GOP Congress, Trump Already Pushing Koch Industries' Bill to Hobble Regulatory Agencies

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One of the first orders of business for the freshly convened 115th Congress โ€” now that it’s no longer attempting to gut an independent ethics officeย  โ€” is to pass a billย which could weaken the ability of federal regulatory agencies to do theirย jobs.ย 

That law, the REINS (Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny) Act of 2017, has long been a legislative priority forย Koch Industries, Koch-funded advocacy groups such as Americans for Prosperity, and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Its latest iteration, H.R. 26*,ย has the backing of Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) and 159 co-sponsorsย (five Democrats and 154 Republicans) and has reached full debate on the House floor.***

REINS dictates that a โ€œmajor rule shall not take effect unless the Congress enacts a joint resolution of approvalโ€ and won’t become law if Congress does not pass that resolution by โ€œ70 session days or legislative days, asย applicable.โ€

President Barack Obama’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) came out against the 2015 version of the REINSย Act.

The OMB pointedย toward the myriad existing safeguardsย 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 commentingย periods.

โ€œThis 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,โ€ย OMB wrote in July 2015.

โ€œBy 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 economicย growth.โ€

Image Credit: White Houseย Office of Management and Budgetย 

A DeSmog investigation shows that Koch Industries and its front groups have been behind the earliest pushes to pass the REINS Act.ย ย 

โ€œObamaย Chartโ€

Tellingly, the only person President-elect Donald Trump has spoken to on the recordย about REINS isย Phil Kerpen, president of the think-tank American Commitment. According to his LinkedIn profile, Kerpen worked for more than five years as Vice President of Policy for the Koch-founded and Koch-funded Americans for Prosperityย (AFP).

โ€œI will sign the REINS Act should it reach my desk as President and more importantly I will work hard to get it passed,โ€ Trump said in a statement for Kerpen’sย December 30, 2016ย op-ed.

โ€œThe 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 underย control.โ€

Kerpen’s post was titled, โ€œIt’s time to rein inย regulators.โ€ย 

In his 2011 book Democracy Denied: How Obama is Ignoring You and Bypassing Congress to Radically Transform America – and How to Stop Him,ย written while he still worked for AFP, Kerpen devoted an entire chapter in support ofย REINS.

During that time, AFP also ranย ObamaChart.com, a websiteย DeSmog tracked down using internet archives, which depictedย the REINS legislation as the solution forย reversing โ€œhow it has become standard procedure in the Obama administration not to take no for anย answer.โ€

Image credit: Way Backย Machine

In the introduction to Democracy Denied,ย Kerpen says the book โ€œis an extended commentary on the chart,โ€ with the REINS Act serving as a panacea for the problem he claimsย exists.

โ€œSupport 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,โ€ wrote Kerpen in his book. โ€œCandidates who refuse to promise to restore accountability for legislative decisions to Congress are not worthy ofย support.โ€

Fast-forwarding to today, Kerpen and American Commitment haveย launched a social media push for REINS, purchased the web domainย REINSAct.comย in July 2015, and started anย online petitionย campaignย advocating for REINS‘ passage, which to date has garnered over 113,000ย signatures.

Kochย Lobbying

According to lobbying disclosure forms, Koch Industries began lobbying on theย REINS Actย in the third quarter of 2010. Joining Kochย were the likes of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Heritage Foundation‘sย Heritage Action forย America.

That same year, congressional Republicans issued their โ€œPledge to Americaโ€ before the mid-term elections, which included the basic tenets of REINS and even included the wordย โ€œrein.โ€

The Koch brothers spent millions of dollars 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 gubernatorialย elections.

โ€œWe 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,โ€ promised congressionalย Republicans.

In 2012, the new congressional session introducedย REINS once again, this time with much more backing from industry lobbyists. Koch, Heritage, and the Chamber of Commerce were joined this time around by Peabody Energy, Duke Energy, Arch Coal, Southern Company, ExxonMobil, Marathon Oil, andย others.ย 

Also in 2012, ALEC โ€” which is funded by and which provides a corporate bill mill forum for all of these players โ€” passed a model resolution in support ofย REINS.ย 

For more recent versions of the bill, the oil and gasย industry at large have now come on board through the American Petroleum Institute and the Western Energy Allianceย (WEA).

โ€œThe 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,โ€ wrote WEA in an April 2015 letter.

Coming full circle, Koch Industries and AFP lobbied for a state-level version of the REINS Act in 2015 in Wisconsin, according to the state’s lobbying disclosure database. The bill, Assembly Bill 251, passed in the State Assembly but not in the Senate and was just re-introduced for the 2017 session.

On December 20, 2016, AFP included passage of the REINS Act in its list of โ€œ7 Things That Should Be On Everyoneโ€™s Wishlist for Our New Congressโ€ย and on January 4, the group published a press release calling for its passage, whileย Kerpen posted anย article saying โ€œWe were never closer to seeing REINS Act become law.โ€

During his presidential campaign, Trump referred toย Republicans reliant on Koch money as โ€œpuppetsโ€ and said he turned down a meeting with the Koch brothers. Yet, the Trump administration is increasingly loaded with Koch allies.

โ€œDreamย Aboutโ€

Not everyone, however, is thrilled with the REINS Act. In a January 4 letter 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 โ€œshutdownโ€ of federal regulatoryย agencies.

โ€œBy 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,โ€ wroteย CAP. โ€œCongress should do its job and protect the public, not hand the government over to corporate and specialย interests.โ€

The Natural Resources Defense Council has also denounced the bill.

Ryan, however, feels his party has a mandate to pass legislation such as the REINS Act. In the addressย he gave after being announcedย Speaker of the House for the 115th Congress, Ryan called the three branches of GOP-controlledย government a โ€œonce-in-a-lifetimeย opportunity.โ€

ย 

โ€œThis is the kind of thing that most of us only dream about. I know โ€” because I used to dream about it,โ€ said Ryan. โ€œThe people have given us unified government. And it wasnโ€™t because they were feeling generous. Itโ€™s because they wantedย results.โ€

*Update: On the U.S. Senate side of things REINS has also been introduced asย S.21 and has 27 co-sponsors.27 co-sponsors.

**Update: Though it has yet to pass in the House, Koch-funded front group FreedomWorks already has a URL in place celebrating the passage of REINS, which popped up via Googleย Alerts.

***Update: REINS passed in the House in aย 237-187 vote.ย FreedomWorks published its press release within minutes of it passingย and stated, โ€œWe hope that Majority Leader McConnell will take swift action on these bills after the new administration takesย office.โ€

Photo Credit:ย International Forum onย Globalization

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Steve Horn is the owner of the consultancy Horn Communications & Research Services, which provides public relations, content writing, and investigative research work products to a wide range of nonprofit and for-profit clients across the world. He is an investigative reporter on the climate beat for over a decade and former Research Fellow for DeSmog.

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