Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Rachel Chiu
“On April 9th, President Trump signed ‘Maintaining Acceptable Water Pressure in Showerheads,’ an executive order (EO) that directed the Secretary of Energy to repeal a 13,000-word regulation limiting, by definition, the amount of water that could flow through household nozzles. … A crucial sentence was tucked away in the middle of the EO: ‘Notice and comment is unnecessary because I am ordering the repeal.’ Procedurally, rules are rescinded and replaced by new rules, which undergo a statutorily mandated process called notice and comment. Under the Administrative Procedure Act, an agency must give public notice of a proposed rule and allow interested parties to comment before the final rule is issued. President Trump’s EO discounted these requirements, proclaiming instead that the agency could bypass the process because he declared it so. For administrative law experts, this sentence has caused some pause.” (05/15/25)