Grievance 1: The Expanding Administrative State

According to a White House advisor, the war is on.  I’m not talking about another war like the war in Iraq or Afghanistan for this war is being fought on our own soil.  What I am talking about is a war on coal.  (1)

President Obama has initiated the first shots in this new war by announcing new regulations on coal-fired power plants and the setting of a new condition for the approval of the controversial Keystone pipeline.  The most alarming thing about these new regulations is that the President is bypassing Congress in their implementation.  (2) These new regulations are a threat to jobs in coal rich states like West Virginia.

On July 9, 2013 witnesses testifying before the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources and said the following. 

“American coal, mined by American workers, generating revenue for the American treasury can and should be a part of their solution for the future. And yet, it appears to me that every opportunity for a coal miner to work is under attack from the Obama Administration. Coal has played an important role in the economic development and vitality of the United States – driving the industrialization of the western world – providing abundant, reliable and affordable energy. The Powder River Basin is that American story; it has and can continue to have the potential to do so well into the future,” said Subcommittee Chairman Doug Lamborn (CO-05).  (3)

“The biggest challenge we face is the attack by the current administration on the life blood of our community, our state and every family in this country that will have to make the difficult decision of feeding their family or paying exorbitant electricity charges because coal is no longer part of our national energy policy. Mining coal is part of the custom and culture of Wyoming, with the first mines opening in 1876 and having continuous production since that time. Multiple generations of Wyoming citizens have worked in the mines, paid for a college education or purchased a home with their wages from mining jobs. Coal miners are part of our state’s identity, and under the current administration, this way of life remains under attack, not only in Wyoming, but also in other states.” – Dan Coolidge, Chairman of the Campbell County Commissioners in Wyoming.  (3)

This testimony stresses the importance of coal in the generation of affordable energy that environmentalists for many years have hindered.  These environmentalists at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have no interest in the generation of affordable energy.  The EPA through regulation has been controlling the energy policies of our nation for many years.  This is just one example of how agencies comprising the administrative alphabet soup within the bureaucracy of the government, and not elected officials, control government policy.  This constitutes an unelected and unconstitutional fourth branch of the United States Government that has major control over the lives of the people in our country. 

EPA regulations alone affect the price we pay for electricity and gas at the pump.  They also determine the kind of light bulb we can buy, (4) how many gallons of water we can use when we flush the toilet, (5) and the gas mileage in our automobiles.  Higher gas mileage requirements force auto manufacturers to make cars with lighter weight materials, resulting in smaller less safe automobiles.  (6)

This fourth branch of government is the creation of progressives and started under the Wilson administration 100 years ago.  It has continued to expand under Roosevelt’s New Deal, Johnsons Great Society, and now Obama’s hope and change.  However, other administrations have contributed to its expansion.  (7) In fact, Republican President Nixon formed the EPA, probably the most onerous of agencies in the administrative alphabet soup.  (8)

These administrative agencies receive funding through the Federal Budget determined by Congress and signed by the President.  They also receive additional funding through appropriations bills voted on by Congress.  The EPA also receives funds through fines it assesses on companies and individuals.  In other words, the EPA shakes down taxpayers, corporations, and individuals to fund regulations that harm taxpayers, corporations, and individuals. 

This is why I have made my first grievance shrinking and in some places eliminating the massive, expanding, unconstitutional, administrative state, which controls much of the daily activities of citizens in our country.  The fact that this administrative state has been in existence for 100 years means shrinking and dismantling it will be difficult but not impossible. 

According to Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., rolling back the administrative state involves:

• Restore transparent, formal rulemaking and end secretive regulation. By applying the Administrative Procedures Act of 1946, Congress can restore the formal rulemaking process that was the norm until the 1970s. That requires formal and public evidence gathering, with an oral hearing presided over by an administrative law judge. It prohibits ex parte communications with the judge or other federal officials designated to preside over the hearing, making it much harder for special interests or politics to influence final rules. Contending parties would have the right to present evidence and cross-examine witnesses, and the record of the proceedings would have to be the basis of the regulatory decision.
  
  To trigger formal rulemaking, Congress would have to include the requirement in a statute creating a program. But by including it in an amendment to, say, last year’s health reform legislation, it could require formal rulemaking for all pending regulations for the entire act.
• Beef up congressional control of existing regulations. To reform the process, Representative Geoff Davis (R–KY) and Senator Jim DeMint (R–SC) are sponsoring the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act. The REINS Act (H.R. 3765/S. 3826) would reverse the existing burden of action. Today Congress has to stop a rule; otherwise, it goes into effect. Under their bill, the House and Senate would have to affirmatively enact a bill embodying a major rule before it could be enforced.[4]
• Strengthen congressional oversight of informal rulemaking. For the bulk of federal rules, currently made through the informal process of notice and comment before final publication, tough congressional oversight into each agency’s rulemaking process would be a major constraint on bureaucratic power.
• Establish a Congressional Office of Regulatory Review. Congress could create a Congressional Office of Regulatory Review (CORR) modeled after the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Like the CBO, the CORR would report on the estimated costs and impact of the federal regulatory authority embodied in bills that come before Congress. House and Senate rules could require a Regulatory Review score similar to the CBO score.
• The Administrative State and a Free Republic: Mutually Exclusive (9)

The administrative state needs money to function and since this it receives funding through Congress, elected officials can defund these programs.  Without money, these agencies will not be able to function and will die on the vine or curtailed. 

Elected officials need to create greater oversight of these administrative agencies and defund or eliminate those that are no longer necessary.  If the current group of elected leaders will not comply with our demands, be warned, we will replace you with those that will in the next election. 

1. Hall, Wynton. WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: 'WAR ON COAL IS EXACTLY WHAT'S NEEDED'. www.breitbart.com. [Online] Breitbart News, June 25, 2013. [Cited: July 12, 2013.] http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/06/25/White-House-Adviser-A-War-On-Coal-Is-Exactly-What-s-Needed.

2. Press, Associated. Obama orders new rules on coal-fired plants, sets condition for Keystone pipeline. www.foxnews.com. [Online] Fox News, June 25, 2013. [Cited: July 12, 2013.] http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/25/obama-to-unveil-new-climate-regulations-as-adviser-pushes-war-on-coal/.

3. Committee on Natural Resources. Witnesses Highlight the Economic and Energy Benefits of Coal Mining in America . naturalresources.house.gov. [Online] Committee on Natural Resources, July 9, 2013. [Cited: July 12, 2013.] http://naturalresources.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=341835.

4. Baier, Bret. New Light Bulb Regulations. www.foxnews.com. [Online] Fox News, March 22, 2011. [Cited: July 12, 2013.] http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/special-report/transcript/new-light-bulb-regulations.

5. Agency, Environmental Protection. WaterSense Specifications for Tank-Type Toilets. www.epa.gov. [Online] EPA. [Cited: July 12, 2013.] http://www.epa.gov/WaterSense/products/toilets.html.

6. Lieberman, Ben. New Vehicle Standards Mean High Priced and Unsafe Cars Americans Don’t Want. blog.heritage.org. [Online] The Heritage Foundation, September 15, 2009. [Cited: July 12, 2013.] http://blog.heritage.org/2009/09/15/new-vehicle-standards-mean-high-priced-and-unsafe-cars-americans-don%E2%80%99t-want/.

7. Ph.D., Ronald J. Pestritto. The Birth of the Administrative State: Where It Came From and What It Means for Limited Government. www.heritage.org. [Online] The Heritage Foundation, November 20, 2007. [Cited: July 12, 2013.] http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2007/11/the-birth-of-the-administrative-state-where-it-came-from-and-what-it-means-for-limited-government.

8. Wisman, Phil. EPA History (1970-1985). www.epa.gov. [Online] Environmental Protection Agency, November 1985. [Cited: July 12, 2013.] http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/epa/15b.html.

9. Ph.D., Robert E. Moffit. How to Roll Back the Administrative State. www.heritage.org. [Online] The Heritage Foundation, February 17, 2011. [Cited: July 12, 2013.] http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/02/how-to-roll-back-the-administrative-state.