To serve special interests, GOP lawmakers are tolerating Trump
It’s less striking that a few Republican congressmen have publicly denounced President Donald Trump’s conduct than that most of their colleagues have not. Their fellow legislators have silently accepted his outrages in exchange for policies they’ve always wanted.
At his inauguration Trump said his presidency was about “transferring power from Washington, D.C., and giving it back to you, the American people.” But he and his allies in Congress are transferring power to Wall Street, fossil fuel companies, the chemical industry and other special interests, and are stoking an anti-populist bonfire to incinerate protections for consumers and workers.
On Tuesday night the Senate, with a tiebreaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence, followed the House in voting to overturn a rule that would have allowed consumers to file class-action lawsuits against banks and other financial institutions, rather than be forced to take their disputes to arbitration.
The regulation, created after fraud and malfeasance by those businesses financially ruined thousands of Americans and almost wrecked the world economy, joins a series of Obama-era rules that Congress and Trump have shredded. Meanwhile, they have taken several actions to benefit the well-off at the expense of average Americans.
Health care sabotage: Trump signed an executive order allowing insurers to sell skimpy health insurance plans that do not protect people with pre-existing conditions and that will destabilize the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces.
He also said he would stop making payments to insurers that were authorized by the 2010 law, which will cause companies to increase premiums, hurting middle-class families. His administration shortened the open enrollment period when people can buy insurance policies for next year, and slashed spending on advertising and outreach efforts.
The administration made it easier for companies to stop providing no-cost birth control to employees if they have religious or moral objections to doing so. It announced that teenage pregnancy prevention grants would end two years early. Congress repealed an Obama-era rule that forbade states to deny family planning funds to Planned Parenthood.
Environmental harm: Congress overturned a rule restricting the ability of coal companies to dump their mining debris into streams and other waterways, threatening rural communities, forests and wildlife.
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, rejected a staff recommendation to ban the pesticide chlorpyrifos, which has been linked to developmental problems in children, and started the process to overturn the Clean Power Plan, the Obama-era proposal to reduce planet-warming emissions from power plants.
Hurting workers: Congress repealed an Obama-era rule that would have required companies seeking federal contracts of $500,000 or more to disclose and fix serious labor and safety violations. It also struck down an Obama-era rule that would have required employers to keep records of workplace injuries for five years, to make sure employers did not hide such information.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed changes that would weaken a rule intended to limit workers’ exposure to beryllium, an industrial mineral linked to lung damage and estimated to cause about 100 deaths a year.
The Education Department has delayed implementation of an Obamaera rule to ensure that for-profit colleges seeking federal funds were preparing students for good jobs and they made sure students’ debt was not too burdensome.
Even though Republicans often describe themselves as champions of states’ rights, Congress made it harder for states and local governments to create retirement accounts for workers whose employers do not provide 401(k) accounts and pensions.
Making housing less affordable: The Department of Housing and Urban Development delayed by two years a rule that would help poor people in high-cost areas by changing how the value of housing vouchers is calculated.
Helping big corporations: Congress repealed a Securities and Exchange Commission rule that sought to expose and limit corruption by requiring oil and mining companies to disclose payments to foreign governments.
Under the direction of a Trump appointee, the Federal Communications Commission has eased the cap on how many local TV stations one company can own — and is considering relaxing it even further — helping the conservative broadcaster Sinclair and limiting the diversity of voices on the nation’s airwaves. Congress overturned an FCC rule requiring telecommunications companies to get consumers’ permission before collecting, using and selling personal information.
Putting lives at risk: The House and Senate repealed a regulation that would have barred about 75,000 people suffering from conditions like schizophrenia and psychotic disorders — when such conditions prevent them from managing their own financial affairs — from buying a gun.
Still, Republicans in Congress have yet to achieve some of their grandest dreams, like huge tax cuts for the wealthy, and they are counting on Trump to deliver.
Spoilsports like Sen. Jeff Flake, R-ariz., may fret about the small stuff, like, as he said on the Senate floor on Tuesday, “the threats against principles, freedoms and institutions, the flagrant disregard for truth and decency.” But what’s all that compared to a bonanza for special interests?