Excerpt from report introduction:

Federal regulations impose enormous costs on America’s businesses and working families. These costs burden virtually every sector of our economy, although the manufacturing sector is disproportionately hard hit. The direct costs on manufacturing companies were estimated by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) to be $138.6 billion as of 2014, though this estimate does not include indirect negative effects on the U.S. economy such as reduced innovation and global competitiveness, lost investment, and significant job losses. Small businesses are also disproportionately burdened by excessive federal regulation.

As a nation, we can and must do better. That is why, on January 24, 2017, President Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum on Streamlining Permitting and Reducing Regulatory Burdens for Domestic Manufacturing. The Memorandum, which is one part of an Administration-wide regulatory reform agenda, required the Secretary of Commerce, in coordination with other executive departments and agencies, to conduct outreach to stakeholders on the impact of federal regulations and permitting requirements on domestic manufacturing and to submit a report to the President setting forth a plan to streamline federal permitting processes and to reduce the regulatory burdens affecting domestic manufacturing.

For this report, the Department of Commerce sought input from stakeholders through a Request for Information (RFI) published in the Federal Register. The RFI asked industry stakeholders to identify the most burdensome regulations and permitting requirements they face and requested feedback on how regulatory compliance and permitting could be simplified. This report reflects extensive, thoughtful comments received from U.S. manufacturers as well as upstream and downstream industries closely linked to the manufacturing sector. It aggregates and summarizes many of the most important recommendations raised by industry and presents the Department’s recommendations for streamlining the federal permitting processes and reducing the regulatory burdens that affect domestic manufacturing.