As the first year of the Trump presidency drew to a close, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney took to Twitter to summarize the early fruits of the administration's deregulatory drive.

Speaking into a camera for a live video feed on Dec. 15, Mulvaney said the Trump administration had lifted about a half-billion dollars in “regulatory burden.” He said the Obama administration, by contrast, had added more than $80 billion in a span of eight years.

“Over $500 million, we've gotten rid of that burden. That's a tremendous change in direction,” he said. “Some people call it draining the swamp. Some people describe it as trying to change the direction of an aircraft carrier. We managed to do it in just the first year here.”