A temporary regulatory freeze

Rahm Emanuel issued a memo this afternoon freezing all government regulation, according to a press release from the White House.

The memo tells agency heads not to submit any new regulations (proposed or final) until they can be reviewed by a Cabinet official appointed by President Obama. It also orders agencies to withdraw any regulations not yet published in the Federal Register.

And it advises them to delay implementing any final regulations that have not yet taken effect — an effort to delay the dozens of Bush-era “midnight regulations.”

This is not unprecedented: Former White House chief of staff Andrew Card issued a similar memo when President Bush took office in 2001.

More details tomorrow as we follow up on this.