Reviewing the Second Trump Administration’s First Year with RegStats
After reaching a historic peak in 2024, the total number of Federal Register pages fell sharply in 2025 in the first year of Trump’s second term.
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In Memoriam: Joseph Cordes
Joseph J. Cordes, GW Professor of Public Policy and Public Administration, Economics, and International Affairs, and Co-director of the GW Regulatory Studies Center, passed away on February 26, 2026. During his five-decade career at GW, Joe’s knowledge, curiosity, enthusiasm and generosity touched countless people, and we in the GW Regulatory Studies Center are lucky to be among them.
"The GW Regulatory Studies Center has done phenomenal work in cataloguing and analyzing reforms in regulatory policy...[it is] a national treasure."
Cass R. Sunstein
Robert Walmsley University Professor, Harvard
OIRA Administrator Under President Obama
Featured: The Congressional Review Act
What it does
The Congressional Review Act (CRA) establishes procedures for Congress to overturn final rules issued by federal agencies. After an agency's rule is reported to Congress, members of Congress have 60 days to introduce a joint resolution disapproving of the rule. When signed into law, these resolutions of disapproval (RDs) overturn the rule in question and bar agencies from issuing a "substantially similar" rule. The CRA offers two unique mechanisms: the Senate "fast-track" procedures and the "lookback" period. For an in-depth discussion of these mechanics and more, see our Regulatory Insight A Lookback at the Law: How Congress Uses the CRA.
CRA Use Trending Upward for Both Major and Non-major Rules, 1996-2022
CRA Window Exploratory Dashboard
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This dashboard allows users to explore the set of final rules published in the Federal Register in 2024, and how various lookback dates could affect the set of rules available for congressional review at the beginning of the next session of Congress. View Dashboard.
Commentary:
Will History Repeat Itself? Forecasting CRA Use in a Second Trump Administration. Steve Balla and Sarah Hay, May 3, 2024. What policy areas are most likely to be challenged if Trump wins a second term in the 2024 presidential election?
Our Latest Publications
Cumulative Economically Significant Final Rules by Administration
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Montgomery v Caribe Transport Oral Argument Preview
A preview of oral arguments in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport this week at the Supreme Court
Creating Clear Regulatory Pathways for Biotechnology
Summary of a discussion of regulatory experts convened with the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology
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Joint Statement (PDF)
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Senator James Lankford (R-OK)
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