POTUS Signs Executive Orders on Federal Spending, Regulatory Guidance

Last week the President signed three executive orders which ANCOR will be diving more into in coming weeks because of their potential effect on how federal agencies spend their funding and issue guidance on regulatory matters. These executive orders, reported upon by Politico Pro and The Wall Street Journal, will take affect across all agencies, including those that oversee disability programs and supports.

Specifically, Politico Pro wrote that one of the executive orders is “aimed at keeping federal spending by agencies in check, even as [the Trump] administration has driven the deficit upward to nearly $1 trillion.

The order effectively imposes ‘PAYGO’ requirements on agencies, enforcing a 2005 memo issued by the Office of Management and Budget. Agencies would have to propose offsets for any actions that result in mandatory spending increases and those proposals must be submitted to the OMB for review.

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 Congress has regularly waived similar rules for the last three decades. House Democrats passed a rules package earlier this year, H. Res. 6 (116), that requires any tax cuts and increases in entitlements or other mandatory spending be offset in order to come to the House floor for a vote.

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Trump also signed two executive orders on Wednesday concerning guidance issued by federal agencies, or documents detailing how to comply with certain laws or regulations.

While the orders aren’t aimed at curbing the use of guidance, they direct agencies to make all guidance publicly available and conduct educational outreach to industry when policy changes are made. In addition, ‘significant’ guidance documents will go through a public comment process, something at least some agencies already do for some documents.”