Trump signs executive order on regulations

President Donald Trump has signed an executive action aimed at “cutting regulations massively for small business.”

The president was surrounded by small business leaders as he signed the order in the Oval Office Monday morning.

Officials say the president is ordering that there be a zero dollar budget for new regulations through the rest of fiscal year 2017. The White House and agencies will work on a budget for regulations in upcoming years.

There are some exceptions in the executive action for emergencies and national security.

Earlier, White House officials called the directive a “one in, two out” plan. It requires government agencies requesting a new regulation to identify two regulations they will cut from their own departments.

The officials insisted on anonymity in order to detail the directive ahead of Monday’s formal announcement.

Trump says it will be the “biggest such act that our country has ever seen.”

Earlier he said “this is not a knock on President Obama” specifically, but on those before him, who Trump said did not do all that can be done for small businesses to prosper.

Trump said that a big segment of the American workforce is employed by small businesses, adding, “We want to make life easier for these small business owners.”