The recent release of the Trump Administration’s Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions was complete with fanfare not usually employed for the federal government’s regulatory blueprint. President Trump held an event trumpeting the administration’s achievements in its first 11 months. In a nod to his real estate development days, the president cut a ribbon in front of five giant stacks of paper symbolizing the current size of the Code of Federal Regulations.

Beyond the symbolism, the new Unified Agenda was notable for two reasons. One, which we covered previously, was the inclusion of a regulatory budget for the first time. The second is the collection of ambitious goals the administration seeks in terms of deregulatory activity.

Of the 579 actions listed in the Unified Agenda as deregulatory or regulatory, 448 are deregulatory, while 131 are regulatory. If this plan is executed as written, that would put the administration at a ratio of 3.4 deregulatory actions for every regulatory action –  well beyond the goal of two-for-one.

The chart below breaks down these actions by agency or department.

By sheer volume, the Department of Transportation leads the way in both deregulatory and regulatory actions with 83 and 51 actions, respectively. The Department of Health and Human Services is second in each category with 54 deregulatory and 23 regulatory actions.

Ten agencies expect to only issue deregulatory actions in FY 2018. Just one agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, will issue a regulatory action without any deregulatory actions. This implies that it will receive a waiver from the Office of Management and Budget, based on the criteria for covered regulatory actions explained in Executive Order 13,771 and its implementing memoranda.

Though the deregulatory actions planned in the Unified Agenda won’t eradicate the reams of unnecessarily and outdated regulations on the books, it will help to continue to re-focus regulators on improving the current regulatory environment before they pursue additional burdens. It will also continue to signal to employers that federal agencies in Washington will be looking to get out of the way rather than install new obstacles to growth.

A schedule of 40 notable deregulatory and regulatory actions is below. Deregulatory actions are listed in red, while regulatory actions are in black.