Trump Agencies Lean Into Shortcuts for Public Comment Process

The Trump administration is repeatedly disregarding the notice-and-comment process normally required for creating or repealing regulations, raising alarms from those who say it’s sidestepping safeguards against arbitrary and ineffective government action.

The rules impacted so far involve policies ranging from creating a new immigration police force to the Agriculture Department dropping the consideration of race and sex for awarding loans, grants, and benefits.

In one case, President Donald Trump signed an executive order claiming no comment period was necessary to loosen water-flow limits on showerheads simply because he said so, based on his effort “to end the Obama-Biden war on ...