This week, Obama showed himself once again to be out of touch with both Americans and with the current debt situation in the United States. He called on the determination, optimism, and fundamental decency of all Americans, but then seemed to suggest that Americans should focus that determination on passing his health care bill. If Obama wants his presidency to be a success and for our economy to turn around, he will need to learn the lessons of the recent elections. To regain his footing with the American people, he will have to do more than institute a delayed, short-term, token spending freeze and acknowledge that the key to pulling us out of this recession lies with the innovation and motivation of the American people—not with yet another expensive program.
In his speech, he promised that he wouldn’t do what was popular, but would do what was necessary. Unfortunately, it seems he has done neither. Over the past year he has pushed and shoved a tremendously unpopular health care agenda, and attempted to buy off the last Senate vote with $100 million of our tax dollars. His tax and regulatory policies, in one year, have dropped us, according to the Heritage Foundation’s 2010 edition of the Index of Economic Freedom, for the first time ever, from being the land of the free, to the land of the “mostly free.”
And even as he promised yet another “jobs” bill, he is 7 million jobs short of where he promised we would be right now. He promised a growth of 3.5 million in the last year and instead lost over 3.5 million. Last year, federal spending reached the highest level in American history outside WWII, and under his leadership, the public debt is projected by the CBO to triple to $22.1 trillion by 2020. And his crumb that he tossed to Americans was a paltry $447 billion spending freeze which won’t even take effect until a year from now and is only a tiny sliver of our $3.5 trillion budget and only a portion of his own $862 billion stimulus plan – which has failed. His mission of change has brought Americans into a dangerous situation.
Americans have responded to this failed way of handling our economy and this blind policy by reminding him that what had been claimed as “Kennedy’s seat,” was truly “the people’s seat.” But, as evidenced by his speech last night, he clearly has not gotten the message from the election results in the states of Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. For his presidency to remain effective and for his policies to work, he must listen to the American people, push back his own ideas a little and realize that big government is not the way to go.
As Obama noted, Americans have ideas and are motivated people, unafraid to take risks. What he did not acknowledge was our fierce independence and our profound love for freedom. It is the ingenuity of individual Americans that has made this country so successful–not government programs and expansions. Americans have never wanted the huge government safety net which can also double as a noose. Obama’s current policies would leave the next generation with only the memory of freedom, a country that is hobbled in the world, and one giant debt to pay.
Surrounded by like-minded advisers, Obama seems to only hear echoes of his own voice. He tunes out the poll numbers and election results and focuses on his out-of-touch policy goals. Our forefathers, whom he referenced, took the risk to come to this land for freedom. That spirit of determination and fundamental decency endures; we still love freedom. He said, “Again we are tested, and again, we must answer history’s call.” Should he continue along this path which in the past year has robbed people of opportunity, he may find, true to American nature, history’s call be to stop his own agenda.
According to a report recently submitted to Congress by the Congressional Research Service over 1,000 regulations written by federal agencies over the past decade may be invalid. The reason: copies of the rules were never given to congressional oversight committees as required by law. As a result, pending enforcement cases and other actions under these rules could be thrown out of court.
The problem stems from the 1995 Congressional Review Act, which provides Congress a chance to review and reject regulations written by agencies. In order to facilitate such review, every federal agency is required to provide Congress, as well as the Government Accountability Office, with copies of any rules they promulgate.
Its a minor requirement, and one that comes at the end of a long rulemaking process. But the CRA is clear: no rule becomes effective until Congress is notified.
As it turns out, however, the requirement has often been ignored. Not once, or twice, but — according to the CRS report by analyst Curtis Copeland — over 1,000 times over the past decade. In 2008, for example, some 101 rules were never transmitted. Of these, , 22 were “significant” (i.e. had over $100 million in economic impact), or about 12 percent of the total. Included among the missing were a DHS rule on safe harbors for employers, USDA’s rules on use of roadless wilderness areas, and a DOT rule on truck safety.
The exact legal consequences of the oversight is unclear, but it is possible that the regulations may be void, at least until the agencies send copies to Congress. That would throw all sorts of actions taken under the rules in the intervening years into a legal cloud.
That may seem extreme for a procedural oversight. But the agencie’ failure to follow the law should have some consequences. The CRA was hailed in 1995 as a landmark step to increase congressional control over unelected regulators. If that goal is still to be taken seriously, the requirements of the CRA should be too.
More generally, the kerfluffle underscores the broader problem of lack of oversight for regulators. OIRA — the White House agency charged with reviewing rules — comes in for some criticism in the CRS report for not ensuring compliance. But OIRA, with only 50 or so staffers, in badly outgunned in battles with regulation writers. Congress is even less equipped. Although the Congressional Budget Office is considered an essential component of the budget process, there is no Congressional Regulation Office to give Congress information on the number, cost or effects of federal regulations.
Beefing up these institutional checks, as well as enforcing current law, is essential to establishing accountability in the regulatory process. Even for a White House and Congress which are, to be kind, less skeptical of governmental mandates as they could be, such accountability should be welcome.