Trump to tout rollbacks with agencies, but not EPA
President Trump is slated to speak Monday about his plans for “liberating America from bureaucracy.”
The White House is planning an hourslong event titled “Cut the Red Tape,” which will include a speech from Trump before about 300 invited guests, according to an email obtained by E&E News that was sent to industry and nonprofit stakeholders.
His speech “will celebrate the achievements to date in eliminating excessive regulations and set his vision for the future of regulatory reform, tasking all Executive Branch Departments to go further and faster,” the email says.
After the speech, 10 “selected agencies” will host listening sessions with representatives from industry, think tanks and state leaders, according to the email. Those agencies are the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Interior, Labor, Transportation, and Treasury and the Small Business Administration. The agencies will also offer updates on their planned actions to “eliminate excessive regulations,” as directed by Trump.
U.S. EPA — which has been at the center of much of the administration’s anti-regulatory rhetoric — will not be hosting a listening session.
EPA’s press office and a White House spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment about why EPA isn’t on the list.
The Trump administration is widely expected to release plans for its rollback of the Obama EPA’s Clean Power Plan next month, although sources say they don’t expect that announcement to be part of Monday’s event. The administration may be opting to keep details about EPA’s regulatory rollbacks out of the White House forum to get extra political mileage out of a Clean Power Plan-specific announcement later in the month.