Midnight Raider
By Pat Racimora on December 18, 2008 at 7:25 PM in Current Affairs, George Bush
They all do it. Lame duck Presidents cramming through their own agendas at the last minute before leaving office.
Hold on to your seats this time! GW has some real doozies that will reward supporters and enrage opponents. Just when you thought the last 8 years of influence were about to be over, his late night raids will take months, maybe years, to undo.
“Midnight resolutions,” as they are called, allow the departing President to put in regulations into the “Code of Federal Regulations.” These have the same force as law. No need to bother with that pesky Congress or the voters.
Bush has more of these going than any previous President, and they will not please environmentalists, proponents of pro-choice, those concerned with safety in the workplace, anyone who worries about endangered species, and people who realize that letting big business regulate itself is like putting Tony Rezko in charge of The Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Here are more untasty tidbits from a report by Paul Harris of the UK Guardian:
Many of these [midnight regulations] are radical and appear to pay off big business allies of the Republican party. One rule will make it easier for coal companies to dump debris from strip mining into valleys and streams. The process is part of an environmentally damaging technique known as “mountain-top removal mining”. It involves literally removing the top of a mountain to excavate a coal seam and pouring the debris into a valley, which is then filled up with rock. The new rule will make that dumping easier.
Another midnight regulation will allow power companies to build coal-fired power stations nearer to national parks. Yet another regulation will allow coal-fired stations to increase their emissions without installing new anti-pollution equipment.
There is a long list of other new regulations that have gone onto the books. One lengthens the number of hours that truck drivers can drive without rest. Another surrenders government control of rerouting the rail transport of hazardous materials around densely populated areas and gives it to the rail companies.
One more chips away at the protection of endangered species. Gun control is also weakened by allowing loaded and concealed guns to be carried in national parks. Abortion rights are hit by allowing healthcare workers to cite religious or moral grounds for opting out of carrying out certain medical procedures.
A common theme is shifting regulation of industry from government to the industries themselves, essentially promoting self-regulation. One rule transfers assessment of the impact of ocean-fishing away from federal inspectors to advisory groups linked to the fishing industry. Another allows factory farms to self-regulate disposal of pollutant run-off.
Obama’s team will have to go through a more lengthy process of reversing them, as it is forced to open them to a period of public consulting. That means that undoing the damage could take months or even years, especially if corporations go to the courts to prevent changes.
That’s just a little selection.
Shouldn’t this loophole that allows for these late night raids on our regular lawmaking process be shut down?
by Ronald Scott
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