REINS act

=<div>back 2017 115th </div><div>todd young?</div><div>
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</div><div><div class="headline-container" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 10px; padding: 0px; position: relative; line-height: 31px;">Koch Network Took Credit for Dakota Access, Keystone XL and REINS Act, Leaked Memo Shows</h1></div><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2540819277" data-authors="DeSmogBlog" data-headline="Koch Network Took Credit for Dakota Access, Keystone XL and REINS Act, Leaked Memo Shows" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description">By Steve HornA <a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/02/25/koch-brothers-trump-administration/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">leaked memorandum published</a> by <a href="https://theintercept.com/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">The Intercept</a> and <a href="http://documentedinvestigations.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Documented Investigations</a> shows that a <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/koch-brothers" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Koch</a> Industries' donors network, known as the <a href="https://seminarnetwork.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Seminar Network</a>, has taken credit for Donald <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Trump</a> approving the permits for both the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/dakota-access-pipeline" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Dakota Access</a> and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/keystone-xl" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Keystone XL</a> pipelines during the first months of his presidency.The memo also applauded efforts by the Koch network's <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/americans-for-prosperity" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Americans for Prosperity</a> (AFP) chapter in Wisconsin to pass a deregulatory measure there known as the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/topics/reins-act" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">REINS Act</a>. The Seminar Network, which meets secretly twice a year, is made up of<a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/koch-brothers-network-planning-massive-spending-increase-for-2018-midterms" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;"> donors who give at least $100,000 toward Koch-led political and philanthropic efforts</a>.Koch Industries has a business interest in both <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines" style="text-decoration-line: none;">pipelines</a>, though their approval has not been something its funded network has widely discussed. Quietly, though, Koch has advocated for the pair of pipelines in regulatory hearings in both Iowa for Dakota Access—as <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/04/08/koch-dakota-access-pipeline" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">previously reported by DeSmog</a>—as well as in Canada, as <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20120510/koch-industries-brothers-tar-sands-bitumen-heavy-oil-flint-pipelines-refinery-alberta-canada" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">reported in 2012</a> by InsideClimate News.The REINS (Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny) Act, which GOP officials have been pushing in Congress since Obama's first term, <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/07/10/koch-reins-act-wisconsin-governor-scott-walker" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">passed as state law</a> in Wisconsin in 2017. The law, long considered crown jewel legislation by the Koch front group AFP, gives legislative bodies full veto authority over regulations proposed by executive agencies. Conservative groups in Wisconsin <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/01/07/bradley-foundation-koch-wisconsin-reins-act-lawsuit" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">already are using the law</a> to sue the top state public education officer."State legislatures, particularly in states with a strong Network presence, have also made significant progress toward removing harmful and unnecessary regulations. For example, Wisconsin this year went so far as to enact the nation's first REINS Act, which will require legislative approval of any issued regulation that has an impact above a certain cost threshold," <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4364737-Koch-Seminar-Network.html" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">reads the Koch Seminar Network document</a>.The <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/american-legislative-exchange-council" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">American Legislative Exchange Council</a>, a corporate-funded group of mostly Republican Party state legislators, has a <a href="https://www.alec.org/model-policy/draft-resolution-calling-on-congress-to-pass-to-pass-the-regulations-from-the-executive-in-need-of-scrutiny-reins-act/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">REINS Act model resolution</a> on the books, which supports the federal version of this legislation. In 2017, six states introduced pro-REINS Act resolutions: <a href="http://kslegislature.org/li/b2017_18/measures/hcr5003/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Kansas</a>, <a href="http://laws.leg.mt.gov/legprd/LAW0210W$BSIV.ActionQuery?P_BILL_NO1=6&P_BLTP_BILL_TYP_CD=SJ&Z_ACTION=Find&P_SESS=20171" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Montana</a>, <a href="https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HCR85&year=2018&code=R" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Missouri</a>, <a href="http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/en-US/display/20172018/HR/1293" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Georgia</a>, <a href="https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/legislation-summary?id=GA132-HCR-24" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Ohio</a> and <a href="http://www.scstatehouse.gov/billsearch.php?billnumbers=3401&session=122&summary=B" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">South Carolina</a>. ALEC—which brings corporate lobbyists and state legislators together at annual meetings for networking, seminars and voting on what it dubs "<a href="https://www.alec.org/model-policy" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">model policies</a>" —maintains <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/alec-exposed-koch-connection" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">close connections</a> with the Koch network.Koch, KXL, DAPL Business TiesKoch Industries also owns assets in a <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/tar-sands" style="text-decoration-line: none;">tar sands</a> reservoir located in Alberta, Canada, both in the form of lease holdings for land and as a company with a drilling interest. For the latter, Koch owns Koch Oil Sands Operating, which has a drilling interest in both the <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20120919/koch-brothers-industries-canadian-tar-sands-properties-keystone-xl-pipeline-alberta-dilbit-climate-skeptics" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Gemini and Muskwa</a> tar sands fields in Alberta.It also owns 1-2 million acres' worth of land (the <a href="http://ifg.org/koch-tar-sands-acreage/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">exact number</a> is <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1059996591" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">contested</a>) in the tar sands for prospective future leasing, according to a <a href="http://kochcash.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Embargo_Report.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">2013 report</a> published by the International Forum on Globalization. Keystone XL, the pipeline owned by <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/5420" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">TransCanada</a> and approved by Trump and his U.S. Department of State in March 2017, would bring around <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/18012018/keystone-xl-pipeline-status-tar-sands-oil-export-nebraska-map-transcanada" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">500,000 currently-booked barrels per day of tar sands oil</a> from Alberta to Cushing, Oklahoma, where the pipeline connects with TransCanada's <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/14265" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Gulf Coast Pipeline</a>.Gulf Coast, which was approved by President Barack Obama in a 2012 election season executive order, sends the tar sands bitumen down to Port Arthur, Texas, where the substance is refined into products and then sent to market.</div></div></div><div>
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</div><div>Koch Industries even <a href="http://negotiating%20confidential%20agreements%20with%20the%20landowners/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">nearly testified</a> at a 2012 hearing in support of its development of tar sands, before backing out after signing confidentiality agreements with impacted landowners. Much of the tar sands extracted in Alberta is refined at Koch's refinery in Pine Bend, Minnesota, which is owned by its subsidiary <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/5218" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Flint Hills Resources</a> and is the <a href="http://priceofoil.org/2013/12/13/refinery-report-new-online-tool-tracks-tar-sands-flows-north-america/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">top refiner of tar sands</a> in the U.S. at <a href="http://www.refineryreport.org/numill.php?id=1408" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">223,000 barrels per day</a>, as of 2013.
For Dakota Access, Koch also quietly came out in support of the pipeline via its front group, the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/60-plus-association" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">60 Plus Association</a>, which purports to be a conservative alternative to the American Association of Retired Persons for seniors. Through intermediary groups, 60 Plus had received tens of millions of dollars from the Koch network.<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/04/08/koch-dakota-access-pipeline" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Koch Industries has a direct tie</a> to Dakota Access, through a storage terminal part-owned by its subsidiary Flint Resources and located in North Dakota's <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/7174" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Bakken Shale</a> basin. As <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/04/08/koch-dakota-access-pipeline" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">DeSmog previously reported</a>, this terminal, called the COLT Hub, feeds oil into the Dakota Access pipeline.Back in 2015 when the pipeline was hotly contested in Iowa, a representative for 60 Plus <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/60%20Plus%20Association%20DAPL%204.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">testified on behalf</a> of Dakota Access in front of the Iowa Utilities Board."The Dakota Access Pipeline Project is important to seniors for several reasons. High energy prices are disproportionately impacting America's low and fixed-income senior citizens today—citizens that often have limited financial resources with which to meet their needs," the 60 Plus representative testified in September 2015. "By helping the United States to better capitalize upon its growing domestic energy resources—and affordably transport these resources to market—the Dakota Access Pipeline will help to foster stability within energy markets nationwide, and improve the availability of affordable American produced crude oil."60 Plus also began lobbying and campaigning on behalf of the Dakota Access as the protest movement grew against the pipeline at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota. Around the same time those protests began in September 2016, 60 Plus deployed its chairman, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-martin-2472b27/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Jim Martin</a>, to begin <a href="https://soprweb.senate.gov/index.cfm?event=getFilingDetails&filingID=1198D7A2-3128-4BDC-9D09-FA85A875E2AE&filingTypeID=73" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">lobbying Congress</a>about Dakota Access. Martin also wrote an opinion piece that month supporting the pipeline for the publication Morning Consult."Whether it's heating or cooling your home or putting gas in your car, the cheaper the energy, the more economically stable your checkbook will be," wrote Martin. "The 60 Plus Association's 5.5 million members know this all too well. This is why as an organization that champions free enterprise and who have championed energy issues for seniors before, we strongly support the Dakota Access pipeline."'Whole New Level'In the 2018 election cycle, the Koch network plans to spend up to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/28/politics/koch-network-2018-outlook/index.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">$400 million</a> to keep the Republican majority in Congress and GOP control over statehouses nationwide."We've made more progress in the last five years than I had in the last 50," Charles Koch, one of the infamous petrochemical billionaire Koch brothers, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/david-koch-charles-koch-network-is-going-all-in-for-2018-midterms/" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">said in January at a private Seminar Network meeting</a> held in Indian Wells, California. "The capabilities we have now can take us to a whole new level."</div></div><div>=<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/01/05/koch-reins-act-congress-trump">https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/01/05/koch-reins-act-congress-trump</a>One of the first orders of business for the freshly convened 115th Congress — now that it's <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/03/us/politics/trump-house-ethics-office.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">no longer attempting to gut an independent ethics office</a>  — is to pass a bill which could weaken the ability of federal regulatory agencies to do their jobs. That law, the <a href="http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20170102/BILLS-115HR-REINS17-PIH.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">REINS (Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny) Act of 2017</a>, has long been a legislative priority for <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/koch-industries-inc" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Koch Industries</a>, Koch-funded advocacy groups such as <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/americans-for-prosperity" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Americans for Prosperity</a>, and the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/american-legislative-exchange-council" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)</a>. Its latest iteration, <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/26" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">H.R. 26</a>, has the <a href="http://www.speaker.gov/general/regulatory-reform-remarks-weekly-press-briefing" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">backing</a> of Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) and <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/26/cosponsors" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">159 co-sponsors</a> (five Democrats and 154 Republicans) and has reached full debate on the House floor.REINS dictates that a “major rule shall not take effect unless the Congress enacts a joint resolution of approval” and won't become law if Congress does not pass that resolution by “70 session days or legislative days, as applicable.”President Barack Obama's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) came out against the 2015 version of the REINS Act.The OMB pointed toward the myriad existing safeguards that already ensure regulatory agency accountability, including the federal court system, the fact that many regulatory proposals actually stem from laws passed by Congress, and the requirement for robust public commenting periods.“This radical departure from the longstanding separation of powers between the Executive and Legislative branches would delay and, in many cases, thwart implementation of statutory mandates and execution of duly-enacted laws, create business uncertainty, undermine much-needed protections of the American public, and cause unnecessary confusion,” <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/sap/114/saphr427r_20150727.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">OMBwrote in July 2015</a>.“By replacing this well-established framework with a blanket requirement of Congressional approval, H.R. 427 would throw all major regulations into a months-long limbo, fostering uncertainty and impeding business investment that is vital to economic growth.”<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/sap/114/saphr427r_20150727.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" src="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Screen%20Shot%202017-01-04%20at%205.16.00%20PM.png" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; width: auto; height: auto !important;" /></a>Image Credit: <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/sap/114/saphr427r_20150727.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">White House Office of Management and Budget</a> A DeSmog investigation shows that Koch Industries and its front groups have been behind the earliest pushes to pass the REINS Act.  <h3 style="line-height: 1.28205em; margin-top: 1.28205em; margin-bottom: 1.28205em;">“Obama Chart”</h3>Tellingly, the only person President-elect Donald Trump has spoken to on the record about REINS is <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Phil_Kerpen" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Phil Kerpen</a>, president of the think-tank <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Commitment" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">American Commitment</a>.According to <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerpen" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">his LinkedIn profile</a>, Kerpen worked for more than five years as Vice President of Policy for the Koch-founded and Koch-funded <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/americans-for-prosperity" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Americans for Prosperity</a> (AFP).“I will sign the REINS Act should it reach my desk as President and more importantly I will work hard to get it passed,” <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/12/30/s-time-rein-regulators/96001658/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Trump said in a statement for Kerpen's</a> December 30, 2016 op-ed.“The monstrosity that is the Federal Government with its pages and pages of rules and regulations has been a disaster for the American economy and job growth. The REINS Act is one major step toward getting our government under control.”Kerpen's post was titled, “It's time to rein in regulators.” In his 2011 book Democracy Denied: How Obama is Ignoring You and Bypassing Congress to Radically Transform America - and How to Stop Him, written while he still worked for AFP, Kerpen devoted an entire chapter in support of REINS.During that time, AFP also ran <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110511154233/http://americansforprosperity.org/obamachart.php" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">ObamaChart.com</a>, a website DeSmog tracked down using internet archives, which depicted the REINS legislation as the solution for reversing “how it has become standard procedure in the Obama administration not to take no for an answer.”<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/web.archive.org/web/20110312081128/http%3A//americansforprosperity.org/ObamaChart2.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" src="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Screen%20Shot%202017-01-04%20at%207.43.45%20PM.png" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; width: auto; height: auto !important;" /></a>Image credit: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110312081128/http://americansforprosperity.org/ObamaChart2.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Way Back Machine</a>In the introduction to Democracy Denied, Kerpen says the book “is an extended commentary on the chart,” with the REINSAct serving as a panacea for the problem he claims exists.“Support for the REINS Act needs to be a basic litmus test for candidates for the House of Representatives, Senate, and president of the United States,” wrote Kerpen in his book. “Candidates who refuse to promise to restore accountability for legislative decisions to Congress are not worthy of support.”Fast-forwarding to today, Kerpen and American Commitment have launched a social media push for REINS, purchased the web domain <a href="http://reinsact.com/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">REINSAct.com</a> in July 2015, and started an <a href="http://action.americancommitment.org/10929/reinsactcom-congress-must-do-its-job/?src=reinsact" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">online petition</a> campaign advocating for REINS' passage, which to date has garnered over 113,000 signatures.[vid]
Koch LobbyingAccording to lobbying disclosure forms, Koch Industries began lobbying on the REINS Act in <a href="https://soprweb.senate.gov/index.cfm?event=getFilingDetails&filingID=0195026B-D82C-4600-A385-727154EE9C70&filingTypeID=69" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">the third quarter of 2010</a>. Joining Koch <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/billsum.php?id=hr3765-111" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">were the likes of</a> the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/us-chamber-commerce" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">U.S. Chamber of Commerce</a> and the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/heritage-foundation" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Heritage Foundation</a>'s Heritage Action for America.That same year, congressional Republicans issued their “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/GOP_pledge_09222010.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Pledge to America</a>” before the mid-term elections, which included the basic tenets of REINS and even included the word “rein.”The Koch brothers <a href="https://www.republicreport.org/2012/koch-secret-electioneering/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">spent millions of dollars</a> to elect Republicans during that landmark electoral cycle, which saw Republicans take a majority in the U.S. House, pick up 680 statehouse seats, and win six gubernatorial elections.“We will rein in the red tape factory in Washington, DC by requiring congressional approval of any new federal regulation that may add to our deficit and make it harder to create jobs,” promised congressional Republicans.In 2012, the new congressional session introduced REINS once again, this time with much more backing from industry lobbyists. Koch, Heritage, and the Chamber of Commerce were <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/billsum.php?id=hr10-112" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">joined this time around</a> by Peabody Energy, Duke Energy, Arch Coal, Southern Company, ExxonMobil, Marathon Oil, and others. Also in 2012, ALEC — which is funded by and which provides a corporate bill mill forum for all of these players — <a href="https://www.alec.org/model-policy/resolution-in-support-of-the-regulations-from-the-executive-in-need-of-scrutiny-reins-act/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">passed a model resolution</a> in support of REINS. For more recent versions of the bill, the oil and gas industry at large have now come on board through the <a href="https://soprweb.senate.gov/index.cfm?event=getFilingDetails&filingID=F675A3D5-31F3-45F5-BC71-D5BF7DD8111D&filingTypeID=69" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">American Petroleum Institute</a> and the <a href="https://www.westernenergyalliance.org/sites/default/files/Western%20Energy%20Alliance%20Letter%20of%20Support%20for%20the%20REINS%20Act.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Western Energy Alliance</a> (WEA).“The bill provides common-sense ways to ensure regulatory accountability to the American people through their elected representatives and to reduce the unintended negative consequences of new regulations on economic and job growth,” <a href="https://www.westernenergyalliance.org/sites/default/files/Western%20Energy%20Alliance%20Letter%20of%20Support%20for%20the%20REINS%20Act.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">wrote WEA in an April 2015 letter</a>.Coming full circle, <a href="https://lobbying.wi.gov/Who/PrincipalInformation/2015REG/Information/6283?tab=Efforts" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Koch </a><a href="https://lobbying.wi.gov/Who/PrincipalInformation/2015REG/Information/6283?tab=Efforts" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Industries</a> and <a href="https://lobbying.wi.gov/Who/PrincipalInformation/2015REG/Information/6635?tab=Efforts" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">AFP</a> lobbied for a <a href="https://americansforprosperity.org/assembly-committee-takes-bold-action-on-reins-act/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">state-level version of the REINS Act</a> in 2015 in Wisconsin, according to the state's lobbying disclosure database. The bill, <a href="https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2015/proposals/ab251" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Assembly Bill 251</a>, passed in the State Assembly but not in the Senate and <a href="http://www.thewheelerreport.com/wheeler_docs/files/0105lemahieu_01.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">was just re-introduced for the 2017 session</a>.On December 20, 2016, AFP <a href="https://americansforprosperity.org/7-things-everyones-wishlist-new-congress-2/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">included passage of the REINS Act</a> in its list of “7 Things That Should Be On Everyone’s Wishlist for Our New Congress” and on January 4, the group published a <a href="https://americansforprosperity.org/afp-calls-house-rein-regulatory-overreach/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">press release calling for its passage</a>, while Kerpen posted an article saying “<a href="http://www.jacksonsun.com/story/opinion/columnists/2017/01/04/we-were-never-closer-seeing-reins-act-become-law/96090608/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">We were never closer to seeing REINS Act become law</a>.”During his presidential campaign, Trump referred to Republicans reliant on Koch money as “puppets” and said he turned down a meeting with the Koch brothers. Yet, the Trump administration is <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/12/19/trump-administration-filling-koch-allies" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">increasingly loaded with Koch allies</a>.<h3 style="line-height: 1.28205em; margin-top: 1.28205em; margin-bottom: 1.28205em;">“Dream About”</h3>Not everyone, however, is thrilled with the REINS Act. In a <a href="http://cdn.americanprogress.org/content/uploads/2017/01/03134940/CAPDeregulatory-LetterJan42017.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">January 4 letter</a> written to Speaker Ryan and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the Center for American Progress (CAP) said that if the REINS Act passes, it would be akin to a “shutdown” of federal regulatory agencies.“By requiring an affirmative vote by Congress for a regulation to become effective, and allowing non-action to result, effectively, in a veto of those regulations, the REINS Act is for all intents and purposes a shutdown of the regulatory branch of the Federal government,” wrote CAP. “Congress should do its job and protect the public, not hand the government over to corporate and special interests.”The Natural Resources Defense Council has also <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/david-goldston/reins-act-why-congress-should-hold-its-horses" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">denounced the bill</a>.Ryan, however, feels his party has a mandate to pass legislation such as the REINS Act. In the address he gave after being announced Speaker of the House for the 115th Congress, Ryan called the three branches of GOP-controlled government a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” [img]“This is the kind of thing that most of us only dream about. I know — because I used to dream about it,” said Ryan. “The people have given us unified government. And it wasn’t because they were feeling generous. It’s because they wanted results.”*Update: On the U.S. Senate side of things <a href="https://www.paul.senate.gov/news/press/senators-reintroduce-reins-act" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">REINS has also been introduced as S.21</a> and has 27 co-sponsors.<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/21/cosponsors" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">27 co-sponsors</a>.Update: Though it has yet to pass in the House, Koch-funded front group <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/freedomworks" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">FreedomWorks</a> already <a href="http://freedomworks.org/content/freedomworks-applauds-house-passage-reins-act" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">has a URL in place </a>celebrating the passage of REINS, which popped up via Google Alerts.<div>
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</div><div>death star; OMG</div><div>
</div><div>kind of like anti-kyoto, prop 23 does not go straight at regulations  (that most ppl wpuld approve of, like clean air) but neurtralizes if hurts economy, or in reins, req second step to implement thus kills</div><div>
</div><div>And it's not just the transition team that's looking for help from Koch minions—it's Trump himself. As Steve Horn <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/01/05/koch-reins-act-congress-trump" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(82, 149, 70); outline: none; font-family: Hind; font-size: 18px; word-wrap: break-word;">reported</a> in DeSmog, the only person Trump spoke to on the record about a big anti-regulatory act that's been on the Kochs' agenda for years was Phil Kerpen, former vice president of policy for Americans for Prosperity.The <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/reins-act-2187697823.html" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(82, 149, 70); outline: none; font-family: Hind; font-size: 18px; word-wrap: break-word;">REINS Act</a> just passed the House on Jan. 5.</div><div>
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</div><div>Last, week, under the cover of a media bliss-out except among <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/koch-brothers" style="color: rgb(82, 149, 70); text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Koch</a> funded right-wing channels, the House of Representatives <a href="http://jeffduncan.house.gov/press-release/rep-duncan-applauds-passage-groundbreaking-reins-act" target="blank" style="color: rgb(82, 149, 70); text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;">passed a bill</a> which would effectively repeal future standard setting under every important environmental, public health, consumer protection, labor standards, occupational safety and civil rights law on the books.The bill, called the REINS Act, requires that any future major regulation adopted by an Executive Agency—say a new toxic chemical standard required by the recently enacted Chemical Safety Act, or a new consumer protection rule about some innovative but untested kind of food additive—must be approved by a specific resolution in each House of Congress within 70 days to take effect.To give a sense of the scale of this road-block, in 2015 there were <a href="http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2016/05/red-tape-rising-2016-obama-regs-top-100-billion-annually" target="blank" style="color: rgb(82, 149, 70); text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;">43 such major federal</a> regulations passed to protect the public; among them were food safety regulations, the Clean Power Plan regulating pollution from electrical generating facilities, net neutrality rules protecting the internet from monopoly, restrictions on predatory lending and energy efficiency standards for appliances.If the REINS Act had been in effect, it unlikely that the Tea Party dominated Republican caucus in the House would have approved of any of these rules. Future standard setting under the entire body of legislation enacted over the past 40 years to protect the public, from the Clean Air Act to the Dodd Frank financial sector reforms, would be frozen. Over time, as new health, safety, consumer and labor protection issues arise, all of these laws will effectively have been repealed, with no public debate and no accountability. It will also be impossible to restore them as long as the REINS Act is in effect, because by requiring Congress to approve every regulation, it makes it impossible to pass technically complex and scientifically valid rules on any topic of controversy.As one example, the REINS Act would totally neuter the new Chemical Safety Act, just passed by the Republican Congress last year. The act requires U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" style="color: rgb(82, 149, 70); text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;">EPA</a>) to review and set standards for 10 widely abused chemicals in the next six months alone. The act passed only because in exchange, states gave up much of their power to protect their citizens from toxic chemicals; without that incentive, the Tea Party will certainly act to prevent EPA from restricting the use of these chemicals. But the states only agreed to give up in exchange for the promise that EPA would act. But the REINS act neuters this promise. Even if the House Republican caucus was willing in theory to consider such rules, there is simply no way Congress could add 10-40 new pieces of legislation to its work load in the chemical safety area alone. In fact, the House <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-hank-johnson/the-so-called-midnight-ru_b_13074236.html" target="blank" style="color: rgb(82, 149, 70); text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;">also just passed legislation</a> to allow it to REPEAL all of President Obama's regulatory acts in the last eight months of his term in office with one vote. Why? Because House members said there was not time for individual votes on each rule—exactly the requirement they just established for new rules.Worse, Congress totally lacks the technical competence to review these kinds of complex rules. Do we really want members of Congress deciding whether a chemical can safely be used in food packaging? Or the proper procedures for approving new drugs as safe and effective? Or setting the allowable safety standard for heavy metals in drinking water?The vote was 237-187. All Republicans voted for it; only two Democrats, Colin Peterson of Minnesota and Henry Cuellar of Texas, joined them. A Google search five days after the bill passed the House revealed no mention in major media except <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-regulations-idUSKBN14Q07B" target="blank" style="color: rgb(82, 149, 70); text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;">one Reuters story</a> with limited pick-up and a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/01/02/will-a-republican-congress-place-reins-on-a-president-trump/?utm_term=.9095a2e61b8d" target="blank" style="color: rgb(82, 149, 70); text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Washington Post op-ed</a> by one of its major supporters. Even on-line virtually all of the commentary was from the backers of the REINS Act; the only significant alerts of the danger came from the <a href="https://www.bluegreenalliance.org/take-action/actions/3255/" target="blank" style="color: rgb(82, 149, 70); text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Blue Green Alliance</a> and <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/01/05/koch-reins-act-congress-trump" target="blank" style="color: rgb(82, 149, 70); text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;">DeSmogBlog</a>.Progressives may be counting on the fact that <a href="https://pjmedia.com/trending/2017/01/06/house-passes-reins-act-to-curb-job-crushing-regulations/" target="blank" style="color: rgb(82, 149, 70); text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;">the Senate has previously refused to pass the bill</a> and that it's broad over-reaching will doom it. But these are not ordinary times and past behavior is far from reliable in predicting today's politics.It's time—past time—for a massive mobilization to make clear to Congress and the new President that a wholesale repeal of 40 years of progress in environmental protection, civil rights, labor standards, health and safety and consumer protection is a third rail, and that pretending that the REINS act increases accountability is a fig-leaf that public scrutiny must shred.Ask your favorite public interest organization what it is doing today to stop the REINS Act in the Senate.<div>
</div><div>=</div><div><div class="article-text-wrap" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1160px; max-width: 1160px; letter-spacing: -0.1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="article-text-grid" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px -20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.5em 0px 1.5em 200px; padding: 0px 20px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.55; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: -0.005em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; flex: 0 0 66.6667%; flex-direction: column; width: 800px; max-width: 66.6667%;">The GOP’s plans for environmental regulation are hardly a secret. The Senate’s new leadership includes a majority leader who promised he would “<a href="http://www.kentucky.com/2014/11/06/3525294_kentuckys-mcconnell-reflects-after.html?rh=1" target="blank" rel="nofollow" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background-image: linear-gradient(to top, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0%, rgb(255, 255, 255) 49%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 50%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 100%); background-size: 2px 2px; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-position: 0px 97.5%; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.05em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.05em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.075em 0px;">get the EPA reined in,”</a> an environmental chairman who thinks <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/120134/climate-change-denier-james-inhofe-lead-environment-committee" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background-image: linear-gradient(to top, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0%, rgb(255, 255, 255) 49%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 50%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 100%); background-size: 2px 2px; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-position: 0px 97.5%; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.05em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.05em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.075em 0px;">global warming is a hoax</a>, and a newly elected senator who would like to <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/joni-ernst-bruce-braley-clash-over-epa-in-debate-111810.html" target="blank" rel="nofollow" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background-image: linear-gradient(to top, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0%, rgb(255, 255, 255) 49%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 50%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 100%); background-size: 2px 2px; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-position: 0px 97.5%; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.05em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.05em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.075em 0px;">eliminate the EPA</a> altogether.<p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.5em 0px 1.5em 200px; padding: 0px 20px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.55; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: -0.005em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; flex: 0 0 66.6667%; flex-direction: column; width: 800px; max-width: 66.6667%;">Their most publicized plan is <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/120103/what-gop-senate-plans-environment" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background-image: linear-gradient(to top, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0%, rgb(255, 255, 255) 49%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 50%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 100%); background-size: 2px 2px; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-position: 0px 97.5%; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.05em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.05em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.075em 0px;">to derail</a> the Obama administration’s proposed cuts to carbon pollution, but there are plenty of other, lesser-known EPA targets that are equally at risk. Republicans are attempting to…<p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.5em 0px 1.5em 200px; padding: 0px 20px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.55; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: -0.005em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; flex: 0 0 66.6667%; flex-direction: column; width: 800px; max-width: 66.6667%;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Fight Ozone Reduction</div></div><div class="article-text-wrap" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1160px; max-width: 1160px; letter-spacing: -0.1px;"><div class="article-text-grid" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px -20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.5em 0px 1.5em 200px; padding: 0px 20px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.55; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: -0.005em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; flex: 0 0 66.6667%; flex-direction: column; width: 800px; max-width: 66.6667%;">The EPA will announce new regulations that lower the existing standard for ozone, or smog, from a current level of 75 parts per billion, which scientists say is too high to protect public health. Exactly how ambitious this proposal is won’t be known for a few weeks. But GOP leadership has already pledged to prevent it. South Dakota Senator John Thune proposed a <a href="http://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2014/9/thune-introduces-bill-to-block-most-costly-and-burdensome-epa-regulation-in-history" target="blank" rel="nofollow" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background-image: linear-gradient(to top, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0%, rgb(255, 255, 255) 49%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 50%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 100%); background-size: 2px 2px; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-position: 0px 97.5%; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.05em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.05em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.075em 0px;">bill</a> that would block any new standard until there is 85 percent compliance with the old one.<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.5em 0px 1.5em 200px; padding: 0px 20px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.55; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: -0.005em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; flex: 0 0 66.6667%; flex-direction: column; width: 800px; max-width: 66.6667%;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Limit the Clean Water Act<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.5em 0px 1.5em 200px; padding: 0px 20px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.55; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: -0.005em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; flex: 0 0 66.6667%; flex-direction: column; width: 800px; max-width: 66.6667%;">This spring, the EPA proposed a rule to answer a question that has lingered for at least a decade: Which streams and wetlands does the 42-year-old <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/epa-proposes-greater-protections-for-streams-wetlands-under-clean-water-act/2014/03/25/4811cd36-b42c-11e3-b899-20667de76985_story.html" target="blank" rel="nofollow" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background-image: linear-gradient(to top, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0%, rgb(255, 255, 255) 49%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 50%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 100%); background-size: 2px 2px; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-position: 0px 97.5%; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.05em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.05em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.075em 0px;">Clean Water Act protect</a>? The EPA’s rule makes previously unregulated waters subject to new pollution restrictions—and that has made conservatives furious. The EPA  says these streams and wetlands are important to both drinking water supplies and wildlife. There are already <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/209997-30-gop-senators-sponsor-bill-to-stop-epas-water-rule" target="blank" rel="nofollow" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background-image: linear-gradient(to top, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0%, rgb(255, 255, 255) 49%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 50%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 100%); background-size: 2px 2px; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-position: 0px 97.5%; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.05em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.05em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.075em 0px;">30 Republican senators</a> who have already signed onto legislation to prevent this rule.<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.5em 0px 1.5em 200px; padding: 0px 20px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.55; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: -0.005em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; flex: 0 0 66.6667%; flex-direction: column; width: 800px; max-width: 66.6667%;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Allow Congress to Block Major Regulations<p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.5em 0px 1.5em 200px; padding: 0px 20px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.55; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: -0.005em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; flex: 0 0 66.6667%; flex-direction: column; width: 800px; max-width: 66.6667%;">There is a little-known bill that could bring the entire regulatory process to a standstill. It’s called the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (<a href="http://www.paul.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=719" target="blank" rel="nofollow" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background-image: linear-gradient(to top, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0%, rgb(255, 255, 255) 49%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 50%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 100%); background-size: 2px 2px; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-position: 0px 97.5%; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.05em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.05em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.075em 0px;">REINS</a>) Act and would require any regulation costing the economy over $100 million a year to also pass an up-or-down vote in Congress. If Congress doesn’t hold a vote within 70 days, the regulation dies. This gives a Republican Congress direct control of regulations that are all well within the EPA’s authority to enact—thanks to Congress’ own Clean Air and Water Acts. Mitch McConnell hasn’t hinted what his plans might be on this bill, which already passed the House of Representatives <a href="http://simpson.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=345033" target="blank" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background-image: linear-gradient(to top, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0%, rgb(255, 255, 255) 49%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 50%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 100%); background-size: 2px 2px; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-position: 0px 97.5%; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.05em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.05em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.075em 0px;">last year</a>. Kentucky’s junior Senator Rand Paul already<a href="http://www.paul.senate.gov/?p=REINS_act" target="blank" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background-image: linear-gradient(to top, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0%, rgb(255, 255, 255) 49%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 50%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 100%); background-size: 2px 2px; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-position: 0px 97.5%; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.05em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.05em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.075em 0px;"> supports</a> it.<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.5em 0px 1.5em 200px; padding: 0px 20px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.55; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: -0.005em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; flex: 0 0 66.6667%; flex-direction: column; width: 800px; max-width: 66.6667%;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Stall Coal Regulations With Numbers Games<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.5em 0px 1.5em 200px; padding: 0px 20px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.55; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: -0.005em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; flex: 0 0 66.6667%; flex-direction: column; width: 800px; max-width: 66.6667%;">Ever since the EPA hiked the assessed cost of health, property, and climate damage caused by carbon pollution—from $22 to $36 per ton—Republicans have challenged its calculation. The House has already passed a <a href="http://thehill.com/regulation/energy-environment/315091-house-votes-to-thwart-epa-on-social-cost-of-carbon" target="blank" rel="nofollow" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background-image: linear-gradient(to top, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0%, rgb(255, 255, 255) 49%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 50%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 100%); background-size: 2px 2px; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-position: 0px 97.5%; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.05em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.05em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.075em 0px;">bill</a> that prohibits the EPA from considering the benefits of avoiding carbon pollution unless a federal law allows it. The social cost of carbon forms the basis for a number of coal regulations, so by challenging this calculation, the GOP hopes to stall the EPA’s plans.<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.5em 0px 1.5em 200px; padding: 0px 20px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.55; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: -0.005em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; flex: 0 0 66.6667%; flex-direction: column; width: 800px; max-width: 66.6667%;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Block Carbon Pollution Regulation<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.5em 0px 1.5em 200px; padding: 0px 20px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.55; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: -0.005em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; flex: 0 0 66.6667%; flex-direction: column; width: 800px; max-width: 66.6667%;">McConnell has already hinted at the ways he hopes to block the EPA’s draft rule to cut power plant pollution 30 percent by 2030. The GOP still faces a Democratic minority capable of filibustering legislation, and of course Obama’s veto. But McConnell has suggested the GOP will limit the EPA by attaching policy riders to must-pass appropriations bills, raising the stakes even at the risk of a government shutdown. “It will be hard because the only good tool to do that ... is through the spending process, and if [Obama] feels strongly enough about it, he can veto the bill,” McConnell said in a recent interview with the <a href="http://www.kentucky.com/2014/11/06/3525294_kentuckys-mcconnell-reflects-after.html?rh=1" target="blank" rel="nofollow" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background-image: linear-gradient(to top, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0%, rgb(255, 255, 255) 49%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 50%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 100%); background-size: 2px 2px; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-position: 0px 97.5%; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.05em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.05em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.075em 0px;">Lexington Herald-Leader</a>.</div></div></div><div></div></div><div>wapo 1/17</div><div>...Some will certainly get the ax; ergonomics will be alone no more. But even so, the CRA only lets you go after one rule at a time. Once Congress reconvenes, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-23/gop-fury-over-energy-confronts-reality-of-congress-snail-pace" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">the clock is ticking</a> again, with plenty of competition for space on the agenda — from the budget to Obamacare to Trump’s nominees.</div>And so one of the proposals — the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2016/11/17/house-section/article/H6274-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">“Midnight Rules Relief” Act</a> — sweeps aside the need to consider each regulation singly and allows any number of rules to be repealed in one omnibus resolution.The other, the REINS act, doesn’t remove rules; rather, it makes it more difficult to add them. (“REINS” stands for Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny. Although dreadful, the bill’s name does not challenge the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archive/ll/highlights.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">Patriot</a> Act’s supremacy in the Tortured Acronym Hall of Fame.) While the CRA requires Congress to pass a resolution setting a regulation aside, the REINS Act switches things around. It would require Congress to approve major regulations — generally, those with an impact of $100 million or more on the economy — for them to take effect.<a href="https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2015/07/28/house-section/article/H5545-2" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">In theory, this would </a>force Congress to be more clearly accountable for the regulations flowing from the vague legislation it passes. In practice — especially given the sparse time the act allows for consideration of regulations (only on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month!) – it would drastically slow the issuance of new rules....<div></div><div>gop bs</div><div><h2 class="redcaps" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.1; margin-top: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">AMENDMENTS</h2><ol style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://amendments-rules.house.gov/amendments/YOUNIA16R72715162804284.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">David Young (R-IA)</a>—The amendment requires agencies to publish in the federal register a list of information on which a rule is based, including data, scientific and economic studies, and cost-benefit analyses, and where the public can access it online.</li></ol><ol start="2" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://amendments-rules.house.gov/amendments/SMITMO_020_xml72715102907297.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">Jason Smith (R-MO)</a>—The amendment requires congressional approval for all rules proposed under the authority of the Affordable Care Act.</li></ol><ol start="3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://amendments-rules.house.gov/amendments/SESSIO_021_xml727150940294029.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">Pete Sessions (R-TX)</a>—The amendment requires the agency submitting the report on a proposed Federal rule to include an assessment, as part of the cost-benefit analysis submitted to the Comptroller General and each House of Congress, of anticipated jobs gained or lost as a result of implementation, and to specify whether those jobs will come from the public or private sector.</li></ol><ol start="4" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://amendments-rules.house.gov/amendments/SB_020_xml727150923532353.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">Hank Johnson (D-GA)</a>—The amendment adds an exception to the bill for rules that the Administrator of the Office of Management and Budget determines would result in net job growth.</li></ol><ol start="5" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://amendments-rules.house.gov/amendments/JCAM01727150945544554.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">Lois Capps (D-CA)</a>—The amendment ensures that any rule intended to ensure the safety of natural gas or hazardous materials pipelines or prevent, mitigate, or reduce the impact of spills from such pipelines is not considered a “major rule” under the bill.</li></ol><ol start="6" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://amendments-rules.house.gov/amendments/SB_021_xml727150950355035.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">David Cicilline (D-RI)</a>—The amendment exempts rules pertaining to the protection of the public health or safety from the requirements of the Act.</li></ol><ol start="7" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://amendments-rules.house.gov/amendments/SB_022_xml72415184604464.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)</a>—The amendment provides a “special rule” pertaining to the safety of any products specifically designed to be used or consumed by a child under the age of 2 years (including cribs, car seats, and infant formula).</li></ol><ol start="8" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://amendments-rules.house.gov/amendments/MOORWI_025_xml727150926232623.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">Gwen Moore (D-WI)</a>—The amendment exempts rules issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from the requirements of the bill.</li></ol><ol start="9" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://amendments-rules.house.gov/amendments/reinsamt727150938373837.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)</a>—The amendment exempts from the bill’s congressional approval requirement any rule pertaining to nuclear reactor safety standards.</li></ol><ol start="10" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://amendments-rules.house.gov/amendments/123727151150405040.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.00392157) 1px 1px 1px;">Mark Pocan (D-WI)</a>—The amendment exempts the Department of Veterans Affairs from the requirements of this legislation, in regards to rulemaking for the availability of affordable medication and effective health care management for veterans.</li></ol><div>https://www.gop.gov/bill/h-r-427-regulations-from-the-executive-in-need-of-scrutiny-act-of-2015/</div></div><div>==</div><div>171 co spon?</div><div>
</div><div>IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 21, 2015

Mr. YOUNG of Indiana (for himself, Mr. MASSIE, Mr. SIMPSON, Mr. BRADY

of Texas, Mr. DESJARLAIS, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. SMITH of Nebraska,

Mr. JONES, Mr. JENKINS of West Virginia, Mr. ROUZER, Mr.

MURPHY of Pennsylvania, Mr. ROE of Tennessee, Mr. POSEY, Mr. SESSIONS,

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. STEWART, Mr. RIBBLE, Mr. WEBER

of Texas, Mr. ROTHFUS, Mr. TIPTON, Mr. YOHO, Mr. THORNBERRY, Mr.

WESTMORELAND, Mr. TURNER, Mr. BRIDENSTINE, Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania,

Mr. FLORES, Mr. PEARCE, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr.

CHAFFETZ, Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. RICE of

South Carolina, Mr. HANNA, Mr. STIVERS, Mr. DUNCAN of South Carolina,

Mr. OLSON, Mr. BLUM, Mr. GRAVES of Missouri, Mr. WILLIAMS,

Mr. HARPER, Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan, Mr. LONG, Mr. BENISHEK,

Mr. SALMON, Mrs. BLACK, Mr. MCKINLEY, Mr. GIBSON, Mr. JOLLY, Mr.

POMPEO, Mr. LATTA, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. WALBERG, Mr.

BUCSHON, Mr. PITTENGER, Mr. FINCHER, Mr. FARENTHOLD, Mr.

HUELSKAMP, </div><div>
</div><div>Mr. GOSAR, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr.

COLE, Mr. FORTENBERRY, Mr. BOUSTANY, Mr. COSTELLO of Pennsylvania,

Mr. CRENSHAW, Mr. VALADAO, Mr. BROOKS of Alabama, Mr.

ROKITA, Mr. GIBBS, Mr. CULBERSON, Mr. CLAWSON of Florida, Mr.

MESSER, Mr. FORBES, Mr. BARR, Mrs. NOEM, Mr. WEBSTER of Florida,

Mr. HUNTER, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. CHABOT, Mrs. MCMORRIS RODGERS,

Mr. GUTHRIE, Mr. HUDSON, Ms. JENKINS of Kansas, Mr. TIBERI,

Mr. WENSTRUP, Mrs. LUMMIS, Mr. GARRETT, Mr. CRAWFORD, Mrs.

BLACKBURN, Mr. NUGENT, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. DUNCAN

of Tennessee, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr.

PALAZZO, Mr. FLEISCHMANN, Mr. MEADOWS, Mr. HENSARLING, Mr.

GUINTA, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. BYRNE, Mr. LOUDERMILK, Mr. MILLER of

VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:20 Jul 21, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H427.RH H427

asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

•HR 427 </div><div>
</div><div>RH

Florida, Mrs. WALORSKI, Mr. ROSKAM, Mr. GROTHMAN, Mr. NUNNELEE,

Mr. NUNES, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. YODER, Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana, Mr.

ROGERS of Alabama, Mr. HARDY, Mr. SMITH of Missouri, Mr. GRIFFITH,

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN, Mrs. WAGNER, Mr. BABIN, Mr. COLLINS of New

York, Mr. SCHOCK, Mr. HULTGREN, Mr. DESANTIS, Mr. WOMACK, Mr.

KLINE, Mr. HECK of Nevada, Mr. MARINO, Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin, Mr.

LAMBORN, Mr. MULVANEY, Mr. AMODEI, and Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia)

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Rules and the

Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in

each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction

of the committee concerned

JULY 21, 2015 </div><div>
</div><div>Additional sponsors: Mr. PAULSEN, Mr. SANFORD, Mr. BOST, Mr. ABRAHAM,

Mr. RATCLIFFE, Mr. NEUGEBAUER, Mr. ROSS, Mr. REED, Mr.

SCHWEIKERT, Mrs. LOVE, Mrs. ROBY, Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Mr.

DUFFY, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. HILL, Mrs. HARTZLER, Mr. ALLEN, Mr.

GRAVES of Georgia, Mr. YOUNG of Iowa, Mr. BUCK, Mr. COLLINS of

Georgia, Ms. MCSALLY, Mr. BARLETTA, Mr. BISHOP of Michigan, Mr.

JORDAN, Mr. DOLD, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia, Mr.

WESTERMAN, Mr. KNIGHT, Mr. STUTZMAN, Mr. HURD of Texas, Mr.

EMMER of Minnesota, Mr. WALDEN, Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER, Mr. LABRADOR,

Mr. CARTER of Georgia, and Mr. NEWHOUS</div><div>==</div>