Firing workers with deep knowledge of federal rules and regulations means that Trump’s own economic agenda could be hobbled, Bracewell’s Jeff Holmstead told Fortune. Holmstead, who worked in the US Environmental Protection Agency under the George W. Bush administration, noted that rolling back regulations, as Trump has said he wants to do, requires expertise. And only a small number of employees can actually oversee that process properly.
“You can’t do that if you don’t have people to actually go through the rule-making process, developing a rule under a federal statute. It actually requires an enormous effort,” Holmstead said.
