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De Omnibus Dubitandum - Lux Veritas

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Buckeye Institute Press Release

Contact: Daniel Dew, Criminal Justice Fellow
(614) 224-4422 or Daniel@BuckeyeInstitute.org 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    March 24, 2017

The Buckeye Institute is Leading Charge to Cut Stifling Regulations, Rollback Red Tape, and... Yes, Drain the Washington Swamp Using a Carefully Chosen Tool for the Job: the Congressional Review Act (CRA)
 
COLUMBUS, OH--On Friday morning, The Buckeye Institute announced its metaphorical use of the axe that is the Congressional Review Act (CRA).
 
The high temperatures in Columbus the next few days are expected to be in the low 70s.  With the arrival of warmer weather brings a natural desire to do some spring cleaning, and your Buckeye Institute is well prepared for this dirty job. While the Washington establishment types are taking feather dusters in to do some light touching up and dust removal here and there, your Buckeye Institute is making use of a mighty axe (the CRA) to cut the devastating regulations hurting our citizens, our businesses, and our families in Ohio and states across this great nation.
 
In the moments before President Trump's Joint Address to Congress a few weeks back, the Wall Street Journal broke the news of Pacific Legal Foundation's project Red Tape Rollback.
 
Today, The Buckeye Institute is pleased to share our exciting role as a founding partner in this national effort to eliminate devastating regulations.  Red Tape Rollback is a cooperative venture and the result of a partnership of several prominent national think tanks, policy organizations, and the oldest public interest law firm on the right to reduce regulations through the use of the CRA.
 
Former Congressman David McIntosh (now of The Club for Growth) and his old friend and Capitol Hill staffer Todd Gaziano (now of Pacific Legal Foundation) who wrote the Congressional Review Act were keen to employ this tactic to dismantle the foundation of the regulatory state.  The Buckeye Institute has joined them in identifying regulations that are problematic in the states, for small businesses, and families, and we are leading the charge to eliminate them for good.
 
Why is the CRA so powerful?  As explained on Red Tape Rollback:
 
1)   Agencies are required to report agency rules, policy memoranda, guidance documents, dear colleague letters, etc. to Congress.  Congress then has the option of disapproving these regulations within 60 days.  Here is the kicker: there are thousands of these rules that went unreported during the Obama administration. Are you even surprised?  What about the filibuster, you ask? We don't need no stinkin' filibuster.  In fact, the CRA provides that the filibuster doesn't even apply to the review of these nasty regulations!

2)   You say that Congress is a bunch of do-nothings who take feather dusters to do their deep spring cleaning?  We can't argue with you there, but under the CRA, rules do not take effect until the reports are sent to Congress.  So the Trump administration could indeed abandon these regulations without Congress.
 
What can you do to assist this effort?  Go to Red Tape Rollback.  Find the regulation that has been harming your business or family, and check to see whether it was ever reported to Congress.  If it was not, enter it on that same webpage so that we can add it to the list of regulations to repeal.  If you'd rather not get your hands dirty, but prefer to help us do this spring cleaning, we can always use financial support.  This effort is costly in terms of time, staff, and research, and we cannot do it without your help.
 
The Buckeye Institute's President Robert Alt said of this project, "In states across the country, the proliferation of problematic regulations has slowed economic growth, killed jobs, and oppressed small businesses and families. Ironically, we now know that the same Washington government agencies promulgating these onerous regulations did not follow the rules themselves. That ends today. The Buckeye Institute is proud to be a founding partner of the Red Tape Rollback project to ensure that the Congressional Review Act is vigorously enforced, agencies follow the rules that Congress put into place, and that job-killing and other harmful regulations are eliminated expeditiously."
 
Boom.



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BACKGROUND:  Founded in 1989, The Buckeye Institute is an independent research and educational institution--a think tank--whose mission is to advance free-market public policy in the states.
 
The Buckeye Institute is a non-partisan, non-profit, and tax-exempt organization, as defined by section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue code.  As such, it relies on support from individuals, corporations, and foundations that share a commitment to individual liberty, free enterprise, personal responsibility, and limited government.  The Buckeye Institute does not seek or accept government funding.

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