Incoming House GOPer Solicits Deregulation Wishlist From Major CorporationsThe 112th Congress takes over today, and incoming House Republicans, now in the majority, are gunning for a fight. Rep. Darrell Issa, new chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is especially ready for battle, having released the agenda for his witch hunt against the Obama administration earlier this week. Now it's being reported that Issa is also paving the way for some major corporate deregulation in the name of "job creation."
And not only that -- he's letting corporations tell the government what it should deregulate. What could go wrong?
Politico reports that Issa sent a letter last month to some 150 trade associations representing oil companies, drug manufacturers and other industries requesting "a list of existing and proposed regulations that would harm job growth." Essentially, Issa asked these groups (which reportedly included Duke Energy, the Association of American Railroads, Toyota and Bayer), "What can we, the U.S. government, do for you? How can we help you cushion your bottom lines at the expense of the American public?"
The move says a lot about how Issa views the role of government. As the indispensable Amy Goodman
points out over at Truth Dig:
The Issa approach is similar to that of the new chair of the House Financial Services Committee, Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., who told The Birmingham (Ala.) News, “In Washington, the view is that the banks are to be regulated, and my view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks.”
The move also veers dangerously close to (if not into) corporate self-regulation territory, and we all know how well that's worked out in the past.
It's surely no coincidence that the Chamber of Congress and other corporations poured millions upon millions of dollars into Republican campaigns ahead of the November midterms, and now incoming House Republicans are asking for corporate wishlists. Democracy in action.
By Lauren Kelley | Sourced from
AlterNetPosted at January 5, 2011, 6:42 am
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/423555/incoming_house_goper_solicits_deregulation_wishlist_from_major_corporations/
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