President Donald Trump on Friday signed another executive order as part of what he calls a broad push to curb regulations and help businesses.
The measure directs federal agencies to create "regulatory reform" task forces which will evaluate federal rules and recommend whether to keep, repeal or change them. Trump's administration wants the officials to reduce what it deems expensive or unnecessary rules.
Surrounded by business executives in the White House before he signed the order, Trump claimed "excessive regulation is killing jobs" and "driving companies out of our country like never before." He said the measure is "one of the many ways that we're going to get real results" in scaling back regulations.
Pledges to roll back regulations and slash taxes for individuals and corporations have helped to drive investor and business executive optimism. Trump also claims his policies will drive job growth, particularly in the Rust Belt regions that sealed his electoral win. He already signed one measure expanding regulatory review, with the goal of revoking two regulations for every new one put forward.
The executives who stood with Trump in the White House advise him on policy and met with him Thursday.
Earlier Friday, Trump pledged to chop 75 percent of regulations.
"We're going to put the regulation industry out of work and out of business. And by the way, I want regulation. I want to protect our environment. I want regulations for safety," Trump told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland. "I want all of the regulations that we need and I want them to be so strong and so tough. But we don't need 75 percent of the repetitive, horrible regulations that hurt companies, hurt jobs."
Last month, Trump told a group of business executives that he wanted to cut regulations by 75 percent or "maybe more." He did not explain how he came to that number.
Though Trump claims he will still protect the environment while slashing regulations, environmental groups and Democrats have slammed his actions so far.
Trump already has signaled that the federal government will reduce its role in the oil and gas industry by clearing the way for the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. He also signed into law a measure nullifying the Obama administration's Stream Protection Rule, which was aimed to stop coal companies from putting waste near waterways