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Idaho Gov. Brad Little, seated directly to President Trumps left at a White House roundtable meeting with governors Monday on deregulation, said it was an honor to participate and tout Idahos progress on trimming regulations.

Regulatory reform has been one of Littles major initiatives in his first year as governor, including streamlining, scaling back or outright repealing hundreds of longstanding state administrative rules.

Little was among five GOP governors, one governor-elect, two state lawmakers and a Colorado tribal chairwoman invited to the White House meeting, which was attended by both Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. In October, Trump announced his Governors Initiative on Regulatory Innovation and appointed Pence to head it up.

The initiative is aimed at working with state, local and tribal leaders who are championing deregulation and working toward cutting regulations and costs, reforming occupational licensing, and better aligning state and federal regulations.

During the meeting, Trump appeared to refer to Little as Fred. Littles spokeswoman, Marissa Morrison, said she thinks the president was saying Brad, but just with an accent on it.

Little posted a video clip from the White House meeting on his Facebook page, where Trump is seen thanking Pence, seated at his right, saying, Thank you, Mike, very much, and then turning to Little on his left and saying, Fred?

Well, Mr. President, Little responds, following your leadership, my first executive order was the two-for-one, to which Trump commented, Right, and Little continued, That for every new rule we get rid of two. I did pretty well exceeded that by 4,000%, he said to laughter from around the table.

We got rid of 82 rules for every new rule were implementing this year, Little said. But the whole effort of what it does, reducing the friction cost, particularly startup for small businesses, people that have a tougher time.

Trump, leaning toward Little, again commented, Right.

Washing away that regulatory friction at both the federal level and the state level, is a lot of that job creation, Little continued. And its the gift that keeps on giving, if you just keep being diligent on it.

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After a few more comments along those lines, Little concluded, We look forward to continuing to work with your administration on this, and Trump responded, Great job, thank you very much.

Heres how Little summed up the meeting on social media: It was an honor to meet with President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence today to discuss the Governors Initiative on Regulatory Innovation. Idaho leads the way in Red Tape Reduction as the least-regulated state in America!

Little announced at a press conference Dec. 4 that Idaho has surpassed South Dakota as the least regulated state, based on a metric designed by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University that compares state regulatory codes with regards to both the number of words, and the recurrence of the words shall, must, may not, required, and prohibited in each states regulations.

In Idaho, Little said, The agencies reduced administrative code by over 1,800 pages since we took office. This amounts to 75% of all rules and regulations were either cut or simplified.

Little also had several other meetings while he was in Washington, D.C., on Monday and Tuesday, including with members of Idahos congressional delegation. He flew back to Idaho Tuesday afternoon.

Betsy Z. Russell is the Boise bureau chief and state capitol reporter for the Idaho Press and Adams Publishing Group. Follow her on Twitter at @BetsyZRussell.

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Idaho Gov. Little meets with Trump, Pence on regulatory reform - Idaho Press-Tribune