Trump administration's proposed legislative agenda and regulatory approach

Administration and agenda Looking ahead to the Trump administration and a Republican-controlled Congress, the focus will be on Trump’s top priorities: infrastructure, tax reform, dismantling the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and immigration reform. President-elect Trump highlighted his commitment to infrastructure investment during his victory speech early November 9. “Weare going to fix our inner cities and rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals,” he said. “We’re going to rebuild our infrastructure, which will become, by the way, second to none. And we will put millions of our people to work as we rebuild it.” Trump would fund infrastructure investment through public-private partnerships and private investments through tax incentivesrather than tax reform, though he has called for early action on that issue as well. On October 22, Trump outlined a voter contract for hisfirst 100 days plan that calls for enactment of: » The Middle Class Tax Relief And Simplification Act (comprehensive tax reform); » The End the Offshoring Act, to establish tariffsto discourage companies from laying off their workers in order to relocatein other countries and ship their products back to the U.S. tax-free; » TheAmerican Energy & Infrastructure Act, to leverage public-private partnerships and private investments through tax incentivesto raise $1 trillionin infrastructure investment over 10 years; » The School Choice And Education Opportunity Act, to expand primary education options and make college more affordable; » The Repeal and Replace Obamacare Act, to repeal the ACA and replace it with Health Savings Accounts; » The Affordable Childcare and Eldercare Act, to allow Americansto deduct childcare and elder care; » The End Illegal Immigration Act, to fund the construction of a wall on the Mexican border; » The Restoring Community Safety Act, to reduce crime; » The Restoring National Security Act, to rebuild the military by eliminating the defense sequester and expanding military investment; and » The Clean up Corruption in Washington Act, to enact “new ethics reforms to Drain the Swamp and reduce the corrupting influence of special interests on our politics.” As part of the voter contract announced in October, Trump has also pledged to act on his first day in office to “cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama.” Trump advisor Anthony Scaramucci said in October that the new administration would repeal the rulemaking on conflicts of interest in the delivery of investment advice to IRA and 401(k) plan investors. Regulationsthat have been finalized cannot be unilaterally vacated by executive order without intervening regulatory or legislative action. In order to make changes to final regulations without legislative action, agencies are typically required to follow the administrative procedural process which requires a notice and comment process prior to modifying regulations. If an Administration wishes to repeal or revise a final regulation through the administrative process, the agency may be required to demonstrate that its actions are not “arbitrary and capricious,” and based on morethana change in political views. It is possible that a new Administration could dispense with the notice and comment process by moving to issue an interim final rule, replacing the previousregulation. In this situation, the agency could be called on demonstrate that it acted with “good cause” to circumvent the typical notice and comment requirements. A new Administration could also use its executive power to affect the level of legal defense of challengesto existing regulations provided by the Administration or temporarily refuse to exercise its enforcement responsibilities until compelled through legal action or public pressure. Trump also intends to immediately begin the process of filling the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Antonin Scalia in early 2016 —one that could spark fireworkson Capitol Hilland acrossthe country’s highly charged political environment. How Republicans, Democrats, and Trump navigate through the process of nominating and confirming a Justice to the Supreme Court is likely to set the tone in the Senate for the next two years. Trump also intends to act on trade issueson his first day in office, including: » announcing his intention to renegotiate or withdraw from NAFTA; » announcing withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership; and EY ° | Election 2016 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_022380