Regulatory Action Center Review - October 8, 2020

Welcome to the new and improved Regulatory Action Center (RAC) Review! RAC proudly keeps you up to date on what we’re up to and what we’re keeping our eyes on here in the swamp. We offer resources for you to get involved in the rulemaking process to hold unelected bureaucrats accountable and occasionally offer praise in the event they have a good impulse. We will also highlight the incredible work our activists have done to advance the principles of smaller government, lower taxes, free markets, personal liberty, and the rule of law. For more ways to get involved and stay informed, check the links at the bottom of this post.

Exciting New RACtivities

FreedomWorks has just launched its International Reference Pricing Scorecard. This scorecard shows just how absurd it is that bureaucrats in the Department of Health and Human Services want to tie our nation’s healthcare system to those of foreign nations. It is truly a prescription for failure!

RACtivist Content of the Week

Comment submitted by RACtivist Kearn I of West Virginia regarding the Department of Energy’s efforts to create a new class of washer/dryer:

Fewer regulations, fewer regulators. Simple to read reports on the product’s power consumption, its efficiency index and customer satisfaction. Let the buying public decide – let the marketplace control what’s made, not the bureaucracy.

You can submit a comment like this until October 13th HERE.

Four Things to Know

1) Latest Trump Appointee of the Week: Neil Gorsuch

Perhaps the only distinction between Gorsuch and Scalia can be found in Gorsuch’s view of the Chevron deference doctrine. This doctrine holds that, if Congress has been silent or ambiguous on a particular issue, that courts must defer to the interpretation of federal bureaucratic agencies. Naturally, this has allowed the regulatory deep state to run out of control and impose burdensome regulations with relative impunity. Gorsuch’s strict view of the Constitution leads him to reject this nonsense theory. Sadly, Scalia was one of the justices on the original Chevron opinion. Though, there are substantiated rumors that Scalia had since come to regret that decision later in life.

More resources:

Read the blog: HERE

2) FreedomWorks Foundation Submits Comments to the FCC on Combating Illegal Robocalls

RAC offered comments supportive of the FCC’s efforts and that this rule empowers private companies to tackle these calls, rather than expanding governmental intervention. However, the RAC also urged the FCC to take caution and not blanket too many legitimate business calls in with these malicious robocalls. Adequate consumer safeguards must be taken into account and put into effect in order to avoid unintended consequences.

More resources on this rulemaking:

Read the proposal: HERE

Read FreedomWorks’ comment: HERE

Read comments from our friends at American Consumer Institute: HERE

3) FreedomWorks Foundation Submits Comments Supporting Outpatient Flexibility

In the healthcare sphere, inpatient settings are of highest cost to patients and to the Medicare system. This rule, in shifting these many procedures to a lower cost setting – like outpatient centers – and eliminating the IPO list, physicians have increased ability to determine whether their patients need to be hospitalized for a given procedure or malady. On the other side of the equation, patients now have added flexibility to determine which outpatient centers might be best for them and are saved from the unnecessary burden of hospitalization where it may not be necessary.

More resources on this proposal:

Read the proposal: HERE

Read FreedomWorks’ comment: HERE

4) Potential Idaho Mining Project Promises Environmental, Economic Benefits

The Stibnite Gold Project is a proposed mining project in Yellow Pine, Idaho. Midas Gold, the company seeking this project seeks to clean up the environmental destruction done by previous projections and use this opportunity to access reserves of gold, silver, tungsten, and antimony. Antimony is a critical resource used in many modern technologies, but the U.S. has remained reliant on other nations for its supplies to this point.

More resources on this project:

Read about the proposed project: HERE

Read about the plan: HERE

Learn more about antimony: HERE

RAC Resources

You can always find all RAC content (blogs, updates, press releases, and comment campaigns) HERE.

You can always sign up to become an elite RACtivist, if you haven’t already, HERE.