Bush's land mines for Obama
Last-minute rules and regulations by the Bush administration could take years to undo.
Rosa Brooks
LA Times
November 20, 2008
You knew that W & Co. wouldn't go gently into that good night, didn't you?
Please. We're talking about the people who brought us precooked intelligence, Guantanamo, torture and extraordinary rendition. Who developed bizarre legal doctrines, asserting that the commander in chief is allowed to ignore federal law, and the vice president doesn't "belong" to the executive branch. Who enthusiastically dismantled long-standing regulatory frameworks and who still insist (as George W. Bush did last week) that "too much" government regulation is our main problem, even as the economic crisis deepens.
You really didn't think these guys would exit meekly, did you?
Don't expect anything undignified, like a Cheney-engineered coup (sorry, conspiracy theorists). But the administration can -- and will -- hamstring the incoming Obama team just as effectively with a raft of poisonous eleventh-hour rules and regulations.
Pick your issue. The environment? A Bush administration rule transmitted on Nov. 4 hands over responsibility for assessing the environmental impact of federal ocean management decisions to advisory councils made up primarily of people tied to the commercial fishing industry -- who often have a financial stake in the outcome. Workers' rights? A new rule (effective Jan. 18) would limit workers' ability to take leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Worker and road safety? A rule announced Nov. 16 will allow trucking companies to require drivers to spend 11 consecutive hours behind the wheel. Gun control? On election day, the administration put forward a rule to end the 25-year-old ban on carrying loaded weapons in national parks. Other last-minute rules the White House is trying to ram through would allow federal and state law enforcement agencies to monitor and share information on the activities of individuals deemed merely to be "suspicious," ease rules on dumping coal mining waste into rivers and streams, and further limit women's access to contraceptives and abortions from federally funded medical providers.
(More here.)
Rosa Brooks
LA Times
November 20, 2008
You knew that W & Co. wouldn't go gently into that good night, didn't you?
Please. We're talking about the people who brought us precooked intelligence, Guantanamo, torture and extraordinary rendition. Who developed bizarre legal doctrines, asserting that the commander in chief is allowed to ignore federal law, and the vice president doesn't "belong" to the executive branch. Who enthusiastically dismantled long-standing regulatory frameworks and who still insist (as George W. Bush did last week) that "too much" government regulation is our main problem, even as the economic crisis deepens.
You really didn't think these guys would exit meekly, did you?
Don't expect anything undignified, like a Cheney-engineered coup (sorry, conspiracy theorists). But the administration can -- and will -- hamstring the incoming Obama team just as effectively with a raft of poisonous eleventh-hour rules and regulations.
Pick your issue. The environment? A Bush administration rule transmitted on Nov. 4 hands over responsibility for assessing the environmental impact of federal ocean management decisions to advisory councils made up primarily of people tied to the commercial fishing industry -- who often have a financial stake in the outcome. Workers' rights? A new rule (effective Jan. 18) would limit workers' ability to take leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Worker and road safety? A rule announced Nov. 16 will allow trucking companies to require drivers to spend 11 consecutive hours behind the wheel. Gun control? On election day, the administration put forward a rule to end the 25-year-old ban on carrying loaded weapons in national parks. Other last-minute rules the White House is trying to ram through would allow federal and state law enforcement agencies to monitor and share information on the activities of individuals deemed merely to be "suspicious," ease rules on dumping coal mining waste into rivers and streams, and further limit women's access to contraceptives and abortions from federally funded medical providers.
(More here.)
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