Corporations in Charge: When Industries Protest, White House Rolls Back Regulations - 12 Examples Already

Source: Eric Lipton / NY Times

During the first six weeks of the Trump administration, more than 90 Obama-era federal regulations have been put on hold, or enforcement has been suspended, or, in a few cases, rules have even been revoked. The decisions often were made after requests by the regulated industries. Here are 12 examples.

 Several of the most objectionable examples which SmartDissent has not covered previously are detailed below.  The full list is available via Eric Lipton of The New York Times at this link.

NRA Protests Lead Ban: The NRA, in this January news release, urges swift confirmation of Ryan Zinke as secretary of Interior. Its top priority: that Mr. Zinke immediately repeal an Interior Department rule banning the use of lead bullets on federal lands. 

Verizon, Comcast, Others File Protest: The nation's largest cable companies filed a petition in January, excerpted here, asking the Federal Communications Commission to repeal a rule that required "reasonable measures" to protect consumers' personal information from hackers or accidental release.

Wall Street Banks Object to Rule: Major trade associations representing some of the world's largest banks ask financial regulators to delay the enforcement of a new rule requiring them to collect extra money from pension funds and other customers to cover potential losses when they trade certain kinds of derivatives, the financial instruments that helped to unleash the 2008 financial crisis.  Soon after the request is made, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, now under Republican control, agrees to the requested delay.

Some of the legal letters and meetings occuring on a daily basis between industry groups and federal agencies seeking to revoke regulations haven't be acted on yet, but it's only a matter of time considering the current administration can only do so much destruction in a mere six weeks.

Forcing Disclosure of Pay Gaps: The Securities and Exchange Commission, based on a requirement in the Dodd-Frank legislation passed after the 2008 financial crisis, enacted a rule that requires corporations to publish a report detailing the gap between the pay provided to the chief executive and the average employee at the company. The United States Chamber of Commerce strongly objected.  The newly appointed acting chairman of the Securities Exchange Commission moved recently to start the process of "reconsideration" of the pay ratio rule, a clear sign that he intends to move to repeal it.

Drug Makers to F.D.A. - Back Down on Labeling: Here some of the nation's biggest pharmaceutical industry trade groups ask the Food and Drug Administration to reconsider a rule intended to require them to include information on labels of prescription drugs related to any possible unapproved uses of their drugs. No action has been taken on this request yet.

Business Roundtable Wish List: The Business Roundtable provided this convenient target list. Efforts already have begun to eliminate several of the rules on this list.