Our own Senator Portman has sponsored what is called “the worst bill you’ve never heard of.” This bill is called the RAA (The Regulatory Accountability Act). It threatens to engulf and paralyze the bureaucracy and agencies that protect our water, our air, our food, our transportation, and pretty much every other aspect of our lives. This bill would change how the regulatory state operates by subjecting every new regulation to needless and extensive scrutiny. Virtual trials will have to be held for every new piece of regulation, where special interests can literally cross-examine witnesses. And furthermore, government agencies will be instructed not to prioritize the public’s health and safety, but the cost of the regulation to companies. And the agency cannot even defend its decisions, since the bill would put agencies under a gag order about the regulations under consideration, allowing companies to spread misinformation about the purport of the regulation. And worst of all, it would replace the currently independent commissions with ones selected by the President, allowing Donald Trump to directly influence every piece of bureaucracy (for more information about the RAA, see the overviews at Indivisible and Politico). It’s time to protect the regulations that keep us safe, happy, and healthy.
Call Senator Portman and tell him you do not support the RAA, even though he proposed it. Ask him how his bill would prevent bureaucratic paralysis and abuse. Ask him why the bill prioritizes the bottom line over the public’s best interest.
Indivisible Ohio 5 