The US Senate voted [rolled] 52-48 to approve a resolution [text, PDF] Thursday that would repeal a Securities and Exchange Commission [official website] rule requiring oil, gas and mineral companies to disclose payments made to foreign governments. The rule, officially known as the Disclosure of Payments by Resource Extraction Issuers [text, PDF], was adopted in June as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act [text, PDF] and was designed to “promote greater transparency” in the resource extraction industry, according to the SEC [press release]. The rule was called a “huge victory” in the fight against corruption when it was first announced, according to a statement [text] released by the global poverty charity Oxfam [advocacy website]. Critics of the rule, including former Exxon CEO and newly-appointed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson [website], said the rule made it more difficult for companies in the US to compete with international businesses that are not required to disclose such payments. The resolution to overturn the rule, which easily passed in the House of Representatives in a 235-187 vote [text] on Wednesday, is expected to be signed into law by President Donald Trump.

The vote to overturn the rule appears to follow Trump’s campaign promise to instruct [press release] Congress and executive agencies to roll back regulations. On Monday the president issued an executive order [JURIST report] that requires two regulations to be eliminated for every new one created. The president stated that this would spur economic growth and the entrepreneurial spirit and we do not need “97 different rules to take care of one element.” A lawsuit [JURIST report] was filed against the EPA on Wednesday accusing the agency of illegally rescinding a rule that reduced the discharge of mercury from dental offices.