President Barack Obama's administration is in line to issue regulations totaling $6 billion during the "midnight period" between Election Day but before the inauguration, according to the American Action Forum.
The Wall Street Journal's Amy Harder reported in November that the Obama administration was "readying" these regulations for the president's last weeks in office.
The $6 billion comes from five regulations, four from the Department of the Interior, and one from the Environmental Protection Agency. The AAF estimates the regulations will add 350,000 hours of additional paperwork.
"We worked closely with many stakeholders to craft a plan that protects water quality, supports economic opportunities, safeguards our environment and makes coalfield communities more resilient for a diversified economic future," Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said about one piece of regulation, the Stream Protection Rule, in a statement Monday.
"After nearly eight years, 39 major rules from EPA, and 50 major rules from Interior, the administration is placing the final touches on at least five more notable rules," Sam Batkins, the AAF's director of regulatory policy, writes in the report.
"Combined, the remaining pieces of the president's domestic policy agenda could impose $5 billion in costs and more than 350,000 paperwork burden hours. Given the pending legislation in Congress, members of the House and Senate will surely scrutinize these last regulatory actions during the administration's waning days."