of tax regulations.
The OMB Director is charged with writing implementation guidance — covering cost measurement standards, what counts as a "rule," waiver processes for emergencies, and per-agency cost allowances for each fiscal year after FY2025. Exempted from the ten-for-one requirement are regulations related to military, national security, homeland security, foreign affairs, or immigration; internal agency management and personnel rules; and any category the Director designates as imposing minimal private-sector costs.
Who it affects
All executive departments and agencies that issue regulations are immediately bound by the ten-for-one requirement. Businesses, nonprofits, and individuals subject to federal regulatory requirements are the ultimate audience, since the order aims to shrink the overall stock of regulations they must comply with.
Why it matters
Agencies cannot finalize any new rule in FY2025 without simultaneously queuing up 10 older ones for repeal, changing the pace and mix of the entire federal regulatory pipeline. Businesses expecting new regulations — or advocates relying on pending rules — will see fewer new regulations and must track which existing ones agencies nominate for elimination.
What must happen and when
How the order is supposed to work
The OMB Director anchors implementation: issuing guidance on cost measurement and the ten-for-one process, setting binding annual regulatory cost allowances per agency during the Presidential budget cycle, and granting individual waivers for emergencies. No regulation may appear in the Unified Regulatory Agenda or be issued without Director approval. The immediate revocation of OMB Circular A-4 (2023) and reinstatement of the 2003 version changes how agencies calculate and justify regulatory costs right away. A severability clause preserves the rest of the order if any provision is struck down.
Actions and deadlines
- Ensure FY2025 total incremental net regulatory costs are significantly less than zero
- Director issues guidance to agencies on implementing the ten-for-one repeal rule and cost measurement standards
- Director revokes OMB Circular A-4 (2023) and reinstates the September 2003 version
- Secretary of the Treasury and Director reinstate 2018 Treasury-OMB Memorandum of Agreement on tax regulation review
- Agency heads submit aggregated regulatory cost and savings data with FY2026 Regulatory Plans to OMB
- Director sets annual per-agency incremental cost allowances for all fiscal years after FY2025