Sen. Rand Paul said Wednesday that he expects a flurry of repeals of Present Obama’s regulations by the next Congress and President-elect Donald Trump.
“You’re gong to find that we are going to repeal a half dozen or more regulations in the first week of Congress, and I’m excited about it because I think the regulations have been killing our jobs and making us less competitive with the world,” the Kentucky Republican said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program.
Mr. Trump, whose surprise win over Democrat Hillary Clinton sent shock waves across the Washington political establishment, pledged on the campaign trail to tackle over-regulation by the Obama administration.
The federal government has imposed more than 600 major regulations costing Americans roughly $740 billion since Mr. Obama took office in 2009.
Mr. Paul said he viewed many of the regulations under Mr. Obama to be unconstitutional because they were issued without Congress’ approval.
“I think they are unconstitutional because basically the executive is legislating and that was never the intention of the founding fathers,” he said.
Mr. Paul, who fiercely clashed with Mr. Trump during an unsuccessful run for the GOP presidential nomination, said he wasn’t worried about having a good working relationship with the next president.
“He was even nice to Hillary Clinton last night so I think he’ll be nice to me,” said Mr. Paul, referring to Mr. Trump’s gracious victory speech.
Mr. Paul won a resounding re-election victory Tuesday, capturing 57 percent of the vote in Kentucky to defeat Democrat Jim Gray.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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