White House Makes Final Push To Deregulate

Washington Post: Bush Administration Seeks To Weaken Government Rules Aimed At Protecting Consumers And The Environment

(Washington Post) 
Clinton's appointees wound up paying a heavy price for procrastination. Bush's team was able to withdraw 254 regulations that covered such matters as drug and airline safety, immigration and indoor air pollutants. After further review, many of the proposals were modified to reflect Republican policy ideals or scrapped altogether.

Seeking to avoid falling victim to such partisan tactics, White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten in May imposed a Nov. 1 government-wide deadline to finish major new regulations, "except in extraordinary circumstances."

That gives officials just a few more weeks to meet an effective Nov. 20 deadline for the publication of economically significant rules, which take legal effect only after a 60-day congressional comment period. Less important rules take effect after a 30-day period, creating a second deadline of Dec. 20.

OMB spokeswoman Jane Lee said that Bolten's memo was meant to emphasize the importance of "due diligence" in ensuring that late-term regulations are sound. "We will continue to embrace the thorough and high standards of the regulatory review process," she said.

As the deadlines near, the administration has begun to issue regulations of great interest to industry, including, in recent days, a rule that allows natural gas pipelines to operate at higher pressures and new Homeland Security rules that shift passenger security screening responsibilities from airlines to the federal government. The OMB also approved a new limit on airborne emissions of lead this month, acting under a court-imposed deadline.

Many of the rules that could be issued over the next few weeks would ease environmental regulations, according to sources familiar with administration deliberations.

A rule put forward by the National Marine Fisheries Service and now under final review by the OMB would lift a requirement that environmental impact statements be prepared for certain fisheries-management decisions and would give review authority to regional councils dominated by commercial and recreational fishing interests.

An Alaska commercial fishing source, granted anonymity so he could speak candidly about private conversations, said that senior administration officials promised to "get the rule done by the end of this month" and that the outcome would be a big improvement.

Lee Crockett of the Pew Charitable Trusts' Environment Group said the administration has received 194,000 public comments on the rule and protests from 80 members of Congress as well as 160 conservation groups. "This thing is fatally flawed" as well as "wildly unpopular," Crockett said.

Two other rules nearing completion would ease limits on pollution from power plants, a major energy industry goal for the past eight years that is strenuously opposed by Democratic lawmakers and environmental groups.

One rule, being pursued over some opposition within the Environmental Protection Agency, would allow current emissions at a power plant to match the highest levels produced by that plant, overturning a rule that more strictly limits such emission increases. According to the EPA's estimate, it would allow millions of tons of additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually, worsening global warming.

A related regulation would ease limits on emissions from coal-fired power plants near national parks.

A third rule would allow increased emissions from oil refineries, chemical factories and other industrial plants with complex manufacturing operations.

These rules "will force Americans to choke on dirtier air for years to come, unless Congress or the new administration reverses these eleventh-hour abuses," said lawyer John Walke of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

But Scott H. Segal, a Washington lawyer and chief spokesman for the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, said that "bringing common sense to the Clean Air Act is the best way to enhance energy efficiency and pollution control." He said he is optimistic that the new rule will help keep citizens' lawsuits from obstructing new technologies.

Jonathan Shradar, an EPA spokesman, said that he could not discuss specifics but added that "we strive to protect human health and the environment." Any rule the agency completes, he said, "is more stringent than the previous one."

[nuffera]

Please shut him up and don''t let him touch anything else! He still has 70 some days to really finish what he and his henchmen started..the gutting of this country financially with the help of Wall Street, the subprime loans to people who only wanted to have the "american dream" which is a total myth.
The ceos of these companies are stealing the middle class and the poor blind, while this idiot lets them.
Please lock him a closet until Jan!!!

[arthurcl1]

Even after deregulating the Banks, now he wants to Deregulate everything else. What a lousy Bush President who knows nothing but helping his Business Buddies get richer and the taxpayer poorer.

[asuzzoo]

I have two questions: 1. How do we let Americans KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON without it seeming to have political undertones? This is a gross violation of the America many of us put first. 2. HOW DO WE STOP IT?

If you''re in Texas, writing your Congressman is about as useful as spitting at a hurricane. I have sent as many people as I can this article, but can CBS News please let us know what actions we can take to stop this raping and pillaging?

[missingamerica]

It is obvious to me that the very first thing the next President needs to do is declare a certain ranch in Crawford County, Texas a nature reserve offlimits to all human activity pending further review.

[hroams]

Bush is a drugstore cowboy, all hat and no cattle. He only bought that place in Crawford for his presidential run and I guarantee you he will not be on a ranch 6 months from now. If there is any justice left in this world he will be in courtroom at The Hague. The Republicans know full well the consequences of putting his regime on trial in this country.
Posted by mavnomore at 08:43 AM : Nov 01, 2008

W is abosolutely as drugstore cowboy, he''s not from Texas at all and actually has lived far less than half of his life here.Is so much into being what Texas after the Civil war called carpetbaggers and he fits the description exactly.

W may have to do what the former president of Mexico Carlos de Gortari did in the 1990''s move to a county that doesn''t have an extradition treaty with the US. The former Mexican president and his family stole over $500,000,000 from Mexico and bribes and hauled out. W may do the same!!

[hroams]

Wait until you see W''s pardons list that will come outat 11:59 P.M. on 1/19/09. I understand that it is ten (10) pages of single spaced lines and starts with
"W", I pardon myself, then Darth, Al, Trent, Petraeus, Rummy, Paulson, Bernanke, Hastert, Delay, Renzi, Craig, Foley, Crist, Keating, McCain, Scooter, Palin, Mecam, Rove, Bartlett, Gates, Franks, Brownie, Tenet, Powell, etc.

[abbe91]

"Bush''s team was able to withdraw 254 regulations that covered such matters as drug and airline safety, ..."

and then came 9/11.

[mavnomore]

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: The House just passed President Bush''s bill to redefine the treatment of detainees, and the Senate''s expected to do the same thing tomorrow. Buried deep inside this legislation is a provision that will pardon President Bush and all the members of his administration of any possible crimes connected with the torture and mistreatment of detainees dated all the way back to September 11, 2001.

At least President Nixon had Gerald Ford to do his dirty work. President Bush is trying to pardon himself.

Here''s the deal.

Under the War Crimes Act, violations of the Geneva Conventions are felonies. In some cases, punishable by death.

When the Supreme Court ruled the Geneva Conventions applied to al Qaeda and Taliban detainees, President Bush and his boys were suddenly in big trouble. They had been working these prisoners over pretty good.

In an effort to avoid possible prosecution, they''re trying to cram this bill through Congress before the end of the week when Congress adjourns. The reason there''s such a rush to do this, if the Democrats get control of the House in November, well, this kind of legislation probably wouldn''t pass.

You want to know the real disgrace of what these people are about to do or are in the process of doing? Senator Bill Frist and Congressman Dennis Hastert and their Republican stooges apparently don''t see anything wrong with this.

I really do wonder sometimes what we''re becoming in this country.

[mavnomore]

The Cowardly Cowboy has no concience and therefore, no shame! He will be remembered as the worst President in history!

Posted by excoachken

Bush is a drugstore cowboy, all hat and no cattle. He only bought that place in Crawford for his presidential run and I guarantee you he will not be on a ranch 6 months from now. If there is any justice left in this world he will be in courtroom at The Hague. The Republicans know full well the consequences of putting his regime on trial in this country.

And for those Bush Dead Enders that still defend him to this day, you''ve got to wonder why he is trying so hard to shield himself from potential prosecution if he has done nothing wrong.

[excoachken]

The Cowardly Cowboy has no concience and therefore, no shame! He will be remembered as the worst President in history!

[perk235]

DEREGUULATION has worked wonderfully well for the financial industry.

[n8yvn29]

If nothing else, the Bush cabal has been truly consistent on (with McCain supporting it 95% of the time) raping, pillaging, and plundering our economy and environment (and thus our future). May this man and his cronies go to jail for the rest of their natural lives!

[notfooled]

And lets not forget all those leaders in Washington that have supported the Bush/Cheney crime syndicate reign of terror.

Vote every last one of them out, Dems and Reps alike.

Vote all incumbents who don''t stand and publicly condemn these criminals out of office now.

Take back the country.

[notfooled]

News Flash:

A man named Bush auditions for the role of Anti-Christ but the devil refuses him the part saying he was too evil even for hell.

When do the trials for war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, treason, and being an outright enemy of the American people begin?

[yongamerica]

Bush has ruined America''''s Reputation, started a quagmire war based on lies and deceit, and driven its financial system into bankruptcy and greatly reduced the freedoms guaranteed by the US Constitution.

Now he want to destroy the environment by undoing decades of laws and lessons learned. Look at the pollution in China. That is what Bush wants to give America. Look at the empty Oceans around Japan, that is what Bush wants to give America.

America got screwed by hastily putting together a "Bush Financial Bailout Package" and that is on top of the $500 billion that he silently took from the treasury. Amd now this money is being used for Bonuses, stock dividends and employee perks.

Everything Bush has done has Hurt America Hard. Don''''t let him do another thing

[ricklf1]

If you or I want to blame someone for the ROOT CAUSE of this problem....look in the mirror! Our laid-back attitude over the past 4 decades in this country allows "OUR" Government to be dictated to and "PAID FOR" by Bankers and Wall street Fat Cats. If you and I don''''t stand up and say "NO MORE", than your children and grandchildren will suffer in their adult lives as "ECONOMIC SLAVES" YOU MUST GO OUT AND VOTE!!!

[brianwbw]

It depends on who you are. For the posters gainfully employed to anti-McCain spam, nothing matters except their spam scripts.

For REAL people who are actually here for some truthful insight as to how the economic mess got started the New York Times ran a very good piece:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10
/19/business/19cisneros.html

Excerpt"
...The causes of the housing implosion are many: lax regulation, financial innovation gone awry, excessive debt, raw greed. The players are also varied: bankers, borrowers, developers, politicians and bureaucrats.

Mr. Cisneros, 61, had a foot in a number of those worlds. Despite his qualms, he encouraged the unprepared to buy homes %u2014 part of a broad national trend with dire economic consequences.

He reflects often on his role in the debacle, he says, which has changed homeownership from something that secured a place in the middle class to something that is ejecting people from it. %u201CI%u2019ve been waiting for someone to put all the blame at my doorstep,%u201D he says lightly, but with a bit of worry, too..."

Copyright New York Times
Building Flawed American Dreams
By DAVID STREITFELD and GRETCHEN MORGENSON
Published: October 18, 2008

[inventagod2]

Bu$h Legacy

Debt we can never pay down

War we can never win

wow

[brianwbw]

FOX:

Obama Lays Plans to Kill Expectations After Election Victory

Confident in an Election Day win, the campaign looks to lower supporters'''' expectations on concerns their hopes of ''''change'''' are unrealistic, a senior aide says

Friday, 2008-31-305

By Tim Reid, The Times of London

Barack Obama''''s senior advisers have drawn up plans to lower expectations for his presidency if he wins next week''''s election, amid concerns that many of his euphoric supporters are harboring unrealistic hopes of what he can achieve...

...One senior adviser told The Times that the first few weeks of the transition, immediately after the election, were critical, "so there''''s not a vast mood swing from exhilaration and euphoria to despair..."

...I guess this means we change "Yes We Can" to "Well anything is possible but don''''t hold your breath" ??

you guys have been betrayed.

[rebelscout]

Deregulate? This is the reason we are in the mess we''re in !!!!!