In a February 24, 2021 Executive Order, President Joseph R. Biden revoked a number of Executive Orders ("EOs") on financial regulation and regulatory relief issued by former President Trump. The revoked EOs included (i) EO 13979 ("Ensuring Democratic Accountability in Agency Rulemaking"), (ii) EO 13924 ("Regulatory Relief To Support Economic Recovery") and (iii) EO 13772 ("Core Principles for Regulating the United States Financial System").

President Trump's EO 13979 of January 18, 2021 provided, among other things, that any significant executive agency rulemaking should be initiated by a Presidential appointee, rather than by a lower-level member of the permanent agency staff. His EO 13924 of May 19, 2020 directed the heads of all agencies to go light on bringing enforcement actions where an entity had made a good faith effort to comply with regulations but had been unable to do so in light of the difficulties caused by the pandemic. His EO 13772 of February 3, 2017 set out principles of regulation that included, among others, (i) "rationalizing" the federal financial regulatory framework, (ii) appropriately tailoring regulation, (iii) advancing American interests in international financial regulatory markets and (iv) "foster[ing] . . . vibrant financial markets through more rigorous regulatory impact analysis that addresses systemic risk and market failures, such as moral hazard and information asymmetry."

President Biden also revoked:

  • EO 13967 of December 18, 2020 ("Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture");
  • Memorandum of September 21, 2020 ("Reviewing Funding to State and Local Government Recipients of Federal Funds That Are Permitting Anarchy, Violence, and Destruction in American Cities");
  • Memorandum of January 29, 2020 ("Delegation of Certain Authority Under the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute"); and
  • EO 13828 of April 10, 2018 ("Reducing Poverty in America by Promoting Opportunity and Economic Mobility").

Commentary Steven Lofchie

The revocation of the three existing Executive Orders further serves to: (i) remove a constraint on the authority of permanent agency staff; (ii) remove a constraint on the bringing of enforcement actions; and (iii) revoke an order that emphasized regulatory efficiency.

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