Republicans Erased Record Number Of Biden Regulations In 2025. Here Are The Worst Ones.

Congressional Republicans closed out 2025 with a notable accomplishment: rolling back a record number of regulations passed under former President Joe Biden.

Republicans rolled back 22 regulations issued in the final months of Biden’s presidency that restricted fossil fuel production, phased out the sale of gasoline-powered cars and limited access to credit in the name of capping overdraft fees. The record number of resolutions of disapproval, used to block regulations, signed into law by President Donald Trump is the highest ever recorded in Congress since the enactment of the Congressional Review Act (CRA) in 1996. (RELATED: Trump admin to eliminate Biden-era water rule after years of contentious debate)

Republican lawmakers repealed 14 Obama regulations during Trump’s first term in 2017.

The CRA allows Congress to repeal recent administrative rules with a simple majority vote in both houses, accompanied by the president’s seal of approval.

“By reining in Biden’s authoritarian bureaucrats, we save Americans $180 billion,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso said in a Dec. 17 speech.This represents more than $2,000 in savings for each family.

1. Ban new gasoline cars

Congressional Republicans succeeded in overturning a Biden-era waiver in May allowing California and any state that adopts its strict standards to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035. The Republican-controlled Congress also repealed two California vehicle emissions rules requiring the sale of zero-emission heavy-duty trucks and effectively banning diesel engines.

Republicans – and some Democrats – have warned that California’s aggressive electric vehicle (EV) mandate will harm consumer choice and have a devastating effect on Americans employed in the auto industry.

“These job losses will not be limited to California, but they will be spread across the country,” West Virginia Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said in a speech on the Senate floor before the upper chamber voted to rescind the waiver.

Trump frequently called for the repeal of EV mandates during his 2024 presidential campaign.

Although efforts to repeal the rules faced several procedural hurdles, Senate Majority Leader John Thune kept his conference united before the window to overturn the waivers closed.

2. End coal leasing in America’s prime coal region

GOP lawmakers voted in October to repeal a Biden-era rule limiting future mining to millions of acres of land in the Powder River Basin — spanning Montana and Wyoming.

Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines argued that the Biden administration’s decision to end coal leasing in the resource-rich region after the 2024 election amounted to a “midnight rule” with little political support among affected states.

Daines, alongside fellow Montana Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy and Reps. Troy Downing and Ryan Zinke, has spearheaded efforts to end the authoritarian resource management plan.

“The American people have rejected the left’s radical climate hysteria, and removing this harmful rule will help protect our energy dominance and national security,” Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines told DCNF before the disapproval resolution passed in the Senate.

Biden has sought to restrict coal production and pledged to close coal plants “all across America” ​​in 2022. More than 40% of the nation’s coal production comes from the Powder River Basin, according to an analysis released by the Energy Information Administration in 2019.

The Republican-controlled Congress also reversed a Biden plan in November restricting coal leasing on public lands in Wyoming.

WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 24: Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) speaks during a press conference following the weekly Republican Senate Policy Luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on September 24, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

3. Block energy production in Alaska

In December, Trump signed into law two resolutions of disapproval rolling back Biden-era rules restricting energy production in Alaska. The Biden regulations, finalized after the 2024 election, blocked oil and gas leasing on 13 million acres in central Yukon in the name of conservation and limited future energy production in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

“When we unlock Alaska, we strengthen America’s national security and economic position in this generation and for generations to come,” Alaska Republican Rep. Nick Begich told DCNF in December. “These bills are not isolated. They are representative of a long-term strategy to rebuild our energy strength, replenish our inventory of critical minerals, and ensure that America – not China – controls the supply chains that power our economy.”

Alaska’s congressional delegation and many tribal communities in the Last Frontier State have argued that Biden-era regulations limiting energy production were economically devastating.

“The North Slope economy relies on oil and gas activity,” Begich also told the DCNF. “The building blocks of communities—schools, health care, roads, and running water—exist because of “the economic base that our early leaders ensured we had access to.”

4. Institute price controls on overdraft fees

Republicans voted in the spring of 2025 to reverse a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rule that limited most bank overdraft fees to $5, far less than the $35 average. The Biden administration approved controversial regulations capping the amount banks can charge customers for overdrafting their checking accounts in December 2024.

Republican lawmakers and the banking industry have warned that the overdraft fee rule would reduce the amount of credit banks can extend to low-income customers, who would be forced to turn to payday lenders that typically charge higher interest rates. Opponents of the rule also criticized the agency for overstepping its authority in regulating checking accounts.

“The Biden administration’s ill-conceived rule imposing new price controls on overdraft services provided by banks and credit unions has harmed the very consumers the CFPB is supposed to protect,” Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott said in May. “This rule would have reduced access to credit and important financial services and driven more Americans without a bank account.”

5. Increase costs of commercial devices

Trump approved two resolutions of disapproval in May, rolling back Biden regulations that imposed strict energy efficiency standards on walk-in coolers and freezers and a separate rule targeting commercial refrigerators and freezers.

Republicans argued that the Biden-era rules imposed a high financial burden on small businesses that would have to comply with the new standards and limited consumer choice.

“This regulation, estimated to cost $1 billion, would have been crippling for businesses across the country, especially in rural areas,” Oklahoma Republican Rep. Stephanie Bice, sponsor of one of the resolutions of disapproval, said in a statement in March.

Republicans also succeeded in overturning a Biden Energy Department rule banning certain gas water heaters by 2029.

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