Forgive my naivete, but based on what I've seen elsewhere I think this administration is so incompetent that they can't get the levers of government to do much of anything, unless it's unilateral actions like tariffs. So I'm not sure that much of the choice to pursue this even comes from temporary political appointees.

Some of the Democratic candidates (e.g. Warren) also support similar measures, so it's not required that this is purely a political play.