The Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced the launch of an Anticompetitive Regulations Task Force to identify and work toward unwinding government regulations it determines to be stifling market competition.
The effort will be run by the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, which the department said can provide the “market expertise on regulations that pose the greatest barriers to economic growth.” The task force also intends to invite public comment and “surge resources” toward repealing state- and federal-level laws and regulations as deemed necessary.
The DOJ’s task force is in accordance with two executive orders signed by President Donald Trump on Jan. 31 and on Feb. 19, which respectively outlined a deregulatory policy for agencies and instructed them to begin a review of all existing regulations.
The task force will aim to address “regulatory capture,” a term referring to the imposition of regulations that freeze out smaller entities but are manageable for larger, more established market players.
“Realizing President Trump’s economic Golden Age will require unwinding burdensome regulations that stifle free market competition,” Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater, of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, who was confirmed on March 12, said in the March 27 announcement. “This Antitrust Division will stand against harmful barriers to competition whether imposed by public regulators or private monopolists.”
The task force’s initial effort will be a 60-day public inquiry to help identify “unnecessary laws and regulations … that make it more difficult for businesses to compete effectively, especially in markets that have the greatest impact on American households.”
The DOJ called out the healthcare industry as an example of such a market. Specifically, it wrote in the announcement that healthcare laws and regulations “too often discourage doctors and hospitals from providing low-cost, high-quality healthcare and instead encourage overbilling and consolidation. These kinds of unnecessary anticompetitive regulations put affordable healthcare out of reach for millions of American families.”
The DOJ also pointed to the housing, food and agriculture, transportation and energy industries as initial focus areas.
The task force’s work will tap attorneys, economists and other Antitrust Division staff as well as personnel from other agencies to spot its targets and “will then take appropriate action, including helping agencies revise or eliminate these regulations,” the DOJ said. The group will also look at other advocacy avenues, such as amicus brief and statement of interest filings in private litigation, or comments on proposed state legislation.
The DOJ and the task force’s goals are in line with the modus operandi signaled by the administration’s reshaped Federal Trade Commission, which also wields power over the healthcare industry’s business dealings in the name of preserving competition. New Chair Andrew Ferguson has often criticized the stricter regulatory burdens and restrictions of the Biden administration and his predecessor, former Chair Lina Khan, and prior to his appointment told President-elect Donald Trump the agency needs to stop “legally dubious” consumer protection cases and end efforts to become an “AI regulator,” for instance.
The president’s orders also outline a “10 to 1” deregulation policy, in which federal agencies will cut 10 rules, regulations or guidance documents for each new one it promulgates. Within healthcare, legal experts said that effort could mirror first-term efforts like the Patients Over Paperwork initiative, which sought to reduce documentation burdens, or involve slashing staffing mandates brought under the Biden administration.