| Year | Pres. | House | Senate | Democrats | Republicans |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 | R | R | R | ||
| 1904 | R | R | R | ||
| 1908 | R | R | R | ||
| 1912 | R | D | R | ||
| 1916 | D | D | D | ||
| 1920 | D | R | R | ||
| 1924 | R | R | R | ||
| 1928 | R | R | R | ||
| 1932 | R | R | R | ||
| 1936 | D | D | D | ||
| 1940 | D | D | D | We propose to recreate opportunity for the youth of America and put our idle millions back to work in private industry, business, and agriculture. We propose to eliminate needless administrative restrictions, thus restoring lost motion to the wheels of individual enterprise. |
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| 1944 | D | D | D | ||
| 1948 | D | R | R | ||
| 1952 | D | D | D | ||
| 1956 | R | D | D | ||
| 1960 | R | D | D | ||
| 1964 | D | D | D | ||
| 1968 | D | D | D | ||
| 1972 | R | D | D | ||
| 1976 | R | D | D | We are intensely aware of the need to protect our environment and provide safe working conditions in American industry, while at the same time preventing the loss of jobs and the closing of small businesses through unrealistic or over-rigorous government regulations. We support a balanced approach that considers the requirements of a growing economy and provides jobs for American workers. | |
| 1980 | D | D | D | Consistent with our basic health, safety, and environmental goals, we must continue to deregulate over-regulated industries and to remove other unnecessary regulatory burdens on state and local governments and on the private sector, particularly those which inhibit competition. | The Republican Party declares war on government overregulation. We pledge to cut down on federal paperwork, cut out excessive regulation, and cut back the bloated bureaucracy. |
| 1984 | R | D | R | Our 1980 Platform declared that “excessive regulation remains a major component of our nation’s spiraling inflation and continues to stifle private initiatives, individual freedom, and State and local government autonomy.” President Reagan’s regulatory reform program contributed significantly to economic recovery by removing bureaucratic roadblocks and encouraging efficiency. |
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| 1988 | R | D | D | We will resist the calls of Democrats to turn back or eliminate the benefits that reducing regulations has brought to Americans from every walk of life in transportation, finance, energy and many other areas. We want to reduce further the intrusion of government into the lives of our citizens. Consistent with the maintenance of a competitive market place, we are committed to breaking down unnecessary barriers to entry created by regulations, statutes, and judicial decisions, to free up capital for productive investment. Let Democrats trust the federal bureaucracy. Republicans trust the creative energy of workers and investors in a free market. | |
| 1992 | R | D | D | We support President Bush’s freeze on new regulations. We applaud his Competitiveness Council, under Vice President Quayle, for fighting the regulatory mania, saving the public $20 billion with its initial 90-day moratorium on new regulations and billions more under the current 120-day freeze. We call for a permanent moratorium until our regulatory reforms are fully in place. They include market-based regulation, cost-benefit analysis of all new rule-making, and a Regulatory Budget that will make Congress admit—and correct—the harm it does by legislation that destroys jobs and competitiveness. | |
| 1996 | D | R | R | We have worked hard over the last four years to rein in big government, slash burdensome regulations, eliminate wasteful programs, and shift problem-solving out of Washington and back to people and communities who understand their situations best. . . Beginning with Ulysses S. Grant, Presidents have tried to get the line-item veto and failed; President Clinton signed landmark legislation that will give him and his successors this powerful tool to cut pork-barrel spending from bills passed by Congress. | A Republican administration will require periodic review of existing regulations to ensure they are effective and do away with obsolete and conflicting rules. We will encourage civil servants to find ways to reduce regulatory burdens on the public and will require federal agencies to disclose the costs of new regulations on individuals and small businesses. A new regulatory budget will reveal the total cost of regulations on the American people. |
| 2000 | R | R | R | Under his leadership the federal workforce has been cut by 377,000, making it the smallest government since Dwight D. Eisenhower was president. This has been accomplished through cooperation and partnership. Sixteen thousand pages of regulations were scrapped. | Effective government requires regulation for health, safety, and other concerns. By the same token, regulation requires regular review — for efficiency, economy, and plain common sense. That Republican model of regulatory reform is a good fit for an Information Age economy. . . Require agencies to disclose the cost to consumers and small businesses of any proposed regulations. . . Let the American people know the full price they pay for government regulations, through a new regulatory budget that explains the likely cost for meeting regulatory requirements. |
| 2004 | R | R | R | ||
| 2008 | R | D | D | To aid in the fulfillment of those duties, we propose a National Sunset Commission to review all federal programs and recommend which of them should be terminated due to redundancy, waste, or intrusion into the American family. | |
| 2012 | D | R | D | But there’s no question that some regulations are outdated, unnecessary, or too costly. That’s why President Obama asked all federal agencies to review and streamline outdated regulations, an effort that will save at least $10 billion over five years, and will eliminate tens of millions of hours in annual paperwork burdens. That’s why he has approved fewer regulations in the first three years of his presidency than his Republican predecessor did in his. | Regulations must be drafted and implemented to balance legitimate public safety or consumer protection goals and job creation. Constructive regulation should be a helpful guide, not a punitive threat. . . We support a sunset requirement to force reconsideration of out-ofdate regulations, and we endorse pending legislation to require congressional approval for all new major and costly regulations. |
| 2016 | D | R | R | We call on Congress to begin reclaiming its constitutional powers from the bureaucratic state by requiring that major new federal regulations be approved by Congress before they can take effect, such as through the Regulation Freedom Amendment. We further affirm that courts should interpret laws as written by Congress rather than allowing executive agencies to rewrite those laws to suit administration priorities. . . Over-regulation is the quiet tyranny of the “Nanny State.” It hamstrings American businesses and hobbles economic growth. The Great Recession may be over, but in the experience of most Americans, the economy is still sick. The federal regulatory burden has been a major contributor to that stagnation. . . We are determined to make regulations minimally intrusive, confined to their legal mandate, and respectful toward the creation of new and small businesses. We will revisit existing laws that delegate too much authority to regulatory agencies and review all current regulations for possible reform or repeal. | |
| 2020 | R | D | R | ||
| 2024 | D | R | D | Republicans will reinstate President Trump’s Deregulation Policies, which saved Americans $11,000 per household, and end Democrats’ regulatory onslaught that disproportionately harms low- and middle-income households. . . Republicans will slash Regulations that stifle Jobs, Freedom, Innovation and make everything more expensive. We will implement Transparency and Common Sense in rulemaking. |