This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
In news that recommends voters recall President Donald Trump's goal of draining the Washington "Swamp," those unelected but entrenched bureaucrats who make many decisions that cost Americans a great deal, a new report reveals that the "swamp" tax imposed by the Biden-Harris administration is "more than families spend on food, clothing, and education."
A Forbes report said the richest families in America spend some $15,000 a year on groceries – and the Washington Examiner said that's exactly what the "swamp" tax from Joe Biden and Democrat presidential nominee hopeful Kamala Harris costs families.
"As bad as those costs seem, they are likely much higher because the administration changed transparency rules after coming into office, hiding the impact of some regulations, according to the Competitive Enterprise Institute's annual report on the federal regulatory state, Ten Thousand Commandments," the report said.
Those regulations are costing the nation $2.1 trillion a year.
"Biden's pursuit of various whole-of-government initiatives and transformation of OMB into a cheerleader for, rather than a watchdog over, regulation, I think he can greatly contribute to household costs far worse than what we imagine," explained Clyde Wayne Crews, the author of the report.
The Examiner noted his report is "eagerly anticipated" by those who want to cut government rules and red tape – because "it gives an accurate picture of the costs of federal rules and shows how federal bureaucrats have taken over the job of Congress, which is supposed to write regulations."
The CEI said the annual cost of federal regulations and intervention is estimated to be $417 billion on environmental questions, $522 billion on economic rules, $316 billion on tax compliance, $214 billion on health issues, and more.
Stunningly, the report reveals that agencies imposed 3,018 final rules over this year, even though Congress adopted only 68 regulatory laws.
And it identified 97 "economically significant" rules imposed over just the last six months that each cost the nation $100 billion or more, the report said.
And the agenda has been by executive fiat as Biden and Harris "have sidestepped the political division in Congress to get their liberal programs through with executive orders and regulations," the report warned.
Crews continued, "Regulatory compliance costs and mandates borne by businesses result in higher prices, lost jobs, and lower output. Regulations undermine the economic success of American businesses and households and drag down the economy. Congress should intervene and fix this problem."
Trump had set a goal to kill two regulations for every new rule adopted, but the liberal bureaucratic establishment in government worked to block that.
The Examiner noted it's the first such report since the Supreme Court demolished the "Chevron precedent" which called for courts to submit to federal rules decisions by agencies.
Crews noted, "Prior editions of Ten Thousand Commandments have detailed Trump's streamlining effort (2021) and Biden's reversals (2022, 2023) and framed the latter's pursuit of ambitious whole-of-government spending and regulatory initiatives spanning climate, equity, economic, and social matters, as well as an appetite for censorship and surveillance. This 2024 edition sets a new high-water mark of $2.1 trillion. All previous estimates had the annual total cost of federal regulations below $2 trillion. Previous editions also explained why that figure was almost certainly an undercount."
