Federal administrative agencies in the third quarter of the first year of the second Trump administration have issued less proposed and final rules than in the third quarter of the first year under the Biden administration. President Donald Trump (R) issued more presidential documents in Q3 2025 than former President Joe Biden (D) did in Q3 of 2021.
Significant rules are defined by E.O. 12866 as potentially creating large impacts on the economy, environment, public health, or state or local governments. The Biden administration issued 66 significant final rules in Q3 2021, and the second Trump administration issued 28 in Q3 2025. Several of the second Trump administration’s significant final rules are part of Trump’s deregulatory initiative. These included:
- An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposal to amend how it conducts risk evaluations on existing chemical substances, including decreasing manufacturers’ information collection obligations.
- A final U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rule that ended the practice of providing increased benefits for those deemed socially disadvantaged.
Though proposed and final agency rules, notices, and overall page count is lower under the second Trump administration for Q3 than in Q3 2021 under the Biden administration, Trump has issued more presidential documents so far this year (413) than Biden did in 2021 (364).
The charts below compare the growth of the Federal Register’s final rule count during Q1, Q2, and Q3 of the first year of the Biden administration to that of the first year of the second Trump administration.
Q3 2025 by the numbers:
The Federal Register is a daily journal of federal government activity that includes presidential documents, proposed and final rules, and public notices. It is a common measure of an administration’s regulatory activity, accounting for both regulatory and deregulatory actions.
From July 1 – Sept. 20, the Federal Register grew by 19,256 pages for a year-to-date total of 47,228 pages.
The Federal Register hit an all-time high of 95,894 pages in 2016.
This quarter’s Federal Register featured the following 6,838 documents:
- 5,467 notices
- 92 presidential documents
- 496 proposed rules
- 783 final rules
Agencies proposed 28 significant rules and issued 25 significant final rules this quarter. The Trump administration in 2025 has issued 43 significant proposed rules, 65 significant final rules, and seven significant notices as of Sept. 30.
Dig deeper:
Ballotpedia maintains page counts and other information about the Federal Register as part of its neutral, nonpartisan encyclopedic coverage that defines and analyzes the administrative state, including its philosophical origins, legal and judicial precedents, and scholarly examinations of its consequences. The coverage area also monitors and reports on measures of federal government activity.