By David Weigel
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., the incoming chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, used a meeting with Donald Trump to deliver a list of 232 regulations that the incoming president could repeal immediately. “We felt like it was important to put together a real working document,” Meadows told CNN.
The list, shared by Meadows’s office, covers everything from President George W. Bush’s order restricting access to executive branch papers to the Federal Aviation Administration regulations that limit overland supersonic flights. The rationale for repealing that last regulation, in its entirety: “Make Sonic Boom Again.”
That’s as frivolous as the document gets. The rest of it, in no particular order, recommends undoing as many of President Obama’s initiatives as possible.
Climate
The Freedom Caucus suggests that Trump open up oil exploration on federally owned land, pull out of the Paris climate accords (which will produce “little, if any, environmental benefit”), kill the State Department’s office on climate change and the special envoy for climate change, and basically scratch any office assigned to study it — even one at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Energy
Republicans suggest scrapping a slew of environmental regulations opposed by the energy industry, as well as the Renewable Fuel Standard itself — “it is based on incredibly mistaken assumptions about domestic oil production, it gives EPA control over the fuels we use, and increases the cost of fuel.”
Nutrition
The caucus advises Trump to undo Obama-era guidelines for school lunches (“burdensome and unworkable”; “industries can’t comply with the standards”) and supplements. For the latter, one reason is that the Obama rule “places regulations on the serving sizes of breath mints.”
Net neutrality
The caucus recommends undoing the Federal Communications Commission’s 2015 regulation, on the grounds that it did too much in a stroke. “At 400 pages and over 2,500 citations, the network neutrality regulations packs in a lot,” the caucus writes. “The regulations reflect the lack of economic rigor.”
Consumers
The caucus recommends amending the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 “to require that no deference be given to the interpretation of consumer financial law by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.”
Smokers
One recommendation would end funding for smoke-free public housing; another would remove tobacco products from the Food and Drug Administration’s purview. “The worst fear of cigar manufacturers and smokers alike has been that the FDA will impose the same onerous premarket review requirements on cigars that it currently places on cigarettes,” the Republicans write.
International development
In addition to nixing the Export-Import Bank — a conservative cause célèbre — Republicans advise scrapping the 111-year-old Overseas Private Investment Corporation, created during Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency. In both cases, the development organizations are characterized as too political.
Wages
Republicans advise several measures for allowing lower wages, including waiving the Davis-Bacon Act, ending the Obama administration’s overtime rule (currently tied up in court), and ending tougher classification of contractors in part because it “disproportionately hurts independent contractors like Uber and Lyft.” Republicans also suggest ending paid sick leave for federal contractors.
Trump has not commented on the regulations presented to him, but some — like the end of climate change as a factor in international dealmaking — were part of his campaign.
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