Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush released a plan meant to make it harder for federal agencies to make rules that protect public health and the environment. That might help some big corporations. But it makes everyday Americans much less safe.
The idea is to jam up the federal rule making process with so many requirements that hardly anything important would get done. Safeguards that keep the air clear, the water clean, and the workplace safe would be put on the back burner. Bush’s plan would empower congressional members who do not believe in climate change to stall rules crafted by scientific experts in response to statutes that Congress has already passed, like the Clean Water and Air Acts. New rules meant to prevent another Wall Street meltdown would also be at risk.
On top of that Bush would provide the White House (through OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA)) with even more ways to delay common sense rules that keep Americans safe and make our economy more productive—rules that reduce asthma attacks in children and keep rocket fuel out of your drinking water. When it comes to keeping Americans safe, Bush calls not for swift action, but for more red tape.
He says his plan would free the regulatory process from the influence of “special interests,” but what it would really do is free special interests from the sensible safeguards that Americans expect and depend on.
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Robert Verchick | September 22, 2015
Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush released a plan meant to make it harder for federal agencies to make rules that protect public health and the environment. That might help some big corporations. But it makes everyday Americans much less safe. The idea is to jam up the federal rule making process with so many requirements that hardly […]
Erin Kesler | September 21, 2015
Today, Stewart Parnell, former peanut company executive was sentenced to 28 years in prison for his role in a salmonella outbreak that resulted in the deaths of nine people and the illness of 174. CPR Member Scholar and University of Maryland School of Law professor Rena Steinzor issued the following statement in response to the […]
Rena Steinzor | September 17, 2015
CPR Member Scholar Rena Steinzor reacted to today’s announcement of a settlement between General Motors and the Justice Department over charges stemming from the company’s failure to disclose a deadly ignition defect it millions of its cars. Steinzor said: This settlement is shamefully weak. GM and its executives knew for years that they had a […]
Erin Kesler | September 16, 2015
Today, the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee is holding a Hearing on legislation focused on the regulatory system entitled, “A Review of Regulatory Reform Proposals.” CPR Vice-President and Wake Forest University School of Law professor Sidney Shapiro will be testifying. According to his testimony: It is a good thing that Congress has directed agencies to issue […]
Thomas McGarity | September 14, 2015
At long last, the Food and Drug Administration has promulgated two critical regulations implementing the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011 (FSMA). The regulations flesh out the statute’s requirements for facilities that process human food and animal feed. Of the regulations that FDA has proposed in order to implement the FSMA, these are perhaps the […]
Katie Tracy | September 10, 2015
Marking a victory for workers, on August 27, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a highly anticipated decision in the case of Browning-Ferris Industries, updating its overly restrictive standard for determining “joint employer” status for purposes of collective bargaining. The decision responds to the increasing reliance on contingent work arrangements that often involve multiple […]
Daniel Farber | September 8, 2015
The answer will surprise you. What parts of the country benefit most from the series of new EPA rules addressing pollution from coal-fired power plants? The answer is not what you think. EPA does a thorough cost-benefit analysis of its regulations but the costs and benefits are aggregated at the national level. In a new paper, David Spence and David […]
| September 3, 2015
The Bay Journal published another interesting story this week by Rona Kobell about the perseverance it took by some residents and officials of rural Caroline County, Maryland, to finally address the failing septic systems plaguing their community. The story even highlights how some local officials, after decades of trying to find a resolution, died waiting […]
Joseph Tomain | September 2, 2015
The essence of the argument that a new energy and environmental politics is needed is based on the idea that our traditional energy path (as well as its underlying assumptions) has outlived its useful life; the traditional energy narrative is stale. Cheap, but dirty, fossil fuel energy has played a significant role in contributing to […]