Donald Trump's flurry of executive orders in his first hours to establish a new “Golden Age of America” will target a host of conservation regulations — including one that limits the flow of showerheads.
Trump plans to sign an executive order on “Unleashing American Energy” — and it will target regulations that conservatives have scrapped that limit water use in dishwashers and showers, White House officials said.
It's part of a series of 100 orders that Trump plans to try to suddenly change policy and usher in a new era and deregulation, even as he tries to kick-start plans for mass deportations and big-ticket items he's campaigning for conducted.
It's not a minor issue for Trump, who has repeatedly complained publicly about water pressure problems for years — including during a January press conference at Mar-a-Lago just days before he was set to take office.
'If you buy a tap, no water comes out. Even in areas with so much water, you don't know what to do. It's called rain. It comes down from heaven. And they don't want water to come out of the shower. It's going to drip, drip, drip… So what happens? You spend ten times as long in the shower.'
As Trump's team put it, the orders will put an end to efforts to “restrict” consumer choice in dishwashers, stoves and shower heads. Federal regulations set a maximum flow rate of 2.5 gallons per minute for showerheads.
Detailed government regulations have been published in the Federal Register describing terms such as “shower head,” “body spray” and “safety shower head.”
Trump's administration introduced them in December 2020, just weeks before he left office, after complaining months earlier about his need for high water pressure to make his hair “perfect.”
Go with the flow: One of Trump's first executive orders will target regulations that limit the flow of showerheads
In 2021, the Biden administration reversed a Trump-era rule that encouraged water flow through showerheads.
Trump had complained at the White House: “So what do you do? Do you just stand there longer or take longer showers? Because my hair – I don't know about you – but it has to be perfect.'
Another order will declare a “national energy emergency” in Alaska. “We need an abundance of American energy here at home with that increased production,” a White House official told reporters. The US leads the world in crude oil production, but the official said the high costs were “unacceptable.” High energy costs drive up the costs of a range of consumer goods.
At the same time, he's rolling back what he calls the “electric vehicle mandate”: government incentives designed to encourage the purchase of electric cars.
Some of Trump's policy moves require just the stroke of a pen. Others require a lengthy regulatory process.
The orders come after Trump declared at his inauguration indoors that “America's Golden Age begins now” and said he was “saved by God to make America great again,” as he blasted a “radical and corrupt establishment.”
He said there would be a “recovery” of America in what he called a “common sense revolution.”
“We will drill, baby, drill,” Trump said in his inaugural address after touting his energy plans.
