Trump Administration Orders Regulatory Freeze

On January 20, in an unsurprising move, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus sent a memorandum to the heads of all federal departments and agencies instructing them to not send rules to the Federal Register for publication, withdraw any rule already sent to the Federal Register but not yet published, and delay the effective date by 60 days of any rule published that has not taken effect. Similar directives have been issued by prior Administrations to give incoming appointees time to review the actions and activities occurring in their respective departments and agencies. However, note that many rulemakings will be subject to this directive. It will take some time for departments and agencies to review, react and start posting in the Federal Register.