Media Coverage of Public Protections
Progressives bang drums for 'course correction' at White House reg office (5/16/13)
Late last month, Obama nominated Howard Shelanski to be his next administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) Read more...
Bloomberg: Faulting OIRA a s Anti - Regulatory, Groups Urge Tough Questioning of OIRA Nominee (4/30/13)
Several public interest and government watchdog groups April 26 expressed wariness about the nomination of Howard Shelanski to serve as administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, an office they say has a history of blocking needed regulation. Read more...
Bloomberg BNA: Lautenberg Bill Would Increase Penalties For Failure to Register Dangerous Chemicals (4/29/13)
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) introduced legislation April 25 that would make companies subject to criminal charges and civil penalties if they fail to register dangerous chemicals stored on site. Read more...
The Hill: Unions, watchdogs press Obama pick to end secrecy on regulations (4/9/13)
A coalition that includes unions and watchdog groups is pressing President Obama’s budget nominee to bring more transparency to the review process for regulations. Read more...
The Hill: ‘Tsunami’ of GOP budget amendments draws swift rebuke (3/21/13)
A collection of consumer groups warned Thursday that a "tsunami” of proposed amendments to the Senate budget would undermine the federal regulatory system, leaving the American public unprotected against health and safety dangers. Read more...
Washington Post: The REINS Act - Using Congress to undermine laws (6/10/12)
Katherine McFate and Robert Weissman respond to “Hauling in the REINS” by George F. Will. McFate and Weissman argue that the REINS Act would be harmful in terms of its effect on public protection and ineffective in terms of its process. Read more...
Perfidy of unregulated corporations (3/28/12)
In an America without government regulation, our lakes and rivers would undoubtedly be far more polluted; our forests, if they still stood in the absence of logging restrictions, would be devoid of wildlife for hunting quotas would not exist; air pollution would be prevalent since there would be no such... Read more...
Huffington Post - JOBS bill a colossal mistake of historic proportions (3/19/12)
With the so-called JOBS bill, on which the Senate is due to vote Tuesday, Congress is about to make the same kind of mistake again -- this time abandoning much of the 1930s-era securities legislation that both served investors well and helped make the US one of the best places... Read more...
Washington Post - Overwhelming majority of Americans want stronger regulations (3/14/12)
The overwhelming majority of Americans believe that government regulations of the food industry, car safety, workplace safety, prescription drugs, and even environmental protection should either be strengthened or be preserved as they are, with only a small fraction believing they should be reduced. Read more...
Lansing State Journal - Health and safety regulations are no joking matter (2/9/12)
A couple of one-liners about regulatory laws in Michigan and the United States earned some giggles for our comedians-in-chief during both the State of the State and the State of the Union addresses, with Gov. Rick Snyder fixating on toilet seats, and President Barack Obama reaching for a pun about... Read more...
United Press International - Lack of demand, not regulations, holding businesses back (2/5/12)
We've all heard the arguments: Regulations are strangling U.S. businesses. It's been a staple in the Republican playbook for years. But a funny thing happened last week. The American Sustainable Business Council, the Main Street Alliance and the Small Business Majority released a survey blaming the stagnant economy not on... Read more...
The Hill - Small business polls reject anti-regulation rhetoric (2/1/12)
The truth is that small business owners favor regulations to protect the air, water, food, financial system and themselves (from big business). Wall Street and the oil and coal lobbies should stop using small business as an excuse to run roughshod over regulations and take our nation backwards in time... Read more...
The Hill - Killing regulations endangers jobs and workers (1/12/12)
Theres nothing serious about the GOP's supposed job creator bills that the House of Representatives passed along party lines late last year, unless your goal is to do serious damage to the governments ability to protect Americans through sensible rules and protections. Read more...
Huffington Post - Republican Nonsense on Regulation (12/28/11)
A persistent GOP line of attack against President Obama is that he's inflicted an intolerable "regulatory burden" on American businesses. Mitt Romney, for instance, has been telling campaign crowds that the Obama administration has issued four times as much regulation as past presidents. Read more...
CNN - When the market rules, the big guy wins (12/18/11)
Regulations and government restrictions, like the federal antitrust law, help create a level playing field for entrepreneurs and small businesses wanting to grow. They establish the rules of business that allow real competition to work for the consumer and give small businesses a fighting chance. Read more...
The Tenneesean - Deregulation bills are bad for small business (12/14/11)
Both the Regulatory Accountability Act and the REINS Act are being promoted under the pretext of helping small businesses. This is despite the fact that, in survey after survey and interview after interview, real small-business owners are saying that what we need is more customers more demand not... Read more...
New York Times (LTE) - When Business Is Regulated, and Isnt (12/13/11)
Regulation did not cause the jobs crisis. Its also true that it was precisely deregulation and regulatory failure the failure of financial regulators to control Wall Street and big banks reckless speculation and other activities that led to the financial collapse that plunged the nation and the world... Read more...
CNBC - Opinion: How the REINS Act Fails Small Businesses and the Economy (12/8/11)
The REINS Act will hurt rather than help small businesses because it fails to address the sluggish economy, the lack of consumer demand, or the need for safeguards that make the financial system more robust and reliable. Read more...
New York Times - The Wonky Liberal (12/5/11)
Republicans have many strong arguments to make against the Obama administration, but one major criticism doesnt square with the evidence. This is the charge that President Obama is running a virulently antibusiness administration that spews out a steady flow of job- and economy-crushing regulations. Read more...
Washington Post - GOP takes aim at process of crafting regulations (11/30/11)
According to the study by the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards, the RAA would add 21 to 39 months to the rulemaking process, which can already stretch into several years when businesses and agencies jostle over the details of implementation. Read more...
Roll Call - House GOP expands regulation fight (11/29/11)
Each of these bills would make it virtually impossible for federal agencies to ensure that American families are protected from tainted food, unsafe drugs, predatory financial schemes, dirty air and water, and dangerous workplaces, wrote the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards, which includes more than 70 consumer and public interest groups,... Read more...
Roll Call - No End for K Street Deficit Lobbying (11/22/11)
A coalition of consumer, labor, health, scientific, environmental and government watchdog groups is gearing up for a post-Thanksgiving push to fight new GOP-authored bills aimed at reining in federal rules. Read more...
Greenwire - Groups tryng to strip Democratic support from rule-curbing bills (11/22/11)
The Coalition for Sensible Safeguards -- a group of 70 labor, environmental and consumer organizations -- is visiting congressional offices this week, while the Natural Resources Defense Council and others are waving red flags in the media about the "Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act," or "REINS... Read more...
Washington Post (LTE) - Regulating vs. protecting jobs (11/17/11)
The current policy debate on jobs and regulation is not driven by a good-faith difference of opinion. Rather, it reflects a back-door campaign by business lobbyists to prevent enforcement of popular, protective laws. Read more...
Portland Press Herald - Maine Voices: Businesses don't need 'timeout' (11/13/11)
Speaking as a business owner, I honestly wish too much paperwork and "regulatory uncertainty" were the biggest problems facing my business. They're not. My biggest problem is a much more urgent one: a shortage of customers. Read more...
Washington Post - Does government regulation really kill jobs? Economists say overall effect minimal. (11/13/11)
Economists who have studied the matter say that there is little evidence that regulations cause massive job loss in the economy, and that rolling them back would not lead to a boom in job creation. Read more...
The Hill - Regulatory reform good for multinationals, yet bad for you (11/1/11)
There is no way to describe the Regulatory Accountability Act in any other simpler terms than to call it what it isa budget-busting, anti-democracy, Corporate Attorneys Full Employment Act. Read more...
The Nation - The GOP's Deregulation Obsession (10/31/11)
Its hard to imagine a worse time for big business to conduct a full-blown attack on regulatory protections. The country continues to suffer from a deep recession caused in large part by financial deregulation and underenforcement of existing rules. A string of corporate disastersthe BP oil gusher, the Massey coal... Read more...
The American Prospect - Running Out the Clock on Government Regulations (10/25/11)
House Republicans have made no secret of their desire to roll back the legislative accomplishments of the first two years of the Obama administration. Here's a sampling of how the REINS Act would hurt American families... Read more...
Huffington Post - National Poll Says America Wants the EPA (10/23/11)
A new national poll demonstrates that the loudest voices are distinctly out of touch with the public's preference for strong regulations to protect the country's health. Voters aren't buying the specious "jobs versus clean air/water" argument. More importantly, they have a clear preference for the findings of Environmental Protection Agency... Read more...
New York Times - Party of Pollution (10/20/11)
Last month President Obama finally unveiled a serious economic stimulus plan far short of what Id like to see, but a step in the right direction. Republicans, predictably, have blocked it. But the new plan, combined with the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, seems to have shifted the national conversation.... Read more...
Associated Press - FACT CHECK: Regs not a huge jobs killer (10/11/11)
Is regulation strangling the American entrepreneur? Several Republican presidential candidates say so. The numbers don't. Read more...
The Motley Fool - Why the Jobs Disappeared (10/5/11)
By a factor of as much as 200-to-1, it's lack of demand, not regulation, that's causing jobs to disappear. Supply issues have actually caused more layoffs this year than government regulations. Read more...
New York Times - Misrepresentations, Regulations and Jobs (10/4/11)
Republicans have a problem. People are increasingly concerned about unemployment, but Republicans have nothing to offer them. The G.O.P. opposes additional government spending for jobs programs and, in fact, favors big cuts in spending that would be likely to lead to further layoffs at all levels of government. Read more...
Washington Post - Regulations arent to blame for the uncovery (9/30/11)
When looking at both what employers are doing in terms of hiring and investing and what they (and their economists) are saying in private surveys, its nearly impossible to make the argument that uncertainty about regulations is holding back the economy. Read more...
New York Times - Phony Fear Factor (9/29/11)
The first thing you need to know, then, is that theres no evidence supporting the claim that regulations are harming job growth. In fact, there is a lot of evidence showing that its false. Read more...
Arkansas Democrat Gazette - Pryor bill adds hurdles for expensive regulations (9/23/11)
U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor introduced legislation Thursday aimed at making the federal regulatory process better, cheaper and faster, and immediately drew fire from critics who said the measure would favor corporations over consumers. Read more...
ProPublica - Do Regulations Really Kill Jobs Overall? Not So Much (9/21/11)
The effect of regulation on jobs has nothing to do with the mess were in. The current GOP rhetoric about regulation killing jobs is nothing more than not letting a good crisis go to waste. Read more...
Mother Jones - The Great Regulation Charade (9/20/11)
One more time, then, this time with feeling: the big problem faced by businesses today is economic uncertainty, not regulatory uncertainty. Business owners may not like new rules (who does?), but their real problem is a lack of customers. Read more...
McClatchy - Regulations, taxes aren't killing small business, owners say (9/1/11)
McClatchy reached out to owners of small businesses, many of them mom-and-pop operations, to find out whether they indeed were being choked by regulation. None of the business owners complained about regulation in their particular industries, and most seemed to welcome it. Read more...
Charleston Gazette - Mine safety going in wrong direction (8/31/11)
Rolling back regulations, as the U.S. Chamber is using Andrew Card and Evan Bayh to urge, can only lead to more disasters like the explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine, the recent financial meltdown that led to the current recession and the Deep Water Horizon oil spill. Read more...
New Jersey Record - Job-killing regulations do nothing of the sort (8/15/11)
It's time to kill the phrase job-killing regulations. Its a clever slogan invented by corporate lobbyists. But it happens to be a lie. Read more...
The Hill - Small businesses shouldn't be used as an argument for regulatory 'reform' (7/22/11)
Most small businesses are tired of large corporations using them as the argument for reducing regulation. Read more...
Huffington Post - The Bankers Who Cried Wolf: Wall Street's History Of Hyperbole About Regulation (6/21/11)
Today, Wall Street is again on the attack against a regulatory overhaul that includes more stringent investor and consumer protections. Though the financial landscape is far different and the details of the proposals have changed since 1912, the industry is using much of the same alarmist rhetoric to oppose new... Read more...
Huffington Post - The Harms of Regulation Phobia (6/2/11)
Safe food. Seatbelts. Safety on the job. Clean air and water. A functioning financial system. These are all things that we as Americans have come to take for granted in our daily lives. And, though it has become unfashionable to say so, these are all things provided by robust federal... Read more...