US President Donald Trump signed legislation [HJR 41, PDF] on Tuesday that repeals a regulation requiring energy companies to disclose their payments to foreign governments. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rule [text, PDF], enacted under the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law, mandated that US energy companies disclose royalties or other payments made to governments to combat corruption involved in resource-rich countries. Trump stated [press release] that this repeal will be instrumental in economic and job recovery. Supporters of the legislation claim the SEC rule imposed unnecessary costs to US energy companies, leaving them at a huge disadvantage with competing foreign companies. According to Sen. Sherrod Brown [official profile], an opponent of the legislation, the regulation created transparency [press release] that protected US citizens and investors. Press Secretary Sean Spicer [official profile] said [press briefing] HJR 41 is a step towards fixing the broken regulatory system, thus improving American productivity.

Since Trump’s inauguration, his administration has been working to repeal numerous Obama administration rules. Earlier this month a resolution was passed to repeal [JURIST report] a rule that required coal miners to clean up the waste from mountaintop removal mining and prevent waste from passing into local waterways. Also this month Trump issued [JURIST report] an executive order and a presidential memorandum [texts] with orders aimed at an incremental dismantling of the Obama administration’s financial regulations. In late January Trump signed presidential memoranda [JURIST report] to progress construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipeline [memoranda]. Also in January Trump reinstated a policy [JURIST report] that prevents foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from receiving US funding if they provide abortions or promote policies that may lead to abortions.