This is Scott Sumner quoting (pro-Biden commentator) Matt Yglesias:
I would not expect any Democratic administration to weaken Davis-Bacon rules as an anti-inflationary measure, even though doing so would advance a number of Biden’s stated policy objectives. But did Biden need to re-write these rules to be tougher than they were under Obama or Bill Clinton? Similarly, every president likes to tout “Buy American” rules because they sound popular, but Biden’s lawyers genuinely wrote stricter rules than his predecessors. They adopted stricter energy efficiency rules that will drive up prices. They raised tariffs on Canadian lumber. They raised tariffs on solar panels from Southeast Asia. Repealing the Jones Act would be a heavy lift, but Biden made Jones Act rules stricter. A lot of this can be seen as special giveaways to union interests, which is not always ideal but is at least part of a rational political strategy. But beyond that, what I think you see at work in some of the regulatory agencies is a completely sincere, completely non-cynical worldview that promoting high nominal wages is a path to national prosperity. The moves to implement stricter rules on au pairs or create stricter rules for agricultural guest workers don’t have any particularly clear interest group angle. They’re just small moves that drive up the cost of child care and food.