SBA Launches Deregulation Strike Force to Combat Biden-Era Price Increases

The Trump administration is taking direct aim at the regulatory apparatus that contributed to the inflation crisis Americans have endured for the past four years. The Small Business Administration announced a new Deregulation Strike Force that will systematically review and eliminate federal regulations across multiple agencies that have driven up costs for families and small businesses.

Here are the facts. The Biden administration imposed an estimated $6 trillion in cumulative compliance costs on American families and small businesses through regulatory overreach. That is not a typo. Six trillion dollars. These costs do not simply disappear into the ether. They get passed directly to consumers in the form of higher prices for housing, food, healthcare, and virtually every other good and service in the economy.

SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler will oversee this initiative, which leverages the agency’s unique authority to coordinate deregulation efforts across the entire federal government. The strike force will focus on sectors hit hardest by what Loeffler accurately describes as “Bidenflation,” including housing and construction, healthcare, agriculture and food production, energy and utilities, and transportation.

The logic here is straightforward. When the government imposes burdensome regulations on businesses, those businesses face a choice: absorb the costs and go out of business, or pass the costs along to consumers. Most choose the latter, which means regulatory costs become a hidden tax on American families. This is basic economics, yet the previous administration seemed determined to ignore this reality.

Consider the housing sector. Excessive regulations on construction, zoning, and environmental compliance have made it prohibitively expensive to build new homes in many parts of the country. This reduces housing supply, which drives up prices. The same principle applies across the economy. Regulations on food production increase grocery bills. Regulations on energy production increase utility costs and transportation expenses.

The Biden administration’s regulatory agenda was not simply misguided. It was economically destructive. While administration officials claimed to care about working families, their policies made it harder for those families to afford basic necessities. The disconnect between rhetoric and reality was staggering.

The Trump administration’s approach represents a return to economic sanity. By identifying and eliminating regulations that provide minimal benefit while imposing substantial costs, the Deregulation Strike Force can help bring down prices without requiring direct government spending or intervention in markets. This is how you address inflation without creating new problems.

Critics will inevitably claim that deregulation threatens safety or environmental protection. This argument ignores the fact that many regulations provide marginal benefits at enormous costs. The goal is not to eliminate necessary safety standards, but to remove the excessive red tape that serves primarily to empower bureaucrats while burdening productive Americans.

The SBA’s Office of Advocacy will lead this government-wide review, examining regulations across all federal agencies to identify those that hinder economic growth. This comprehensive approach is necessary because regulatory burdens are not confined to a single agency or sector. They permeate the entire economy.

President Trump has made reducing costs for American families a central priority of his second term. The Deregulation Strike Force represents a concrete step toward achieving that goal. By attacking the root causes of high prices rather than simply treating symptoms, this initiative has the potential to provide lasting relief to consumers and small businesses alike.

The question now is whether the administration can move quickly enough to make a meaningful difference before the next election cycle. Bureaucratic inertia is real, and entrenched interests will resist efforts to reduce their authority. Success will require sustained focus and political will. The American people deserve nothing less.

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