Regulatory Action Center Review - August 23, 2019

Welcome to FreedomWorks Foundation’s sixteenth regulatory review of 2019! Our Regulatory Action Center proudly updates you with our favorite tidbits from the swamp. We want to smash barriers between bureaucracy and the American people by delivering regulatory news straight to FreedomWorks activists. Check back in two weeks for the next edition.

1) Video of the Week: Leftist would have you believe that President Trump’s deregulatory agenda has caused any number of horrible calamities to befall the United States. Yet, as a direct result of cutting the red tape, business in America is booming like never before. In this week’s video, John Stossel sits down with Grover Norquist from Americans for Tax Reform to discuss how deregulation has helped the environment, the economy, and all American citizens.

2) Trump’s Record as a Regulator: “Republicans often talk deregulation but then add rules. People called President George W. Bush an “anti-regulator.” But once he was president, he hired 90,000 new regulators! Trump has been different. When he took office, he hired regulation skeptics. He told government agencies: Get rid of two regulations for every new one you add.” https://reason.com/2019/08/21/trumps-record-as-a-regulator/

3) DHS cyber agency to prioritize election security, Chinese threats: “The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) plans to prioritize election security, cybersecurity at federal agencies, and the “persistent threat” posed by China, among its many goals.The agency laid out its key priorities in a new “strategic intent” document released on Thursday, which CISA Director Christopher Krebs described in the introduction as the “keystone” for the agency.” https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/458487-dhs-cyber-agency-to-prioritize-election-security-chinese-threats

4) New FDA cigarette labels include realistic images of smoking-related health problems: “The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday proposed long-delayed graphic health warnings for cigarette packages, taking a step toward fulfilling a requirement of a decade-old smoking prevention law. The new warning label proposal will now be subject to a public comment period, and is under a court-ordered deadline to be finalized by March 15, 2020.” https://www.rollcall.com/news/congress/fda-readies-graphic-cigarette-package-labels

5) Trump admin aims to finally END catch-and-release in game-changing regulation: “The entire mass migration to our border and all its cascading ill effects can be traced to one thing: the Flores settlement’s expansion from children to family units by a single district judge. Flores is not a constitutional provision, a statute, or even a court ruling. It is a court settlement, designed as a temporary arrangement, that actually runs contrary to statute and has been used as a catalyst to undermine every bedrock law of sovereignty. After a full year of dithering, the Trump administration is finally using its unquestionable power to modify the settlement to finally end catch-and-release.” https://www.conservativereview.com/news/trump-admin-aims-finally-end-catch-release-game-changing-regulation/

6) Americans divided on regulation for big tech firms: Gallup: “Americans are divided over government regulation of big tech firms, according to a Gallup poll released Wednesday, as concerns grow over users’ privacy and whether tech giants have formed monopolies. Forty-eight percent of survey respondents said the government should boost its regulation of technology companies like Amazon, Facebook and Google, while 40 percent said regulation of these firms shouldn’t change. Ten percent said the companies should face less oversight.” https://thehill.com/policy/technology/458299-americans-divided-on-regulation-for-big-tech-firms-gallup

7) On deregulation, Walker’s Wisconsin showed the way: “The Institute for Reforming Government recently issued its second policy paper, highlighting many of the regulatory reforms that Walker and legislators implemented, including the Wisconsin version of the federal REINS Act. Wisconsin’s reforms were helpful in cutting red tape and easing the burden of regulations on businesses like mine so that they could provide more jobs for Wisconsin families. Walker and the legislature also worked to reduce government waste, fraud and abuse through the lean government initiative. According to RealClearPolitics, it “eliminated 400 unneeded bureaucratic steps in state regulatory agencies, saved nearly 80,000 staff hours, reduced regulatory backlogs by an average of 54% and saved $1.6 million.” https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/on-deregulation-walkers-wisconsin-showed-the-way