President Donald Trump overturned an Obama-era anti-corruptionrule that would have forced oil, gas and mining companies todisclose payments to foreign governments, becoming the firstpresident in 16 years to take advantage of a law that allows him torescind a predecessor's regulations.

Last Tuesday, Trump signed a congressional resolution to repeala Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure rule that wascalled for in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. It's likely just the start:Congress is considering a number of other measures, including onesto overturn Obama administration rules protecting streams frommountaintop mining and preventing people with serious mental-healthproblems from buying guns.

“This is one of many,” Trump told reporters at a signingceremony. “We have many more left. And we're bringing back jobs bigleague.”

These fast-track repeals are made possible by a little-used toolcalled the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to undorecent federal rules with a simple majority vote. Congress has usedit successfully only once before: In 2001, then-President George W.Bush joined Congress in killing a Labor Department ergonomics ruleadopted under the administration of President Bill Clinton.

Overturning the SEC rule could benefit U.S. oil giantsExxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp.

“The president's signature on the Congressional Review Act is awelcome step forward for American competitiveness and jobs,”American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard said in astatement.

Backers of the SEC regulation say forcing companies to discloseforeign payments would curb corruption in resource-rich countries,such as Nigeria. The oil industry says the rule would put U.S.companies at a competitive disadvantage compared to state-runenterprises, such as Saudi Aramco, which are not subject to thedisclosure rules.

“The SEC's rule forces U.S. companies to disclose proprietaryinformation to its competitors while foreign entities do not. Thiscan give some large industry players an advantage on futurebusiness projects,” the American Petroleum Institute, an industrygroup, said in a statement.

Some of the industry's biggest players, including BP and RoyalDutch Shell, are already required to report taxes, bonuses andother payments to foreign governments under anti-corruption rulesadopted by the European Union and U.K. That includes somestate-owned oil companies.

“Russian companies like Rosneft are already reporting much morethan Exxon,” Daniel Kaufmann, president of the Natural ResourceGovernance Institute, an international transparency watchdog, saidbefore Congress voted on the repeal.

While Republicans lawmakers have introduced at least a dozenresolutions for regulations they want to repeal, not all will makeit to the president's desk. The Congressional Review Act has someconstraints. For one, the law applies to rules issued in the past60 legislative days. Also, it stipulates that debate must happenbefore the vote, and with several nominations and appropriationsbill to deal with, Congress may not have the time to deal with eachmeasure.

Congress in 2015 voted to repeal two Environmental ProtectionAgency rules limited carbon emissions from the power sector, butthen-President Barack Obama vetoed the legislation.

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