The following article by Danny Vinik was posted on the Politico website December 29, 2017:
Behind the crazy headlines, more conservative priorities got pushed through than most people realize. An exhaustive list of what really happened to the government in 2017.
In Donald Trump’s first act as president, he signed a high-profile executive order intended to dismantle Obamacare, instructing federal agencies to take any measures they could to roll back the Affordable Care Act. In retrospect, the vaguely worded directive was only symbolic. The Trump administration did eventually make moves to obstruct the law, but they took months and another executive order to implement. For all the theater, it’s hard to say whether that order had any effect at all.
Less noticed on Inauguration Day was a surprise move by the Federal Housing Administration to scratch a planned reduction in mortgage insurance premiums. That change helped shore up the financial health of the FHA’s mortgage insurance fund—but came at a real cost to homeowners, who would have saved an average of $500 a year if the Obama-era plan had stayed in place.
If you didn’t hear about the $500 you may have lost that day—well, that’s how the year went. The attention gap between the empty executive order and the real-life mortgage insurance rollback turned out to be representative of the whole first year of the Trump administration.
Again and again, Trump has taken the stage to an adoring crowd and declared victory on some issue, or announced lavish new promises, without any real results or plans to back them up. Meanwhile, very steadily, and almost totally separately from Trump’s speeches and tweetstorms, his administration has been ushering in a new conservative era of government—taking specific aim at Obama-era rules, and broader aim at the big regulatory mission of government.
At The Agenda, we’ve been tracking these policy changes weekly since June, ignoring the noise and explaining what the Trump administration actually accomplished each week. This week, we’re pulling them all into one mega-list—a portrait of a quiet but very serious Republican push against the scope and ambition of government.
What does it look like? There are a few consistent themes: Rolling back President Barack Obama’s legacy on everything from labor regulations to environmental protections, and more broadly tearing down rules across the government. Some topics have been largely missing: his infrastructure push has gone nowhere. Many of the rules are still in progress, or being delayed so long that it’s anyone’s guess what will really happen. (As you’ll see, some of our items are recurring episodes in long-running dramas, like what will finally happen to Obama’s fiduciary standard, which required stockbrokers to act in the best interest of their clients.) And finally, there are some perplexing surprises. After all the rhetoric against China and Mexico, the year’s big trade-war enemy has been … Canada?
Welcome to the annual wrap-up of our weekly guide to what Trump did while you weren’t looking.
June 3-9
1. A boost for Uber and McDonald’s
It’s the most controversial question in the labor world these days: When is a worker an employee, and when is he or she an independent contractor? That question has been especially controversial for “gig economy” companies like Uber and Postmates. But increasingly, regular businesses are also opting to classify their workers as independent contractors, which can cut their labor costs sharply by not obliging them to offer benefits like health insurance or pay employer payroll taxes. According to one recent study, the percentage of workers employed as contractors grew almost 30 percent from 2005 to 2015.
In 2015, the Obama administration gave workers a win on this one: It issued a guidance document explaining how the Department of Labor would interpret the law, outlining the economic tests it employed in determining whether an employer was misclassifying its workers. The agency had been using that policy in enforcing the law, but putting it in writing sent a clear message to employers across the country that the Obama administration was serious about cracking down on worker misclassification.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration withdrew the guidance document. This was a win for business owners in any number of sectors—not just Uber, but industries such as farming and construction, which increasingly use independent contractors. The withdrawal of the document doesn’t change the underlying law, the Fair Labor Standards Act, or the DOL’s current interpretation of it but sends a strong signal to employers that Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta plans to interpret it differently than his predecessor. “The big story is not that, for whatever reason, they pulled down guidance,” said David Weil, who issued the document under Obama. “The real question is what else comes with this.”
Acosta also withdrew another Obama-era guidance document on how the department will determine whether a parent company, like McDonald’s or Subway, is jointly responsible for its franchises’ labor violations. As with worker misclassification, the Obama-era DOL interpreted the joint employment standard favorably for workers; its withdrawal is a victory for businesses.
2. A trade war with Mexico averted—for now
Trump has stormed on about the North American Free Trade Agreement, calling it a “trading disaster” and vowing to rip it up, suggesting that a trade war with Mexico may be on the horizon. But on Tuesday, the United States and Mexico went the other direction and actually came to a deal, averting a potential trade crisis when they ended a dispute on Mexican sugar exports. The showdown was seen as a first test for the two countries as they, along with Canada, seek to preserve and update NAFTA later this year.
The sugar deal is a quintessentially in-the-weeds trade agreement: It raises the minimum prices for raw and refined sugar and cuts the percentage of Mexico’s sugar exports that are refined from 53 percent to 30 percent, while redefining the purity level for refined sugar. The U.S. sugar industry objected to the deal, arguing that it did not address loopholes that give Mexican producers an unfair advantage in the U.S. market. It wasn’t the win that industry wanted, but many experts were encouraged that the administration’s first big dispute with a major trading partner had an amicable ending.
3. The end of a DOJ “slush fund”
Three years ago, when the Department of Justice settled a $17 billion settlement with Bank of America over its mortgage lending practices, it came with a requirement: The bank had to pay $100 million to various legal and community groups, a sum intended to help homeowners hurt by Bank of America’s wrongdoing. Many other DOJ settlements with financial institutions during the Obama administration required similar payouts to outside groups.
Conservatives have long objected to this practice, which was used by Obama and, before him, George W. Bush: They see it as a way for a president to direct money to his favored organizations, illegally sidestepping the congressional appropriations process. The Obama administration argued that so-called third-party settlements were simply another tool for reparations: The money, they said, didn’t go to random organizations but to groups that could help repair the damage caused by financial misdeeds. Opponents called it a “slush fund.”
That ended Wednesday, when Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo prohibiting U.S. attorneys from including such third-party payouts in any settlements. When the Department of Justice settles a case from now on, third-party groups won’t get a dime.
4. A win for nursing homes
Last October, the Obama administration banned any nursing home that receives federal funding—which is most of them—from requiring that prospective tenants sign an arbitration agreement as a condition to be admitted, a common practice in the industry. Such agreements prevent residents from taking the facility to court, requiring them to appeal to an arbitration tribunal. Nursing homes prefer arbitration because it’s usually cheaper than getting sued; critics say it’s unfair to residents, who often have no idea they signed away their right to sue in court until they actually try to file charges, at which point the nursing home shows them the fine print.
The nursing home industry fought the rule, suing the Department of Health and Human Services. In November, it won a temporary injunction against the regulation, so it never actually took effect. And now it may be dead. On Tuesday, the Trump administration signaled its view on arbitration agreements: the DHS issued a new proposed regulation that rolled back the Obama rule. Because it’s not final, the new rule doesn’t immediately overturn the ban on arbitration agreements; it has to go through the same process as any other rule. But it sends a strong signal for where the administration will ultimately land.
5. Get THAAD out of here
Not every major policy change affecting America originates in Washington. On Wednesday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in blocked the deployment of an American missile defense system intended to block missile attacks from North Korea.
The Pentagon’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system became a hot-button issue in Asia: China sees the North Korea angle as a cover story for a system that’s really intended to block Chinese missiles, an incursion on its sovereignty. (The Pentagon disputes that argument.) It already was a delicate issue in South Korea; Beijing had been successfully using state media to persuade Chinese consumers to boycott South Korean stores and cancel vacation plans, which has hurt many Korean businesses. Then Trump rattled relations with its ally by insisting in April that South Korea foot the $1 billion bill for the system, an idea later walked back by his national security team.
Moon—a left-leaning leader who supports a more open dialogue with North Korea than his scandal-plagued predecessor—was already reluctant to host THAAD at all, but allowed its continued deployment until he discovered last week, to his surprise, that the Pentagon had sent four more launchers into the country. On Wednesday, he stopped any further deployment of the system—just a day before North Korea conducted its 10th missile test of the year.
June 10–16
1. U.S. and China make nice on beef, dairy and poultry
Throughout his campaign, Trump railed against Chinese trade policies, vowing to label the country a currency manipulator and scaring the business community that a trade war was on the horizon. But Trump backed off his promise to officially label Beijing a “currency manipulator.” And in May, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced the U.S.-China 100-Day trade agreement, calling it a “herculean accomplishment.”
Still, trade experts who looked at the details of the agreement, were less convinced. Many of the ten policy changes were already underway; on the new changes, China made few firm commitments.
This week, a trio of trade announcements revealed there was more substance to the deal than originally thought, if not quite “herculean.” On Tuesday, the Department of Agriculture announced it had finalized an agreement with its Chinese counterparts to allow U.S. beef imports into China, breaking a 14-year ban that Beijing has more-than-once promised to end. On Thursday, the U.S. and China signed a memorandum to promote U.S dairy products in China, and, on Friday, the USDA published a proposed rule to allow Chinese poultry products into the U.S.
These aren’t huge changes to the U.S.-China trade relationship, and some were in the works long before Trump took office. In fact, China promised last September to lift the ban on U.S. beef exports; the dairy agreement wasn’t actually part of the “100-Day” trade deal. But the trio of agreements show that even as Trump rails against Beijing’s trade policies, the two sides are still capable of compromising. For all the eye rolls that Trump’s initial “100-Day” deal invited, it’s looking a lot more real two months later, especially once beef shipments actually arrive in China, which Ross estimated could be as soon as 10 days. “Everyone has been justified in taking a wait and see attitude,” said Bruce Hirsh, a former assistant U.S. trade representative. “Even now, until actual shipments are accepted, it’s best to wait and see.”
2. Education Department targets Obama-era student protections
With student-loan debt a trillion-dollar issue, the Obama administration announced a new policy last October that would allow defrauded borrowers to have their federal student loans canceled—an expensive proposition for the government, which would cover the cost. Student advocates, who had long pushed Obama to adopt such a rule, cheered the news, arguing it was simply a matter of fairness.
One problem: The rule wasn’t scheduled to take effect until July 1—and now it looks like it will never take effect. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced this week that the agency was delaying the implementation of the so-called “defense to repayment” rule indefinitely, on the grounds that it is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit. In effect, this means the idea is almost certainly dead: DeVos also announcedthat the department intends to rewrite the rule altogether, along with another major Obama-era education rule, known as “gainful employment,” that required colleges to meet certain standards or risk losing access to federal student loan dollars.
Unlike “defense to repayment,” the “gainful employment” rule was finalized in 2014 and had already taken effect, so the Trump administration will have to undertake a full rulemaking process to rewrite it, a time-consuming process.
The changes are a defeat for defrauded students and a big victory for for-profit colleges, which are disproportionately represented among both loan-fraud cases and colleges that leave students with high debt levels. For-profits loudly argued that the Obama administration was effectively trying to choke out the industry altogether. This week, DeVos gave it new life.
3. The Pentagon flexes its muscles
During the Obama administration, the military often complained that the White House was micromanaging its affairs, requiring high-level, interagency approval for decisions on troop levels or drone strikes outside of active war zones. Trump has dramatically reversed those policies, giving the Department of Defense wide autonomy to conduct overseas military operations.
That autonomy was on display in two countries this week: Somalia and Afghanistan. On Sunday, the U.S. struck al-Shabab, a terrorist group, in southern Somalia, the DOD’s first known use of additional war-making powers in Somalia. In March, the Trump administration had declared parts of Somalia as an “area of active hostilities,” which gives military commanders the same authority to conduct raids and strikes as they now have in active war zones like Iraq; it also reduces protections for civilians. Human rights advocates criticized the move, saying it effectively allows the Pentagon to conduct unauthorized wars with little oversight. U.S. officials responded that it was necessary to confront emerging threats quickly. The U.S. Africa Command was slower than the White House expected in launching operations after the March change; Sunday’s strike appears to be the first under the new authority.
This week, Trump also gave the Department of Defense the autonomy to decide whether more troops are needed in Afghanistan. Washington had been anticipating a decision from the White House on the proposed Afghan troop surge for weeks, with Defense Secretary James Mattis arguing in favor and White House officials like chief strategist Steve Bannon arguing against it. Trump’s decision to outsource the decision to the Pentagon is a big win for the agency and for Mattis—and an outcome that would have been unthinkable under Obama.
4. VA civil service reforms heads to Trump’s desk
For years, Congress has tried to reform the rules for firing workers at the Department of Veterans Affairs, having grown frustrated at the difficulty of removing employees responsible for the scandal at VA hospitals in 2014, which eventually led to the resignation of Secretary Eric Shinseki.
This week lawmakers sent a substantive set of reforms to the president’s desk; he is expected to sign them in the days ahead. The legislation, called the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, creates a new office to provide greater protection for whistleblowers and significantly shrinks the time needed to fire VA employees. Previously, it could take months, if not years, to broom out problem employees; agencies often deemed it not worth the effort to try. Under the bill, the review structure largely remains in place for rank-and-file employees—it changed more for senior executives—but it sharply cuts the time for filing appeals and for the oversight board to reach a decision. It also lowers the burden of proof necessary for agencies to take action against employees. Groups representing federal employees, including the American Federation for Government Employees and the Senior Executives Association, said the legislation would undermine worker protections like due process. Veterans’ groups cheered the changes.
Civil-service reforms don’t often get much attention, but these are significant changes with bipartisan support, and government reformers are watching them closely. If they prove successful at the VA, lawmakers could soon look to implement them across government.
5. New food labels? Not so fast.
Not every Trump rollback targets a Barack Obama policy—some of them target Michelle Obama policies. The former first lady made healthy living her top priority during her husband’s presidency, promoting exercise with her “Let’s Move” program and working to improve the nutrition of school lunches. One of her big policy wins was the redesign of the nutrition facts panel, the one that appears on all the packaged foods you buy. Unveiled by Obama in May 2016, the first redesign in more than two decades makes the calorie number more visible and includes information on “added sugars” for the first time, provoking a sharp response from the sugar industry.
Food makers were supposed to start using the new labels by July 26, 2018—but on Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration put them on indefinite hold. There’s no timetable for when it could be implemented; industry groups had also been pushing to align the timing with another FDA rule on the disclosure of genetically modified organisms, which isn’t expected until 2018. In a note explaining the delay, the FDA said the extra time was needed for manufacturers to print the new label. It said nothing about actually rethinking the redesign altogether, although it’s possible that could happen too.
June 17–23
1. The Labor Department loosens a rule on beryllium exposure
You haven’t heard of it since chemistry class, but beryllium is a chemical toxic to lung tissue. The Department of Labor took years to finalize a rule protecting workers from exposure, and didn’t issue the final version until the tail end of Obama’s presidency—January 9, to be exact. It was always at risk of removal by the Republican Congress, which could have repealed it with just a majority vote, but it survived until now.
On Friday, the Department of Labor proposed a new rule on beryllium exposure; it doesn’t change the original exposure limits imposed by Obama but instead eliminates additional safety requirements for the construction and shipyard industries, such as conducting medical surveillance or providing training for those workers who are near, but not above, the exposure limits. Labor groups slammed the change, saying that it would lead to more lung disease and cancer among workers. Industry groups applauded the changes; the original rule, they argued, was too restrictive.
The DOL must still go through a full rule-making process, so the new beryllium rule won’t be finalized for months. In the meantime, the department said it wouldn’t be enforcing the Obama-era rule.
2. A new emergency alert for cops
We’ve all noticed the emergency warnings on television or radio, which alert audiences about a child abduction (the “Amber Alert”) or severe weather. Soon, there may be a new alert: a “Blue Alert” for when a police officer is missing, seriously injured or killed in the line of duty.
On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission unanimously approved the first stage of rulemaking to add such a “Blue Alert” to the FCC’s Emergency Alert System, which was created in 1997 to enable the president to communicate quickly and directly with the American people in the case of an emergency. Stations are required to carry such presidential alerts, but alerts for a child abduction or severe weather are voluntary.
A “Blue Alert” has already been implemented in 27 states; the FCC proposal would make it a national standard. The change has bipartisan support—it’s hard to see politicians taking a stance against showing concern for officer safety—but it also fits with the Trump administration’s focus on attacks on cops, and the Department of Justice’s pivot from Obama-era policies on police accountability toward a more protective stance on police.
3. The Yucca nuclear controversy reopens
So … where is America supposed to put its spent nuclear fuel over the long term? A decades-old debate was reawakened this week when Rick Perry, the energy secretary, announced at a congressional hearing on Tuesday that he was reconstituting the Office of Civilian Radioactive Management, which ran a proposed Nevada site for long-term waste storage.
Throughout the Obama administration, with Nevada Sen. Harry Reid leading the Senate Democrats, plans to store nuclear waste in Nevada’s Yucca Mountain had no chance of actually happening. Now it’s back. This wasn’t exactly a surprise, since Trump’s budget included $120 million to restart the licensing process for the Yucca site; in fact, in May, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission took the first steps toward restarting that process. But Perry’s words nevertheless created a sharp backlash from Nevada politicians who have long fought any plan to store nuclear waste in their state.
Perry somewhat walked back his comments at a separate congressional hearing on Wednesday, saying that “no decision has been made at this time with respect to the timing or the location, for that matter, of waste storage.” But the Office of Civilian Radioactive Management is still set to reopen during fiscal 2018. The next Yucca fight is just beginning.
4. The White House gets tough with Russia
Amid multiple congressional inquiries and the investigation by special prosecutor Robert Mueller, the Trump administration hasn’t done much to distance itself from Moscow. So it may have come as a surprise on Tuesday when the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on more than three dozen individuals and organizations involved in Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
The announcement coincided with Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko’s visit to the White House, but many observers wondered if the administration had a different motive: discouraging the House from taking up the Senate’s Russian sanctions bill. That legislation, which passed the Senate last week by a 98-2 vote, would limit Trump’s ability to ease sanctions on the Russian government. The White House has been working to water down or kill the Senate bill. The new sanctions can’t hurt those efforts.
5. Trump quietly releases another immigration executive order
It went almost entirely unnoticed: At 9:20 p.m. on Wednesday, the White House released a new executive order on immigration. Compared to Trump’s past orders on immigration, which have set off national protests and ongoing court cases, this one was minor. It makes a very small change to an Obama-era executive order, removing one section that directed the secretaries of state and homeland security to create a plan so that “80 percent of nonimmigrant visa applicants are interviewed within 3 weeks of receipt of application.”
So now, DHS and State can take more time to review nonimmigrant visa applicants. What’s the reasoning for this? Michael Short, a White House spokesperson, said in an email that the change was “a very straightforward step that removes an arbitrary requirement and ensures the State Department has the needed discretion to make real world security determinations.” He explained that the White House didn’t want to set an “arbitrary deadline” for reviewing and vetting visa applicants.
For people seeking nonimmigrant visas, which include everything from business travelers to foreign athletes to diplomats, this could mean longer waits as their applications are processed. But to the White House, any additional waits are simply a necessary step to keep the country safe.
June 24–30
1. The Labor Department was busy, Part 1
The Department of Labor issued some big regulations under Obama, and Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta isn’t wasting any time targeting those. Just this week, he took aim at three big ones: the overtime rule, the fiduciary standard and an electronic recordkeeping rule.
Under Obama, the department said it would require certain large employers to electronically submit data on injuries and illnesses, starting July 1. But on Tuesday, the Department of Labor officially proposed delaying the record-keeping rule to December 1. The rule isn’t final yet, so it will technically take effect Saturday, but the Department previously said it won’t yet accept electronic submissions. Supporters of the rule hope that sunshine will act as a disinfectant, shaming companies into better labor practices; companies say it is onerous and unnecessary.
Then on Thursday, the Department asked for comments about delaying the January 1, 2018, compliance date of another major Obama rule—the “fiduciary standard,” which requires financial advisers selling investment products to act in the best interest of their clients. In May, Acosta announced in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that he was going to allow the fiduciary rule to take effect as planned on June 9, prompting cheers from Democrats who thought the rule was doomed. Those cheers may have been premature: The department had previously announced that it wouldn’t actually enforce the rule until January 1—and Thursday’s news is a sign that Acosta is considering more substantive reforms.
Finally, this week the agency sent some signals against Obama’s overtime rule, which doubled the salary threshold under which almost all employees are entitled to time-and-a-half pay for working overtime. What actually happened was technical: The department defended its authority to set a salary threshold in determining whether an employee qualifies for overtime, filing a brief in federal court in a case challenging the rule. However, what didn’t happen was crucial: The agency didn’t defend the overtime rule itself. In fact, it gave a very strong indication this week that it doesn’t support the rule. On Tuesday, the Department sent a request for comments about the overtime rule to the White House for review, the first step toward significantly reforming the rule.
2. The Labor Department was busy, Part 2
The Department of Labor has two big policy tools at its disposal: rule-making and enforcement. Rules get most of the attention, but enforcement can have a larger impact on worker’s daily lives—and under Obama, the DOL used its enforcement powers broadly, earning praise from labor groups and criticism from businesses.
On Tuesday, the Labor Department gave a big hint that a new enforcement regime is beginning. The DOL’s Wage and Hour division announced that it would resume issuing opinion letters, which are documents requested by an employer or employee that provide case-by-case legal guidance over potential federal labor law violations.
Businesses like opinion letters: They give individual companies a clear idea if their labor practices are likely to violate the law. Many labor groups don’t: Critics say they suck up department resources that could be spent on investigations, and unfairly favor big employers, who have the resources and know-how to submit formal queries to the government, over employees, who don’t.
Under Bush, the Labor Department issued lots of opinion letters. but Obama discontinued the practice, instead issuing general guidance documents that explain broadly how the DOL interprets the law. Acosta rescinded those guidance documents three weeks ago. The resumption of opinion letters doesn’t signal a policy change in itself. But the shift is telling: Under the Acosta regime, business is finding the door open again.
3. Trump expands his trade fight with Canada
During his presidential campaign, Trump slammed China for its currency practices and sharply criticized Mexico over its cheap labor. But Canada largely avoided the crossfire—until Trump took office.
Since then, our northern neighbor has become the chief target of Trump’s trade ire as the Commerce Department imposed preliminary tariffs of 7.7 percent on certain Canadian lumber companies. This is the second time Trump has imposed penalties on the Canadian lumber industry; in April, Commerce announced tariffs of 24 percent on certain Canadian lumber companies. It’s the latest moves in the long-simmering dispute that has turned hot in the past few months.
The lumber fight is the background battle as the two sides, along with Mexico, are preparing to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement. This week, the U.S. trade representative hosted a three-day public hearing on NAFTA with 140 witnesses giving five-minute statements and then answering questions from government officials. All involved appear to agree that the renegotiation will be long and hard—and the escalating fight over Canadian lumber won’t engender any goodwill.
4. EPA targets a top Obama-era rule
In May 2015, the Obama administration issued the Waters of the United States rule—colloquially known as WOTUS—a far-reaching and long-awaited plan to limit pollution in America’s wetlands. The culmination of years of work, WOTUS was hailed by environmentalists as a marquee moment in America’s commitment to cleaning up its polluted waters.
But two years later, WOTUS is on the verge of defeat. Twenty-seven states sued the Obama administration over the rule, arguing that the EPA exceeded its authority to regulate small streams and tributaries. A judge blocked the rule last year, so it hasn’t taken effect, and on Tuesday, the EPA, along with the Army Corps of Engineers, took the first step towards killing it, issuing a 52-page proposed rule to repeal WOTUS. The agencies are accepting comments for 30 days. Soon after, they will issue a final rule.
5. Trump tightens the grip on China—and North Korea
When Trump took office, he quickly realized the threat posed by North Korea, even saying he was willing to go easier on trade if China helped Washington with Pyongyang. Those days appear to be waning.
On Thursday, the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on a small Chinese bank, saying that it “acts as a conduit for illicit North Korean financial activity,” along with two individuals and another Chinese company. The moves are the clearest sign that the Trump administration has decided that Beijing is unlikely to pressure North Korea into giving up its nuclear program and that unilateral action is necessary. Apparently, Trump meant what he tweeted last week: “While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!”
July 1–7
1. A new era for the renewable fuel standard
The Renewable Fuel Standard is one of the biggest annual fights in energy policy, a bruising battle between oil and agriculture interests. Under Obama, the agriculture industry frequently came out ahead as the Environmental Protection Agency upped the volume of biofuels—mostly corn-based ethanol—that oil refiners are required to mix into their gasoline supply.
Those days may be over. On Wednesday, the EPA, under new Administrator Scott Pruitt, released its proposed Renewable Fuel Standard for 2018, which would leave the requirement for conventional biofuels unchanged at its 2017 level. But the EPA would reduce the requirement for advanced biofuels, the first reduction in volumes under the Renewable Fuel Standard. It’s a victory for oil and gas interests who praised the move but said it still did not go far enough. Biofuel producers slammed it.
Pruitt also signaled that he could undertake broader reforms to the Renewable Fuel Standard, saying the EPA will conduct a technical analysis to “inform a future rule” about the program and will be “assessing higher levels of ethanol-free gasoline.” A new regulatory regime is well underway.
2. More oil and gas drilling on federal lands
Under Obama, oil and gas companies frequently criticized the administration for limiting drilling on federal lands, an effort that was praised by environmentalists as a way to keep oil and gas in the ground and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
On Thursday, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke took a step in the exact opposite direction when he issued a secretarial order directing the Bureau of Land Management to speed up the permitting process for oil and gas leases. Zinke wants the BLM to hold quarterly lease sales and to issue permits within 30 days. The bureaucratic move is a first step toward opening up more federal land to oil and gas drilling but, as Zinke said, nothing will change overnight. With oil prices depressed, many producers aren’t interested in drilling on federal land. The order won’t change those market forces.
3. Another big victory for for-profit colleges
A few weeks ago, the Department of Education targeted an Obama-era protection for students known as the “gainful employment” rule, which required colleges to meet certain standards or risk losing access to federal student loans. It was a big victory for for-profit colleges, which are disproportionately affected by the rule. But since the “gainful employment” rule was finalized in 2014, the department would have to undertake a full rule-making process to rewrite it.
As of July 1, the rule required schools to disclose a range of information to prospective students, including completion rates and post-graduate earnings. But on Wednesday, the Department of Education issued a notice that it was extending the compliance date for those disclosures by a year, to July 1, 2018. In the meantime, schools must still disclose that information on their websites. The move is another victory for for-profit schools, which have found a much more welcome regulatory regime under new Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
4. Trump takes another shot at Obama’s climate policy
Just a couple weeks after Trump won the presidential election, Obama took a major step to secure his climate legacy when he blocked any oil or gas drilling in most of the Arctic waters. The plan, released by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, guides offshore energy development from 2017 to 2022, and was a major victory for environmentalists, obstructing Trump’s pledge to expand offshore drilling.
On Monday, the Interior Department took the first step toward revising that five-year road map and opening the Arctic’s Chukchi Sea, Beaufort Sea and Cook Inlet areas to oil and gas drilling. The BOEM issued a notice in the Federal Register seeking comments from the public on a replacement plan that would cover 2019 to 2024. Oil and gas groups praised the move as a necessary step to secure America’s energy future, but critics said it would undermine U.S. efforts to fight climate change and put the Arctic waters at risk. Either way, changes won’t happen overnight: Zinke expects the rewrite to take two to three years.
In the meantime, offshore drilling in most of the Arctic will remain off limits. Trump cannot overturn Obama’s climate legacy that easily.
5. The Pentagon delays lifting the ban on transgender troops
In June 2016, the Obama administration announced that it would allow transgender troops to serve openly in the military, a move lauded by gay-rights groups and criticized by many Republicans who worried it could undermine the strength and stability of U.S. armed forces.
The move was set to take effect on July 1—but late last Friday, the Department of Defense announced that it was delaying lifting the ban until January 1, 2018, to determine the impact on “the readiness and lethality of our forces.” Some military experts are concerned that allowing transgender troops to serve openly would undermine unit cohesion and reduce the military’s effectiveness. Gay-rights advocates vigorously dispute that argument and slammed the Pentagon’s delay. But they are hopeful that it signals a broader reversal of the Obama-era policy.
July 8–14
1. Foreign entrepreneurs not welcome
Trump’s overhaul of U.S. immigration policy hit a new target this week: foreign-born entrepreneurs.
In 2016, President Barack Obama passed a rule to allow foreign-born entrepreneurs to remain in the U.S. while they build new companies. The so-called startup visa was a linchpin in Obama’s effort to encourage innovative foreigners to remain the U.S. as long as they were creating jobs for Americans; it was a top priority for many technology companies and venture capitalists. It was supposed to go into effect on July 17.
This week, the Department of Homeland Security pushed it back, delaying the effective date until March 2018. The agency also said it will propose another regulation to repeal the original rule, which relies on the government’s parole authority to allow foreigners to temporarily stay in the United States even if they don’t meet the requirements for a visa. This all has its roots in Trump’s executive order on immigration, signed in January, that directed the government to limit its use of parole to only a case-by-case basis. That provision didn’t make headlines, but many immigration experts saw it as a signal that Trump was planning to kill the startup visa—and this week’s move confirms that that is the case.
2. A Korean trade war brewing?
Trump’s favorite targets on trade are well-known: China, Mexico and Germany. But there’s another country—an important U.S. ally—that often is a frequent target of Trump’s ire: South Korea.
This week, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer took the first formal step to combating Korea’s perceived trade infractions when he formally requested the two sides enter into discussions to consider changes to the five-year-old U.S.-South Korea trade agreement, which was signed under George W. Bush and approved by Congress in 2011. In a one-page letter to his Korean counterpart, Lighthizer specifically wrote that the Trump administration was determined to reverse the U.S.’ $28 billion bilateral trade deficit, a top goal for Trump, who brought up Korea’s trade policies as recently as Thursday in an interview with reporters on the plane ride to Paris.
The stakes are high: Both the U.S. and South Korea are seeking a strategy to block North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, a difficult issue that has already created some tension between the longtime allies. Any trade disputes would only hurt the U.S.-Korea relationship.
3. A milestone for Obamacare
As the Republican health care reform stands on a knife’s edge on Capitol Hill, states can’t just wait and see how those efforts end up; they need to take immediate steps to stabilize their health insurance markets—and they have a powerful tool to do so.
A so-called Section 1332 innovation waiver, for its section of the Affordable Care Act, allows states to opt out of many Obamacare regulations within the basic parameters of the law. This week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved its first waiver, to Alaska, which wants to set up a reinsurance program to help insurers that end up with a disproportionate number of high-cost enrollees. The program is intended to moderate premium increases and prevent its individual insurance market from collapsing. CMS will provide $323 million from 2018 to 2022, and estimates that Alaska’s plan will reduce premiums by 20 percent in 2018. The agency had previously signaled support for the waiver, so Tuesday’s announcement wasn’t a surprise. But it still marked a milestone for the law.
The ACA puts strict rules around when and how states can waive Obamacare requirements but that could change if Senate Republicans reach a compromise on their health reform. Under their bill, states could receive approval for waivers much easily—with less oversight, and more freedom to spend money as they see fit.
4. The rollback of Obama’s environmental legacy continues
While the Clean Power Plan and the Paris deal garnered most of the headlines, Obama’s environmental legacy touched all corners of the government, from offshore drilling leases to energy efficiency policies. But under Trump, a new environmental regime is underway, quickly reversing those policies.
This week brought two such efforts. First, on Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it was accepting comments on its proposal to rescind a ban on mining in Alaska’s Pebble Mine. Under Obama, the EPA refused to issue permits for gold and copper mining in Pebble and instead officially restricted mining in the area. The decision was the subject of a fierce legal battle, with developers arguing that the EPA’s determination violated the law and environmentalists arguing that pollution from the mining would threaten a nearby wild salmon fishery, the world’s largest. In May, the EPA, under Administrator Scott Pruitt, announced a deal with the owner of the Pebble Mine to withdraw an ongoing lawsuit, repeal the mining restrictions and allow Pebble a fair process to apply for a permit. Tuesday’s move is the first step in implementing that agreement and allowing drilling in Pebble.
On Thursday, the Interior Department announced its first oil and gas lease sale since Trump took office, offering 75.9 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico—more than the agency offered in the Gulf of Mexico during all of 2016, in part due to a lack of demand. Secretary Ryan Zinke also announced that he was lowering royalty rates—the government’s share of the take—on shallow-water leases, an effort to encourage oil companies to drill despite the fact that oil prices remain depressed. The lease sale is scheduled for August 16.
5. A move to lower drug prices
As prescription drug prices have climbed higher and higher, Americans have become angrier and angrier at drug companies and the government’s inability to rein in the price hikes. Trump has said the issue is a top priority for his administration, but he has made few real policy changes on it so far.
That changed on Thursday when the Department of Health and Human Services released two major new rules setting 2018 payment rates and policies for hospital outpatient departments and ambulatory surgical centers. If it sounds complicated, that’s because it is: The proposed rules run almost 1,500 pages in total. But experts immediately focused on a reform to the prices that the government will pay certain doctors and hospitals for prescription drugs.
The change relates to the 340B discount drug program, which was created in 1992 and requires drug manufacturers to offer outpatient drugs at a heavy discount—around 22.5 percent on average—to hospitals and doctors that serve a large share of low-income patients. Under last year’s payment schedule, CMS reimbursed hospitals for 340B drugs by about 6 percent above their average sales price. The new proposal would reimburse hospitals for such drugs at 22.5 percent below their average sales price, effectively negating the discount. CMS says that this reform will lower out-of-pocket costs for patients, ensuring that the 340B program is actually benefiting Medicare patients and not just goosing the bottom line of 340B hospitals and doctors.
The Trump administration heavily promoted the changes, even sending out a statement from Trump touting the reforms. But hospitals warned that the changes would hurt patients’ access to care by threatening the financial health of 340B hospitals. The payment rates aren’t final, and the agency is accepting comments on it. Expect a major fight to come.
July 15–21
1. Reinstating property seizure
In 2015, then-Attorney General Eric Holder reversed nearly three decades of federal policy when he severely limited state and local police from using federal law to seize cash, cars and other personal property from crime suspects. (The Justice Department eventually allowed a very restricted version of the policy to resume last year.) That policy of enabling civil asset forfeiture (dubbed, euphemistically, Equitable Sharing) had enabled law enforcement to seize property worth $3 billion since 2008, a lucrative income source for cash-strapped police departments. But Democrats and Republicans alike had sharply criticized the whole idea, arguing that seizing assets from people who had not yet been convicted of a crime was a violation of due process—and a terrible incentive for police.
On Wednesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a new policy guidancereinstating much of the old policy on civil asset forfeitures—with additional safeguards to prevent abuse, including for cash seizures of less than $10,000. Sessions and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, stressed that civil asset forfeitures, a policy that began at the start of the war on drugs, would be critical for state and local police to combat the opioid crisis. But critics said the safeguards were too weak to guard against abuse and worried it was a reward to police departments for supporting Trump during the presidential campaign. Rosenstein denied that, but Trump has been receptive to requests from local police. In February, sheriffs from the National Sheriffs Association visited the White House and stressed to the president the need to reverse Holder’s policy. In the ensuing discussion, Trump didn’t seem to know much about asset forfeitures—but sided with the sheriffs. “Asset forfeiture,” he said, “we’re going to go back on, okay?”
2. Trump’s first big regulatory blueprint
Twice a year, the White House regulatory office releases a compendium of the regulatory agendas for all government agencies, from Cabinet agencies like the Department of Labor to obscure independent entities like the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency. The compendium, called the “Unified Agenda,” includes what rules the agency intends to issue and the timeline for issuing them and is highly anticipated by businesses, lawmakers and regulation experts.
This spring’s version took on even more importance because it is Trump’s first Unified Agenda, the most comprehensive look at how his administration will approach the regulatory state. Experts are still picking through all of the information, but a few broad themes are clear: Trump intends a far less active regulatory state than Obama, proposing fewer rules and more deregulatory actions, wiping Obama-era rules off the books.
So what’s actually in it? There’s a lot: The Environmental Protection Agency intends to repeal Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which imposed limits on greenhouse gas emissions, although the EPA did not provide a specific timeline. The Bureau of Land Management also intends to repeal a rule on hydraulic fracking; the DOL will “reconsider” a rule requiring employers to track workplace injuries and illnesses; and the Department of Homeland Security intends to issue a rule for returning border crossers to Mexico and Canada. In some cases, the absence of a rule is telling: The Agriculture Department, for instance, dropped multiple rules on organic products that were close to being finalized during the Obama administration. There’s lots more: Check out the entire Unified Agenda.
3. 15,000 additional visas for foreign workers
During the presidential campaign, Trump blasted visa programs that allow foreign workers to temporarily work in the U.S. “[I will] institute an absolute requirement to hire American workers first for every visa and immigration program,” he promised in March 2016. “No exceptions.” In turn, many immigration experts expected a crackdown on such programs under Trump.
But on Monday, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it was granting businesses an additional 15,000 H-2B visas for low-skilled, non-agricultural workers for fiscal 2017. Congress had capped the H-2B program at 66,000 visas annually, but in last year’s spending bill, lawmakers granted DHS the authority to issue up to 69,000 additional H-2B visas. Critics called the provision a back-door increase in foreign labor, allowing Washington to further undercut American workers, and hoped that the Trump administration would not use its new authority. But DHS determined that 15,000 extra visas were needed.
John Kelly, the secretary of homeland security, justified the move as a “demonstration of the Administration’s commitment to supporting American businesses,” and DHS guidance said that hiring companies must attest that they are “likely to suffer irreparable harm” without the extra workers, a standard that drew some praise from some H-2B critics.
4. Selling rice to China
Trump blasted China for its trade practices during the presidential campaign but as president, the U.S. and China have found some real common ground on trade. They’ve reached agreements on beef, dairy and poultry. And this week, you can add rice to that list.
On Thursday, the Department of Agriculture announced that China—the world’s biggest rice importer—would allow the U.S. to export rice into the country, the culmination of 10-plus years of negotiations. The U.S. rice industry praised the deal, which will allow American rice into the country after China conducts an audit of U.S. rice facilities.
Of course, the trade relationship has some real sticking points. For instance, this week, the sides were unable to agree on a one-year plan on trade at the U.S.-China Comprehensive Economic Dialogue, a talk between high-level American and Chinese officials. And Trump is expected to infuriate China by signing off on steep steel tariffs in the near future. Still, that Washington and Beijing are finding common ground on long-stalled trade issues is an unexpected development in Trump’s first six months, after he spent so much time bashing China during the campaign.
5. No more traveling to North Korea
The death in June of Otto Warmbier, an American college student, after 18 months of captivity in North Korea sent shock waves across the United States and provoked outrage from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, with many calling for a ban on travel to the North. Warmbier was convicted in 2016 to 15 years of hard labor after attempting to steal a poster from his hotel room. Two months into his sentence, he suffered a severe head injury; in June, North Korea released a comatose Warmbier to his family in the United States. He died a few days later.
On Friday, State officially banned all Americans from traveling to North Korea, “due to mounting concerns over the serious risk of arrest and long-term detention under North Korea’s system of law enforcement.” Officially, State is imposing a “Geographical Travel Restriction” on all U.S. citizens from using a passport to travel to North Korea, and the department said it may make exceptions for Americans traveling for humanitarian purposes. It’s unclear whether such a restriction can really stop Americans determined to enter the North—hundreds visit each year—but it sends a very clear message about the threat posed by Pyongyang.
July 22–28
1. Trump targets Obama’s fuel economy standards
On January 13, Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency attempted to lock in its 2022-2025 fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks, issuing a finding that wasn’t due for another 15 months. The goal was clear: block Trump from weakening the standards. But this week, the Trump administration made clear that those standards aren’t going to last.
On Tuesday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began the process to write fuel efficiency regulations for years 2022-2025, seeking comment on an upcoming environmental review. Within the notice, the agency also offered clear signs that it is likely to weaken Obama’s fuel economy standards: It is considering freezing the fuel efficiency targets, instead of raising them each year as the Obama administration had proposed. It may also go back a year and review the 2021 fuel efficiency standards, which NHTSA issued in 2012.
How can NHTSA issue new fuel efficiency standards if the EPA already issued them in January? Because the standards are, in fact, a dual effort between the EPA and NHTSA; the EPA issues a rule on greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light trucks while NHTSA issues a rule on fuel efficiency. So while the EPA attempted to lock in the 2022-2025 standards through its January rule, NHTSA must still go through a full rule-making process on its own to set the fuel economy standards, giving Trump an opening to weaken those rules. And it appears he’s going to do just that.
2. DOJ takes another swing at sanctuary cities
For Sessions, the week was dominated by Trump’s repeated attacks on his job performance and questions about whether the president was setting the gears in motion to fire him. But at the Department of Justice, he was busy implementing Trump’s immigration agenda, imposing new restrictions on so-called sanctuary cities—states and localities that refuse to help the feds enforce immigration laws.
The new policy, released Tuesday, imposes new restrictions on cities that receive certain grants from the DOJ. Cities that seek money under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program—known as “Byrne JAG”—must comply with two new conditions: They must give officials at the Department of Homeland Security at least 48 hours notice before releasing an undocumented immigrant from custody, and allow DHS authorities to visit state and local jails.
The new policy is Trump’s first real attempt to crack down on sanctuary cities, a top campaign promise. With $347 million in funding this year, the Byrne JAG program is the largest federal grant for state and local law enforcement; cutting funding to sanctuary cities could leave a real budgetary hole for police departments. Will that actually happen? Political leaders of many sanctuary cities, such as San Francisco and Chicago, have already said they won’t change their immigration policies based on the new threat; they are also certain to sue the DOJ, arguing that the coercive use of grants is an unconstitutional use of government power. Like nearly all of Trump’s immigration agenda, the fate of his sanctuary city effort will likely be decided by the courts.
3. Obama’s overtime rule is in trouble
In May 2016, Vice President Joe Biden announced a huge expansion of the Department of Labor’s overtime rule, which requires employers to pay employees time-and-a-half for more than 40 hours of work. The revised rule expanded the definition for who qualified for overtime pay and raised the salary threshold under which most workers are required to receive overtime, from $23,660 to $47,476. The effort represented a top second-term priority for Obama—a unilateral attempt to give American workers a raise.
But businesses hated the rule and sued the administration over it; when Obama left office, the rule hadn’t taken effect and remained in legal limbo. This week, the Trump administration sent a strong message that it will never take effect: The Labor Department kicked off the process to rewrite the rule, publishing a “request for information” that seeks comments from the public about further changes. The notice wasn’t exactly a surprise, since last month, the Trump administration declined to support the rule in a legal brief it filed in the ongoing lawsuit. But Tuesday’s news still represents the clearest sign that the Trump DOL doesn’t support Obama’s overtime rule and intends to roll it back.
4. Repealing Obama’s fracking rule
In March 2015, the Interior Department released a high-profile rule governing hydraulic fracturing on public lands. The process, known as “fracking,” involves pumping millions of gallons of water into the earth to release oil and gas; it has helped make the U.S. one of the world’s leading oil and gas producers, but environmentalists have criticized it for worsening climate change, polluting groundwater and causing earthquakes. The rule was intended to impose stronger safety measures on fracking on public lands, requiring producers to safely store waste fluids and disclose what chemicals they use.
But the rule never actually took effect, due to lawsuits from the oil and gas industry. Now, it’s on the verge of death. The Interior Department on Monday released a 33-page proposed rule to repeal the fracking regulation, saying the Obama-era rule was “unnecessarily duplicative of state and some tribal regulations and imposes burdensome reporting requirements and other unjustified costs on the oil and gas industry.” The agency is accepting comments for 60 days and will release a final rule soon thereafter. But it’s clear how this will end: The fracking rule is dead.
5. Ending an Obama retirement program
In 2014, the Treasury Department created a new way for Americans to save for retirement, allowing people without access to a workplace retirement plan to open a starter account, known as a “myRA.” It was designed to encourage all Americans to save for retirement—without fees—and participants could contribute up to $5,500 a year from pre-tax earnings, a savings account or a federal tax refund.
The Obama administration heavily promoted the program, but myRA never garnered much interest: Only about 20,000 people have opened accounts since it launched at the end of 2015. On Friday, the Treasury Department announced it was shutting down the myRA program; participants’ funds would be transitioned into Roth IRA accounts. The death of myRA isn’t a huge deal, given the limited enrollment. But Friday’s news still marks the end of a top Obama effort to expand retirement savings opportunities.
July 29–August 4
1. DHS waives laws to help build a border wall
Congress doesn’t appear very interested in funding Trump’s promised wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Senate Republicans, for instance, introduced a $15 billion border security bill this week—and none of that money was earmarked for the wall. Democrats are refusing to vote for any bill that includes border wall money.
But the Trump administration is continuing to take steps to build an actual, physical wall. On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security issued a notice that it was waiving more than three dozen environmental laws in order to build border wall prototypes along a 15-mile border in the vicinity of San Diego, California. The waived laws include the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water, and the Antiquities Act, freeing the government from costly regulations like environmental reviews. The notice is still a small move, since the department has only about $20 million to construct the prototypes—money repurposed from other accounts. But it’s another signal that Trump isn’t backing down from his wall.
2. Trump targets a major financial regulation
In the aftermath of the financial crisis, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act, a law intended to protect consumers, tighten up oversight of banks and prevent another deep recession. Republicans for years have complained that the law was unduly harsh, discouraging banks from lending and contributing to the slow economic recovery.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration took a first step to reforming a major component of the law, known as the “Volcker rule,” which prevents banks from risking depositors’ money on certain speculative investments. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, an independent agency currently run by acting Director Keith Noreika, who Trump appointed in May, requested comments on revising the Volcker rule, a clear sign that he intends to change the underlying regulation.
This won’t be a quick process: Dodd-Frank was passed in July 2010, and the final Volcker rule wasn’t released until December 2013. Despite its seeming straightforward nature, the rule is incredibly complicated, running 272 pages and crafted by four agencies, along with the OCC. Any changes to the rule will require approval from those other agencies—the Federal Reserve, SEC, FDIC and CFTC. Still, the OCC’s notice is a clear message to Wall Street: A new cop is on the beat.
3. A setback for the Department of Education
Sometimes rolling back Obama’s legacy is harder than expected. In May, Betsy DeVos, the secretary of education, announced that the Education Department would select a single company to service the agency’s $1.2 trillion portfolio of student loans. The Obama administration had intended to spread different aspects of loan management—such as consolidation, financial reporting, and default—among multiple companies.
The move sparked an immediate backlash from Democrats, and some Republicans, who said competition was needed to ensure that servicers had the best interest of students at heart. This week, DeVos abandoned those plans, canceling a solicitationfor bids to manage the loan portfolio. The agency will now seek a new “more innovative approach” to managing the portfolio and is collecting feedback on how to do so. The reversal is a lesson for the Trump administration that Obama’s regulatory legacy is not always so easy to tear down.
4. State Department begins “extreme vetting” rule
Much of Trump’s March executive order preventing people from six Muslim countries from entering the United States remains blocked by the courts. But the Trump administration is moving forward with the parts of it that aren’t blocked.
On Thursday, the State Department published a notice in the Federal Register soliciting comments on its proposal to begin the “extreme vetting” that Trump promised in his campaign. The agency intends to collect a wide array of information on a “subset of visa applicants,” including their travel, address and employment histories, names of siblings and children and social media information. The proposal requires more information from applicants than the current visa application but doesn’t represent a radical departure from past department practices. The agency is accepting comments for 60 days and will issue a final decision soon thereafter.
5. The FDA makes a mixed move on tobacco
In May 2016, the Food and Drug Administration in a landmark move imposed the first real rules on electronic cigarettes, banning their sale to people under the age of 18 and requiring companies to apply to the FDA for approval of the product. Democrats cheered the announcement for instituting long-overdue oversight of the industry while Republicans said it was misguided, potentially causing Americans to smoke regular cigarettes over the electronic versions.
Under the FDA’s original rule, companies with markets currently on the market had two years to apply to the agency to market e-cigarettes and premium cigars. Earlier this year, the FDA extended that deadline by three months. Now, new FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb is postponing that deadline for five years, effectively killing it for Trump’s entire first term.
That looked like a rollback of tobacco restrictions—but at the same time, the agency said it would examine whether to lower the amount of nicotine in traditional cigarettes, a surprise announcement that worried the tobacco industry. The dual changes split the traditional party-line approach to tobacco regulation—Democrats in favor of it, Republicans against—and are sure to set up a knockdown fight with the industry if the FDA really does decide to reduce nicotine levels. Stay tuned.
(And yes, we know—the announcement didn’t really come this week, but it was so late last Friday afternoon that it didn’t make our deadline for last week’s list.)
August 5–11
1. Interior relaxes Obama-era sage grouse rules
In September 2015, the Obama administration announced new protections for the sage grouse, a bird whose habitat happens to cover some of the most resource-rich lands in the American West. The administration declined to list the bird on the endangered species list—a big victory for oil and gas companies—but the new conservation plan included strong measures to protect sage grouse habitat.
This week, the Interior Department, led by Secretary Ryan Zinke, began rolling back the conservation plan, directing the Bureau of Land Management to shrink the buffer zones between sage grouse breeding grounds, among other changes. Environmentalists slammed the move, saying it jeopardized the carefully crafted Obama-era compromise between oil and gas interests and environmental groups. The changes won’t take effect overnight: It can take years for the agency and states to implement new land-use policies that determine where companies can drill for gas and oil, but it was another big sign of the Interior Department’s new priorities under Zinke.
2. EPA eases the approval process for new chemicals
Last year, in the largest revamp of America’s chemical safety laws in 40 years, Congress required that the Environmental Protection Agency examine “reasonably foreseen uses” of chemicals when they evaluate them for safety. The changes were designed to ensure that the EPA examines chemicals for their likely real-world impact, instead of narrowly evaluating them on the specific uses for which they were intended.
On Monday, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced new “operating principles” for how the agency will apply the law. In a surprise, the EPA will first assess chemicals based only on their intended use—similar to how the agency operated before passage of the new law. If the EPA has any concerns about other potential uses, “as a general matter,” those will be adjudicated through a separate rule-making. In other words, new chemicals may still be approved while the EPA is reviewing their potential further impact—the exact outcome lawmakers were trying to avoid. The change is a big victory for industry groups, which wanted a lighter touch approach to regulation. Pruitt also announced Monday that the agency had cleared a backlog of 600 new chemicals awaiting approval—another move that drew praise from the chemical industry and strong rebukes from consumer groups.
3. DOJ switches sides in Ohio voting case
Under Obama, the Department of Justice frequently challenged voter ID laws and similar state-level laws in court, arguing they unfairly affected minority voters while “solving” a voter-fraud problem that was essentially nonexistent. Under Trump, the DOJ is taking the opposite position; this week the Justice Department reversed its position on a controversial Ohio voting law, under which the state has purged tens of thousands of people from the voter rolls if they haven’t cast a ballot in the past two years and don’t respond to a piece of mail asking them to confirm their registration.
The Obama-era DOJ had argued that the Ohio law discriminated against minorities and thus violated federal voting laws, but in a filing on Monday, the department said it had reconsidered its position and determined that the Ohio voting roll purge was legal.
Since the election, Trump has repeatedly claimed—without evidence—that millions of people cast illegal ballots, allowing Hillary Clinton to win the popular vote. In response, he created a commission to investigate voter fraud, led by controversial Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, which has done little so far. In addition, the Justice Department in February dropped its opposition to a Texas voter ID law, a major shift that signaled the priorities of the new administration.
4. The fiduciary standard gets punted
Perhaps the biggest financial reform of the late Obama era was the “fiduciary rule,” the 2015 Obama regulation that requires investment advisers to act in the best interest of their clients when selling products like retirement investments. (The concern was that many advisers were pushing investments with a higher commission for the adviser, rather than a better return for the client.) It was assumed to be doomed under the new administration, but Democrats enjoyed a brief moment of celebration in May when Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that he would allow the rule to take effect in early June.
It now appears the celebration was premature. Only part of the rule took effect in June, and the Labor Department isn’t enforcing that part until the entire rule takes effect on January 1, 2018. But now even that won’t be happening. This week, in a court filing, the Labor Department revealed that it had sent a rule to the White House for review that would delay full implementation of the fiduciary rule for 18 months, until July 1, 2019—enough time for the Trump administration to make significant changes or repeal it altogether.
5. The nuclear waste storage fight warms up
Where should America stash its spent nuclear fuel? A decades-old plan to create a central dumping site in Nevada’s Yucca Mountain stalled out during the Obama administration, with Nevada powerhouse Harry Reid leading Democrats in the Senate. But the Trump administration has reopened that dormant fight over the past few months, and it’s starting to really heat up. First, Trump requested $120 million in his 2018 budget to restart the licensing process for the Yucca site. Then, in June, Energy Secretary Rick Perry announced that he was reconstituting the key office that oversaw the Nevada site for long-term waste storage, setting off protests from Nevada lawmakers and forcing Perry to walk back some of this comments.
This week, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission released a memo—dated July 31—directing staff to conduct preliminary “information-gathering” on restarting the licensing process. This is a small step, a $110,000 effort to “re-establish infrastructure” to get the licensing process underway. But it’s another sign that Trump is serious about storing nuclear waste in the Yucca site. This fight is just getting underway.
August 12–18
1. DHS ends parole program for Central American children
In November 2014, Vice President Joe Biden announced that the Obama administration was taking steps to stem that summer’s border crisis, in which tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors flooded into the United States from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The State Department set up a program to allow the children of parents who are lawfully present in the U.S. to seek refugee or parole status while still in their home countries—without actually making the dangerous journey to the United States. The goal was to reduce the flow of unaccompanied children without leaving them in danger.
On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security immediately ended the parole component of that program; DHS canceled the approvals of 2,700 kids who had been conditionally approved for parole but had not received final signoff. The program was small—about 1,400 kids had been paroled and entered the United States—but had still angered immigration hawks who said it was too generous to the children.
The announcement follows Trump’s executive order in February in which he directedthe three main immigration agencies to use parole “sparingly.” It will please immigration hawks who have long criticized the way officials use parole, but it also carries some risk: The number of unaccompanied minors dropped by almost half in fiscal 2015, and ticked up again last year. The exact reasons for the drop are unknown, but the parole program may have been part of the reason. (The children are still eligible to apply for refugee status without crossing into the U.S., but that bar is higher.) Trump’s repeal of the program could persuade them to head north without U.S. approval, illegally crossing the border.
2. The end of an Obama health care payment experiment
While most of the attention on Obamacare has focused on the individual insurance market and the Medicaid expansion, the law also tests numerous ideas to lower the spiraling cost of health care. One approach is known as “bundled payments,” which institutes a fixed price for certain medical procedures, like hip surgery or knee replacement. If the hospital could perform the procedure for a lower cost, it kept the difference. If not, it lost money.
The Obama administration had begun testing the concept of bundled payments through a few different programs—with mandatory participation by hospitals that take Medicare money. The mandated participation always irked Tom Price, the former congressman and current secretary of Health and Human Services, and this week, he significantly scaled back those programs. Hospitals will no longer be required to participate in a bundled payment program for certain joint replacements in many markets. Two yet-to-launch bundled care programs—an expansion of the existing joint replacements program and a new program for heart attacks and cardiac surgeries—were canceled altogether.
The rollback isn’t a repudiation of “value-based-care,” the movement to pay doctors for quality over quantity, which has bipartisan support. But it does scale back one of the goals of the Affordable Care Act, which was keeping costs under control, and signals that Price, a former physician, will be less aggressive in forcing the new payment system on hospitals, a victory for doctors who are critical of the new payment plans and a defeat for health officials seeking a rapid transition.
3. EPA’s regulatory rollback continues
No agency has been more aggressive than the Environmental Protection Agency in undoing Obama-era regulations and the August recess has not slowed down the agency. This week, EPA said it would reconsider two more rules, one on the toxic discharges from coal plants and another on emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks.
On Monday, in a court filing, Pruitt said EPA would conduct a rule-making to “potentially revise” a 2015 rule from the Obama administration that set limits on the dumping of toxic metals, like mercury, from coal-fired power plants. The news wasn’t a surprise, since Pruitt issued a rule earlier this spring delaying the compliance dates of the Obama-era rule. Then, on Thursday, EPA announced that it would review certain parts of the agency’s 2016 rule that set emissions standards on heavy trucks for model years 2021-27. It was seen as one of Obama’s last big pushes for cleaner air, as the Obama-era EPA attempted to lock down as many climate rules as possible, before a climate-skeptic administration took over.
4. The end of “Operation Choke Point”
In 2013, the Department of Justice announced a new initiative to cut off certain predatory lenders and online merchants from the banking system by cracking down on banks and payment processors. The idea was to pressure banks, as potential facilitators of potential financial crimes, to cease doing business with those companies. The program, officially called Operation Choke Point, was heavily criticized by Republicans who said DOJ was targeting legal businesses that the Obama administration just happened to dislike, like payday lenders and gun retailers, without any evidence of wrongdoing.
This week, in a letter to the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, DOJ said it would end Operation Choke Point, which it called a “misguided initiative.” The move is a victory for Republicans and industries like payday lenders who felt targeted by the program.
5. A flurry of small trade deals
In the trade world, all eyes were on Washington where American, Canadian and Mexican officials converged for the first session on renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement. But the Trump administration also made a series of small trade announcements this week to coincide with Vice President Mike Pence’s trip through four South American countries.
In Colombia, Pence announced that the Colombian government would lift restrictions on a certain type of U.S. rice exports, while the U.S. will now allow the import of Colombian avocados. In Argentina, Pence inked a deal to allow the export of U.S. pork products for the first time since 1992, opening up a potential $10 million per year pork market to U.S. producers. Finally, the Department of Agriculture announced that South Korea was lifting its ban on U.S. poultry and egg products, which was imposed in March after a series of bird flu cases in the United States.
All these deals are dwarfed by top issues under discussion as part of the NAFTA renegotiation. But they continue to show that career officials can make progress on sticky trade issues, willing to compromise with foreign nations despite Trump’s at-times bellicose trade rhetoric.
August 19–25
1. The State Department turns up the heat on Egypt
When Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi visited the White House in April, Trump lavished the foreign leader with praise, saying he’s doing a “fantastic job in a very difficult situation” and that “we are very much behind” him. Those comments drew a sharp rebuke from human-rights groups that had been sharply critical of Sisi’s human rights record.
So, it came as some surprise this week when the State Department delayed $200 million in aid to Egypt and cut another $100 million in aid altogether. State officials said the move was a result of Egypt’s human rights record, including a new law that restricts the activities of nongovernmental organizations. But experts also suggested another motive: isolating North Korea. Egypt has historically had ties to North Korea, with North Korean pilots training Egyptian pilots in the 1970s. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert did not deny that North Korea was a reason for the cuts in aid, saying, “We have a deep and multifaceted relationship with the country of Egypt. We have a lot of areas of close cooperation.”
The move also created troubles for White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, who was scheduled to meet top Egyptian leaders, including Sisi, this week to talk about the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. A meeting between Kushner and Egypt’s foreign minister was canceled at the last minute, potentially a rebuke to State’s move, though it otherwise did not appear to significantly disrupt the trip.
2. Interior could shrink national monuments
In his final weeks in office, Obama protected over 1.5 million acres of federal land from development by designating national monuments in the West, a final attempt to solidify his environmental legacy. Republican lawmakers, oil and gas interests and fishing and hunting groups blasted the move and appealed to Trump to review the designations. In April, they got their wish when Trump directed the Interior Department to review all monument designations larger than 100,000 acres all the way back to 1996.
On Thursday, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke delivered that review to the White House. He didn’t release it publicly, instead publishing a vague two-page fact sheet; in an interview with The Associated Press, Zinke said he was not recommending any monuments be rescinded but was suggesting a “handful” of changes. The New York Times later reported that Zinke recommended shrinking at least four monuments. It’s unclear whether—or when—the White House will accept the recommendations. But given Trump’s commitment to rolling back Obama’s environmental legacy, Zinke’s recommendations will likely find a favorable reception in the Oval Office. And if it does, it would be historic—no national monument has been shrunk by a president since 1963.
3. The White House changes American research priorities
Every year, the government funds billions of dollars in research, from large National Institutes of Health grants to small housing experiments. The sheer magnitude of money gives the government great influence over the direction of research across industries, a hidden lever for a sophisticated administration to guide the country well into the future.
This week, the Trump administration revealed that it intends to use that lever. The Office of Management and Budget, led by Director Mick Mulvaney, published a four-page memo—dated August 27—that lays out the administration’s research and development priorities for fiscal 2019, which includes a focus on military technologies, border security and treatments for drug addiction. In a break from the Obama administration’s efforts to combat climate change, there is almost no mention of environmental research, with the exception of one reference to renewable energy. The memo also directs agencies to focus on early stage research and, in a bolded section, strongly recommends the use of quantitative data to evaluate any R&D investments, terminating those in which “federal involvement is no longer needed or appropriate.”
The real-world effects of such a memo won’t be immediately apparent. Research projects generally operate on a multiyear time frame, so the White House can’t just shift the direction of federal R&D overnight. But these priorities can eventually have big policy implications as researchers focus on certain issues and ignore others. That assumes, of course, that there is actual R&D funding to disburse for research—and if Trump has his way, that may not be the case. The White House has proposed huge cuts to research programs, rolling back federal nondefense R&D by almost 20 percent. Republicans and Democrats alike have rejected those cuts, so they will not become law. While that may be disappointing to a fiscal conservative like Mulvaney, it does help the administration in one sense: More R&D money gives agencies greater influence over the direction of American research.
4. The Amazon-Whole Foods merger sails through
Trump’s disdain for Amazon and its CEO, Jeff Bezos, who owns The Washington Post, is well known. “Is Fake News Washington Post being used as a lobbyist weapon against Congress to keep Politicians from looking into Amazon no-tax monopoly?” Trump tweeted in July. Last week, he wrote, “Amazon is doing great damage to tax paying retailers.”
Despite those attacks, Amazon had no problem receiving approval from regulators to acquire the grocery giant Whole Foods. Although the deal has alarmed some antitrust watchers, who worry that Amazon’s expansion is undermining competition in the long run by driving out competitors through its low prices, it barely hit a speed bump in Washington: The Federal Trade Commission released a short statement saying it had completed its investigation into the $13.7 billion deal, which was announced in June, and isn’t going to challenge it. The quick approval also assuaged concerns that Trump would attempt to interfere in the regulatory review for political reasons. The deal is set to close on Monday.
Amazon promptly announced that it will cut prices on a wide array of Whole Foods products, from avocados to tilapia, on Monday and intends to introduce benefits at Whole Foods stores for its Prime members.
5. Trump ratchets up sanctions
During his first few months in office, Trump attempted to woo Chinese President Xi Jinping, even saying he would relax his trade stance if China applied more pressure to North Korea. But those efforts have fizzled in the past few months, even as North Korea’s nuclear program has continued to advance.
This week, the administration took another unilateral step to stop Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions when the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Chinese and Russian individuals and entities, an effort to reduce North Korea’s exports, which it uses to finance its nuclear program, and to choke off its access to the global financial system. The move is the second time in two months that Trump has sanctioned Chinese entities over North Korea. In addition, on Friday, the White House also announced new sanctions on Venezuela that attempt to cut financing to the country and its state-owned oil company.
August 26–September 1
1. Police can buy military equipment again
In August 2014, after the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown, the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, looked something like a war zone as protesters set fires and police responded with camo-clad snipers and armored vehicles, the result of a decades-long program allowing local law enforcement agencies to receive surplus military equipment.
The controversial image of police rolling in on their own citizens like an army roused Obama into action. Nine months later, his administration prohibited the transfer of certain equipment, such as grenade launchers and armored vehicles, to local police departments and limited the transfer of other items such as drones, riot gear and explosives. Such equipment, the administration determined, didn’t serve a purpose for local law enforcement agencies. “Some equipment made for the battlefield is not appropriate for local police departments,” Obama said.
On Monday, Trump rescinded the Obama-era executive order limiting the transfer of surplus military equipment to local law enforcement agencies. Now police departments can again buy previously restricted guns, ammunition and riot gear, as well as other military-style equipment like grenade launchers, according to a Department of Justice fact sheet. The changes are a victory for local law enforcement agencies that believe the equipment helps keep their officers—and the public—safe. But it was sharply criticized by civil liberties groups and even received some pushback from Republicans like Sen. Rand Paul. “It is one thing for federal officials to work with local authorities to reduce or solve crime,” Paul said, “but it is another for them to subsidize militarization.”
2. Trump nixes an Obama policy to reduce pay discrimination
Last year, the Obama administration made a final attempt to reduce the racial and gender pay gaps, finalizing changes to a form—the EEO-1—that requires employers to report workplace demographics. Under the revised form, employers with more than 100 workers would have to report pay data by race, ethnicity and gender. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency responsible for the form changes, could have then used the data to launch an investigation into discrimination. The changes were set to take effect in March 2018.
But this week, the White House directed the EEOC to stop the changes and instead use the original EEO-1 form, saying the changes “lack practical utility, are unnecessarily burdensome, and do not adequately address privacy and confidentiality issues.” Labor and civil rights groups criticized the rollback, arguing that the new form was a crucial means to get employers to address continued unfair pay disparities. Business groups praised the move, saying the form changes created an unnecessary paperwork burden that would ultimately hurt growth and wages.
3. The fiduciary standard gets delayed for more than a year
One of Obama’s final financial reforms was the “fiduciary standard,” a dry-sounding policy that essentially means stockbrokers can’t put their own interests ahead of their clients’. In May, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta announced in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that he would let the fiduciary standard take effect as planned on June 9. But that wasn’t the full story: Only some parts of the rule, which requires financial advisers to act in the best interests of their clients, took effect on that date; the rest of the rule takes effect on January 1, and it quickly became clear that Acosta wasn’t going to let that happen.
First, at the end of June, he asked for information from the public about changing the law. Then, this week, the DOL published a proposed rule delaying the effective date 18 months, until July 1, 2019. This wasn’t a surprise: In a court filing earlier this month, the agency said it had proposed an 18-month delay. This is just a proposed rule, so the agency must still accept comments and issue a final regulation. But it’s clear that Acosta intends to delay, and likely substantively reform, the fiduciary rule. In the meantime, the agency said earlier this year that it wouldn’t actually enforce the portions of the rule that took effect in June—meaning, in effect, the rule has now been mostly mothballed.
4. Trump’s trade fights with Canada continue
During his presidential campaign, Trump railed against China’s trade practices—but he hasn’t done much to improve them since taking office, breaking his promise to name Beijing a currency manipulator and delaying investigations into steel imports from China. Instead, he has targeted a friendly country much closer to home: Canada. He has, for example, reopened NAFTA negotiations with Canada and Mexico and imposed duties on certain Canadian products, including lumber.
This week, the trade fight with Canada took a bit of a surprising turn when the Commerce Department delayed preliminary antidumping duties on certain Canadian lumber companies to give the two countries additional time to negotiate a settlement. In effect, the delay temporarily lifts the 7 percent to 8 percent duties that Commerce had imposed earlier this summer. The agency must make a final determination on the duties by November 14. In less surprising news, on Thursday, Commerce opened an investigation into certain types of Canadian paper, the first step toward imposing penalties for unfair trade practices.
Neither of these trade moves is especially important to the economy, but they are additional evidence that Trump’s trade agenda, so far, is far softer than the bombastic threats he leveled on the campaign trail. Together with his limited actions against Chinese trade policy, his agenda appears almost … conventional.
5. The diplomatic rift with Russia continues
Trump entered office hoping to improve relations with Russia, saying it was “absolutely possible” to ease tensions with Moscow. But the relationship has only spiraled downward as Trump has faced multiple investigations into potential collusion between Trump campaign officials and the Russian government. Things are only getting worse: After Trump reluctantly signed into law new sanctions against Russia, President Vladimir Putin reacted angrily, ordering the U.S. to cut its diplomatic staff in Russia by 755 people.
This week, the Trump administration responded by forcing Russia to close three diplomatic compounds, located in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and New York City. The State Department, in announcing the retaliation, issued a sharply worded statement, saying the initial Russian action was “unwarranted and detrimental to the overall relationship between our countries.” The move is just the latest sign that Moscow and Washington aren’t on better terms, even with Trump in the White House.
September 2–8
1. Trump sets a new goal for deregulation
Trump hasn’t had any big legislative wins, but he has succeeded at clogging up the regulatory system—the “deconstruction of the administrative state,” in the words of former chief strategist Steve Bannon. In one of his first actions as president, Trump directed the White House budget office to set an annual cap on regulatory costs for each agency—that is, the total economic costs of all new regulatory and deregulatory actions. For the rest of fiscal 2017, the cap was zero, meaning whatever an agency does this year, it can’t increase net costs at all. But what would the cap be in fiscal 2018?
On Thursday, the Office of Management and Budget provided an answer: Agencies are expected to “propose a net reduction in total incremental regulatory costs.” In other words, the economic cost of federal regulations must go down. The policy, which was implemented in an agency-wide memo, doesn’t apply to every regulation; many rules are exempt because their costs are minimal, they are required by law or they are related to national security, among other reasons. And OMB still can issue agencies a waiver if officials deem it necessary. But for most major regulations—the type of health and safety rules that get significant attention—the policy could impose new restrictions on agencies’ ability to issue new rules, experts said. An OMB official did not respond to a request for comment.
Given the Trump administration’s focus on deregulation, experts weren’t exactly surprised by the memo. They noted that it just “expects” agencies to cut regulatory costs—it doesn’t require it. But it still represents a dramatic shift in how agencies have traditionally regulated. For all Trump’s deregulatory successes in his first seven-plus months in office, his bigger war on the regulatory system may just be beginning.
2. DOJ takes another swipe at sanctuary cities
In late July, the administration made its first real attempt to follow through on Trump’s campaign promise to cut federal funding for sanctuary jurisdictions, like San Francisco or Chicago, which don’t help the federal government enforce immigration laws. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that in order to receive money from the “Byrne JAG” grant, a $347 million program that is critical for local law enforcement, cities must effectively shed their sanctuary status. The change made national headlines and provoked immediate outcry from sanctuary cities, which are challenging the policy in court.
Less noticed, on Thursday, Sessions announced that nonsanctuary jurisdictions would get “priority consideration” in another grant program run by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. While smaller than the Byrne JAG program, the COPS grant program is still large: State and local law enforcement agencies received around $160 million from it in fiscal 2016.
The change has gone largely unnoticed around the country, but represents perhaps the clearest shift in priorities from the Obama Justice Department to the Trump Justice Department. While Obama used the COPS program to favor law enforcement agencies that promoted trust between officers and the community through accountability and “honest recognition of past and present obstacles,” Trump and Sessions are using it to further their immigration crackdown.
3. The EPA’s Clean Power Plan repeal is coming soon
Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump railed against Obama’s environmental agenda and promised to undo his Clean Power Plan, which imposed limits on greenhouse gas emissions. In March, he took the first step toward doing just that when he directed the Environmental Protection Agency to review the rule. So it came as a surprise this summer when the EPA revealed that it wouldn’t take action on its review of the plan in the next year.
It turns out, that wasn’t correct. The agency announced in a court filing this week that its previous timeline was wrong: It’s going to issue a proposed new rule on the Clean Power Plan—likely a repeal—in the next few months. In fact, the rule has been under review at the White House since early June. Expect to hear more about it soon.
September 9–15
1. DHS suspends some visas for four countries
When the government orders someone deported from the U.S., that deportation doesn’t just happen automatically. It requires approval from the receiving country; the U.S. generally can’t just leave people in other countries. Most countries routinely approve such removal orders, but about a dozen countries are uncooperative, preventing the U.S. from actually deporting those individuals.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration took its first step to force greater cooperation when it imposed visa sanctions on four especially recalcitrant countries—Cambodia, Eritrea, Guinea and Sierra Leone. “These four countries have not established reliable processes for issuing travel documents to their nationals ordered removed from the United States,” the Department of Homeland Security said. According to DHS numbers, the government has been unable to remove around 700 Eritrean, 1,900 Cambodian, 2,100 Guinean and 800 Sierra Leone nationals. The sanctions vary for each country. For instance, senior Cambodian diplomatic officials and their families will be unable to get a B visa, which allows temporary entry into the U.S. for business or pleasure. In Eritrea, no one can get a B visa.
The move is just the latest front of Trump’s immigration crackdown, and follows on his January executive order in which he directed DHS and the State Department to enter negotiations with such “recalcitrant countries”—and, if those negotiations fail, enforce sanctions.
2. The first Trump-era guidelines on driverless cars
Last September, the Obama administration issued the first guidelines on driverless cars, recommending industrywide standards to support the growth of the burgeoning industry. The guidelines, which were nonbinding, requested that automakers submit to a 15-point “safety assessment,” touching on everything from the testing of driverless vehicles to the prevention of vehicle hacking.
On Tuesday, the Trump administration issued the first update to those guidelines, replacing the 15-point safety assessment with 12 “safety elements” that touch on many of the same issues. Consumer groups and industry officials said the plan was more industry-friendly, with significant emphasis on the voluntary nature of the guidelines. (The word “voluntary” appears 57 times in the 36-page document, compared with just five times in the original 116-page guidelines.) Critics said that the plan effectively imposes no rules on automakers, while industry officials said the light regulatory touch is essential to continued technological improvement.
This is just the beginning of what’s likely to be a long drama over federal driverless-car policy; both the House and Senate are considering legislation that would enable greater federal oversight over the industry, which, in some instances, actually wants the rules to avoid a patchwork of state laws. Expect more in the months and years ahead.
3. EPA’s regulatory rollback continues
Another week brought more regulatory rollbacks at the Environmental Protection Agency.
On Wednesday, the EPA delayed for two years parts of an Obama-era rule limiting the dumping of toxic metals, like mercury, from coal-fired water plants. The delay affects two provisions of the 2015 rule, relating to specific waste products, while allowing the remainder of the rule to take effect as planned. The news wasn’t exactly a surprise, as EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has previously said the agency intended to change parts of the rule. He now has plenty of time to do so.
Also on Wednesday, Pruitt sent a letter to industry officials—released on Thursday by the environmental group Earthjustice—saying that the EPA would “reconsider” another Obama-era rule, issued in 2015, that set standards for the disposal of “coal ash,” which is a byproduct from burning coal. That rule was the first national standard on coal ash disposal and also imposed new inspection rules to prevent leaks or spills. A formal reconsideration process doesn’t necessarily mean that the agency will change the coal ash rule, but it gives them the opportunity to do so. Any changes would have to go through the full rule-making process, including notice and comment.
4. Trump blocks the Chinese purchase of a U.S. company
For years, Chinese companies have been on a buying spree in America, investing around $45 billion in U.S. companies in 2016, according to one estimate. The surge in investment has raised questions about Beijing’s ultimate aim and has focused renewed attention on the agency that reviews foreign investments for national security risks, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration made its first big statement about Chinese investment when it blocked the acquisition of a U.S.-based semiconductor company, Lattice Semiconductor Corp., by a Chinese venture capital fund. The move came after CFIUS, which is chaired by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, recommended that the administration block the sale. The White House immediately blasted out a statement on the deal, using its bully pulpit to gain extra attention. It’s a sign that Trump intends to be vigilant about Chinese investment in American companies, which should delight experts who have called for a more comprehensive and wide-ranging approach to U.S. policy on China.
5. Labor Department makes two moves
This week, the Department of Labor took two moves, one that actually continued to uphold an Obama-era rule and another that pushed one back.
The first was Obama’s 2014 executive order that established a minimum wage for federal contractors. Under that order, federal contractors and subcontractors were required to pay their workers $10.10 per hour, starting in 2015. Trump could rescind that order with the stroke of a pen—but he hasn’t. That was made clear this week when the Labor Department issued a notice that the contractor minimum wage would rise to $10.35 next year, an annual inflation update required under the order. It’s unclear how many contractors are affected by the order; in fact, there isn’t an exact estimate for how many federal contractors are used by the government. But the Obama administration estimated it was hundreds of thousands.
Also this week, the Mine Safety and Health Administration, within the DOL, delayed a rule regarding workplace examinations of metal and nonmetal mines. MSHA had already delayed the rule, which was finalized on Jan. 23 and initially set to take effect on May 23. It was first delayed until Oct. 2; the new proposed rule would extend that deadline until March 2, 2018. The agency also proposed changes to the rule regarding when daily inspections must take place and exempting from the examination record any safety or health problems that are quickly corrected.
September 16–22
1. Trump administration hints at big Medicare experiments
The Center for Medicaid and Medicare Innovation, created in 2010 by Obamacare, can spend $1 billion a year on innovative ideas to reduce Medicare costs. Under Obama, the agency piloted a number of ideas, such as reducing Medicare payments for cancer drugs and changing how the government pays for hip surgery. Republicans complained of executive overreach and tried to scale back the agency’s powers, but now that Trump is in the White House, the GOP is looking to turn the agency to its advantage.
This week, the Trump administration took the first step toward reforming CMMI when it released a nine-page notice asking for comments on a “new direction” for the agency. The notice is just a preliminary move—it doesn’t actually change any policy right now—but it sends a clear message about how Tom Price, secretary of Health and Human Services, and Seema Verma, director of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, intend to use the agency. The notice emphasizes the need for a more “market-based” direction, saying consumers should be empowered “to drive change in the health system through their choices.” The notice doesn’t specify any policy changes but the language may signal that Price and Verma want to test Medicare premium support, an idea long favored by Ryan and Price. Instead of paying for health care, premium support would change Medicare into an insurance subsidy that recipients would use to purchase private insurance. The idea is extremely controversial and loathed by Democrats.
A few days after the election, Price and Ryan suggested that transitioning Medicare to a premium support system would be on the agenda for the Republican Congress. Almost a year later, Republicans have struggled to repeal and replace Obamacare, much less undertake a comprehensive Medicare reform. But even if premium support isn’t on the table right now, Price and Verma could lay the groundwork for it through CMMI.
2. Labor Department delays a rule on cancer-causing silica dust
In March 2016, the Department of Labor issued a regulation lowering the workplace exposure standard for silica, a mineral that can cause lung cancer when ground into dust and inhaled. The final rule was heralded by workplace advocates as long overdue—it took more than four decades to finalize—and was set to be enforced on June 23.
But in April, the Department of Labor announced it was delaying enforcement of the rule for three months until September 23. Technically, that date still stands. But this week, the agency issued a memo, saying that as long as employers show they have made a “good faith effort” to comply with the rule, the agency will give them a pass for any violations in the next 30 days. In other words, the silica rule is effectively delayed another month. The delay is a victory for industry groups, but it is likely to be short-lived: Unlike with some other rules, the Labor Department does not appear to be delaying the enforcement date of the silica rule to give itself additional time to repeal or rewrite it.
3. Trump issues new executive order on North Korea
Trump spent much of his time at the United Nations this week addressing North Korea’s nuclear program, vowing to “totally destroy” the country if necessary and discussing the topic in almost every meeting with foreign leaders. With each successive nuclear test, Washington tries to ratchet up pressure on Pyongyang, issuing new sanctions and pressuring China to cut off trade with North Korea.
So it was this week when Trump announced an executive order that attempts to further cut off North Korea from the world. The sanctions are a step beyond anything that the U.S. has imposed on Pyongyang in the past, drawing praise from former Obama administration officials. The order allows the Treasury Department to sanction any individual who operates in major North Korean industries like textiles and manufacturing; who owns or operates North Korean ports; who imports or exports significant goods, services or technology to or from North Korea; or who generates revenue for the government. It also prohibits any foreign-owned aircraft or vessel from coming to the U.S. within 180 days of visiting North Korea.
4. EPA delays its formaldehyde rule, again
On Dec. 12, the Environmental Protection Bureau issued a rule on formaldehyde emissions for certain wood products, one of the last significant rules issued by the EPA during the Obama administration. The rule was set to take effect on Feb. 27, but Trump already delayed that date twice: first to March 21 and later until May 22. At that point, the rule took effect.
But this week, the EPA announced that it was effectively delaying the formaldehyde rule another year by extending the rule’s compliance deadlines. In other words, even though the rule took effect, companies don’t yet actually have to comply with different pieces of the rule until sometime in the future. In some cases, the new compliance deadline is far in the future—in one case, not until 2024.
5. A smaller move on immigration—and a big one coming soon
This week, the Department of Homeland Security made one small move on immigration—and there are reports that a big policy change is coming soon.
First, DHS extended a special immigration status for Sudanese and South Sudanese nationals that had been set to expire later this year. The status, known as Temporary Protected Status, allows foreign nationals whose home country is hit by a war or natural disaster to temporarily live and work in the U.S. Sudanese nationals can now stay until November 2018, while South Sudanese nationals can stay until May 2019. It’s a sign that despite Trump’s immigration crackdown, DHS isn’t just deporting all foreign nationals without considering their individual circumstances.
Be that as it may, there’s more change afoot. The Trump administration is reportedlypreparing to impose tighter vetting procedures on a broad list of countries, a replacement for Trump’s travel ban, which attempted to block people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. The ban, which has been tied up in the courts, expires on September 24, so the Trump administration had to make a decision. Expect more on the new vetting program in the coming days.
September 23–29
1. A new bank enforcement policy
In the pantheon of bank regulators, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission doesn’t get much attention. The CFTC is an obscure agency, but it plays a crucial role in the financial system: regulating derivatives, a $483 trillion market that contains some of the financial instruments that caused the financial crisis.
This week, the CFTC’s new director of enforcement, James McDonald, announced a new regulatory strategy that has drawn sharp pushback from financial watchdogs. In a speech Monday night in New York City, McDonald said that financial institutions that self-report wrongdoings and cooperate with the ensuing investigations will receive “concrete benefits” from the CFTC, including reduced penalties. He said the program isn’t intended to give banks or individuals a “pass” for their misdeeds, but instead aligns the incentives between regulators and financial institutions to reduce financial crimes while putting the CFTC’s limited resources to the best use. He also said he doesn’t just intend to punish ground-level traders, but to work his way up the chain of command, targeting executives and other managers. For an agency with a budget of just $250 million, this enforcement strategy sounds like a common-sense approach. But financial watchdogs, who were critical of the CFTC under Barack Obama, are skeptical that it will lead to tougher enforcement, doubting that banks can—or will—effectively police themselves.
It’s not exactly clear how the new enforcement strategy will work in practice, or how different it will actually be from the Obama administration’s approach. But given the Trump administration’s bank-friendly actions so far, including targeting many Dodd-Frank rules, many financial watchers see the move as the first step toward a lighter-touch regulatory regime.
2. Trump’s trade battle with Canada intensifies
For all the talk of going after China and Mexico, Trump’s biggest trade battle so far seems to be with our close ally Canada, a puzzling fight that ramped up Tuesday when Commerce imposed giant duties—more than 219 percent—on Canadian aircraft-maker Bombardier. The highly watched case began after Boeing formally petitioned against the Canadian company, accusing it of unfairly benefiting from government subsidies in a $5.6 billion deal last year to sell regional jets to Delta. Canadian leaders had heavily opposed the move; last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and British Prime Minister Theresa May—Bombardier is based in Northern Ireland—appeared together to publicly lobby against the duties, arguing that Boeing didn’t even sell the type of regional aircraft involved in the Delta deal.
The duties are just preliminary, and thus won’t be finalized until early 2018, when the International Trade Commission, an independent agency, will rule on whether the practices actually harmed any U.S. manufacturer. Canada already has threatened to retaliate: If the ITC rules to make the duties permanent, Trudeau has said that Canada will not buy any of Boeing’s F-18 Super Hornet jets, a deal worth more than $5 billion. Even the preliminary duties, though, are sure to increase tensions between the two neighbors, as the North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiations approach a self-imposed, end-of-year deadline.
3. A new environmental rule gets an expiration date
During the final days of the Obama administration, the Department of Transportation finalized a rule to require states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from big highway projects, a final piece of Obama’s environmental legacy. The rule was set to take effect on February 17, but the DOT has repeatedly delayed it, first until March 21 and then to May 20—then, for key pieces of the rule, indefinitely.
This week, facing lawsuits from environmental groups and state attorneys general, the department finally relented, allowing the entire rule to take effect—but with a big caveat: The rule is going away next spring. In a notice announcing that it was allowing the rule to take effect, the DOT also said it “has initiated additional rule-making procedures proposing to repeal the [greenhouse gas] measure.” In other words, the news is a short-term victory for environmentalists and state attorneys general—but it won’t last long.
4. Interior Department rolls back Obama-era sage grouse protections
In September 2015, the Bureau of Land Management within the Interior Department finalized its plan to protect a funky-looking bird, the sage grouse, whose habitat sits on some of the most resource-rich land in the United States. The plan was something of a compromise between conservation groups and oil and gas companies, creating 98 separate land-use plans throughout the West that provided new protections for the sage grouse—but the department declined to list the bird on the endangered species list.
This week, the Interior Department announced it will reconsider those plans, a first step toward overhauling a key Obama-era environmental policy and opening up more land to oil and gas drilling. The announcement was not exactly a surprise: BLM has previously relaxed some rules around sage grouse habitats and an advisory report commissioned by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, which was released this summer, recommended broader changes to the sage grouse rules. Still, the news is a victory for oil and gas interests who support more drilling opportunities on federal lands and a defeat for conservationists who slammed the news as an attack on the environment and said the overhaul could eventually lead to the sage grouse being labeled an endangered species. The changes won’t take effect overnight, as Interior’s announcement is just a first step in a long process—and yet another sign that under Zinke, federal land management policies are turning in a new direction.
5. Trump takes a small step toward constructing his border wall
Democrats in Congress have refused to provide any money for Trump’s wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, denying the president the chance to complete a key campaign promise—so far. But Trump continues to take baby steps toward constructing his wall.
This week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced that it had begun construction on eight wall prototypes in San Diego—four made of concrete and four of “other materials.” The prototype will be 18- to 30-feet tall and be completed within 30 days. This move is just a small first step, since the Trump administration has about only $20 million to construct the prototypes, money repurposed from other accounts and far less than the estimated cost for building the entire wall, which could reach $50 billion. But it’s a sign that Trump has no intention of backing off his key campaign promise.
September 30–October 6
1. Treasury keeps one Obama-era tax rule—and targets many others
In 2016, Obama’s Treasury Department issued a rule to crack down on corporations that shift their headquarters overseas to avoid American taxes. The move provoked an outcry from Republicans who said Obama was unfairly punishing companies for Washington’s failure to reform the tax code—but it largely worked. The drugmaker Pfizer even abandoned a $160 billion acquisition that would have let it make the largest such shift ever.
After Trump won the presidential election, many tax experts predicted he would roll back the rule—which specifically targeted corporate inversions, a kind of merger in which companies are “taken over” by smaller firms headquartered in low-tax countries like Ireland. But this week, Treasury announced that it wasn’t going to repeal the anti-inversion rule after all. With the administration still pushing hard for tax reform to lower corporate rates and bring company revenue back into the U.S., the agency said repealing the rule now “could make existing problems worse.”
But the White House does plan to scrap a set of other Obama rules. The inversion news was just one part of an 11-page report issued by the agency recommending changes or rollbacks of a number of arcane Obama-era tax rules, many designed to crack down on tax avoidance schemes. Critics didn’t deny that such schemes existed but said the Obama administration’s solutions were vague and unworkable. For instance, one yet-to-be-finalized regulation, which Treasury now intends to withdraw, was intended to stop families from undervaluing their businesses to avoid the estate tax. Another rule relates to the definition of a political subdivision. The report itself does not actually change policy; Treasury will still have to go through a full rule-making process to modify or repeal any regulations. But it’s clear what direction Treasury intends to go.
2. DOJ revives a Bush-era approach to violent crime
In 2001, the Department of Justice created a program to reduce gun violence by focusing resources on violent crime and forging better ties with local law enforcement. The program, known as Project Safe Neighborhoods, became a lower priority under Obama, as violent crime hit record lows and prosecutors focused on white-collar crime in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
But on Thursday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced he was reinvigorating Project Safe Neighborhood, requiring every U.S. Attorney to implement an “enhanced violent crime reduction program” and improve ties with local police. Sessions called Project Safe Neighborhoods, which was generally considered a success at reducing violent crime, the “centerpiece of our crime reduction strategy.” Critics previously said the program unfairly targeted poorer communities, leaving too many young African-Americans with long prison sentences or criminal records for minor crimes—although reaction this week to Sessions’ announcement was limited.
3. DOJ shifts its legal position on transgender discrimination
In December 2014, Attorney General Eric Holder issued a memo ordering DOJ prosecutors to consider discrimination based on gender identity a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964—a huge victory for the LGBT community, especially transgender people.
One critic at the time was Jeff Sessions, then a senator from Alabama. On Wednesday, Sessions reversed Holder’s memo. Holder had declared that sex discrimination—outlawed under the Civil Rights Act—should be construed to include gender-identity cases; Sessions walked that back with a memo stating that “sex discrimination encompasses discrimination between men and women but does not encompass discrimination based on gender identity per se, including transgender status.” In other words, the DOJ no longer considers discrimination against transgender people to violate the law.
4. FDA promises a new Nutrition Facts Panel—in 2020.
Former first lady Michele Obama made healthy living her top priority, including creating the “Let’s Move” campaign to promote exercise. Perhaps no policy change was more important to her than the redesign of the Nutrition Facts Panel, the label you see on most food in stores, which she announced to great fanfare in May 2016. The label was to include information on “added sugars” for the first time, provoking a sharp response from the sugar industry.
The Food and Drug Administration—the agency actually responsible for the redesign—set an initial date of July 26, 2018, for manufacturers to add the new label to food,but new FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb indefinitely delayed the rule in June. This week, the agency finally revealed how long the delay will last: another year and a half. The FDA published a rule in the Federal Register on Monday proposing to delay the compliance date until January 1, 2020, an effort to give food companies more time. While the news is a logistical win for many food producers, the FDA has shown no signs of modifying the redesign. So while it will take longer to hit stores, the Obama-era Nutrition Facts Panel still appears to be coming.
5. Trump is renegotiating another trade agreement
In recent months, Trump’s war of words with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has intensified and Pyongyang has conducted additional nuclear tests, raising fears of another war on the Korean Peninsula. For all those worries—and the supposed need to show a united front with our allies in the region—Trump hasn’t exactly played nice with South Korea. Instead, he has railed against South Korea’s trade policies—even threatening to withdraw from the U.S.-Korea free trade agreement—known as KORUS—if South Korea didn’t agree to renegotiate it.
This week, Trump got his wish when the South Korean government announced it would seek to amend the 5-year-old pact. As with the ongoing renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the upcoming renegotiation of KORUS will be a technical process and take months, if not longer, to complete. In the meantime, the news is a victory for Trump—and an opportunity to draw closer to South Korea as North Korea’s nuclear program continues to advance.
October 7–13
1. U.S. to withdraw from UNESCO
During his presidential campaign, Trump railed against international institutions, like the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, raising fears that, as president, he would attempt to withdraw the U.S. from those organizations, dealing a decisive blow to the post-World War II international order. Despite continued threats and harsh rhetoric, he hasn’t done so—yet.
But this week, the State Department did announce that the U.S. will withdraw from the U.N. agency charged with promoting educational, scientific and cultural collaboration, known as UNESCO, citing what it calls an anti-Israel bias. In 2011, UNESCO admitted Palestine as a member, forcing the Obama administration to cut all money for the agency under a little-known law prohibiting U.S. funding for any U.N. agency that accepts Palestine as a full member. (U.S. funds made up 22 percent of UNESCO’s budget.) The U.S. is now behind on about $550 million in payments, which the State Department said the Trump administration is unwilling to pay. The withdrawal won’t happen until the end of 2018, at which point the U.S. would become a nonmember observer state.
The move isn’t exactly unprecedented—Ronald Reagan pulled the U.S. out of UNESCO in 1984 before the George W. Bush administration rejoined the agency in 2002—but it is still represents a shot across the U.N.’s bow as Trump pressures the organization on other reforms.
2. Education Department issues new priorities for federal grants
Political leaders within federal agencies have a lot of levers to change policy, from issuing new regulations to changing enforcement priorities. But one underappreciated power is federal grant-making, funneling money to organizations that favor a certain policy agenda.
On Thursday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos began to use this power when the Department of Education proposed new rules around federal grant programs, including a focus on the expansion of school choice—a top priority of DeVos. Organizations that favor school choice, along with other Trump administration priorities like the promotion of STEM and computer science, would receive extra points in the application process for competitive grants, replacing priorities under DeVos’ predecessor, John King, that focused on socioeconomic diversity in schools.
The new priorities aren’t final; the agency is accepting comments on them for 30 days. But they show how DeVos intends to use all her authority to push forward her policy agenda.
3. Trump withdraws sanctions on Sudan
During the Obama administration, the White House agreed to major foreign policy deals with two of the U.S.’s top adversaries, completing a nuclear deal with Iran and renewing diplomatic relations with Cuba. Trump has adamantly—and vocally—rejected that approach, rolling back pieces of Obama’s Cuba policy and, just today, decertifying the Iran nuclear agreement.
Yet, for all his rhetoric about Obama’s “bad deals” and foolish foreign policy, Trump also made a move this week that looks very Obama-esque: lifting decades-old sanctions on Sudan that were imposed over Khartoum’s support of terrorist organizations, including Al Qaeda. The State Department had announced a new strategy towards Sudan in the final days of the Obama administration, concluding that Sudan had made progress on counterterrorism efforts and on human rights issues. In something of a surprise, Trump has not reversed the policy, drawing praise from across the foreign policy establishment.
The deal still drew criticism from some quarters, including from the families of terrorist victims who are owed compensation from attacks that courts have found were enabled by the Sudanese government. But the Trump administration may have had another reason to make the deal: Sudan said it would comply with U.N. sanctions on North Korea and not pursue arms deals with Pyongyang.
4. Energy Department releases rule to promote coal power plants
In Trump’s continued campaign to undo Obama’s environmental legacy and revive the struggling coal industry, the headlines this week focused on the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to repeal Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which imposed limits on greenhouse gas emissions.
Less-noticed but nearly as important was a rule proposed by the Energy Department intended to improve the resiliency of the electricity grid by paying power plants that keep 90 days’ worth of fuel on site—a threshold only met by coal and nuclear plants. The move could significantly reform America’s energy markets but at 19-pages, the rule itself is sparse on details. Nevertheless, environmentalists slammed the move as a back-door way for the department to subsidize coal and nuclear; even some free-market conservatives have criticized the changes, saying they would distort energy markets.
But Energy Secretary Rick Perry isn’t backing down. The power to issue the rule actually falls to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, an independent agency that regulates America’s electricity markets. But Perry is using a provision in a law that hasn’t been used in 30 years to force FERC to take up the proposal and issue some type of decision on it within 60 days. In other words, big changes could be coming to America’s electricity market in just a few months. Stay tuned.
5. DOJ gives “last chance” to sanctuary cities
In a week dominated by rolling back Obama’s top legacies and fulfilling Trump’s campaign promises, there was little news about the president’s immigration agenda. But at the Department of Justice, Attorney General Jeff Sessions continues to implement that agenda, despite continuing to find himself out of favor with Trump.
This week, the DOJ sent notices to five so-called sanctuary jurisdictions—Cook County, Ill., Chicago, New York City, New Orleans and Philadelphia—that it said were required to comply with certain immigration rules as consequence of receiving a “Byrne JAG” grant, a DOJ grant program which provides money for state and local law enforcement. The DOJ didn’t say that it would withhold grant money for the five jurisdictions if they don’t comply with the law. But the department has previously threatened to withhold “Byrne JAG” grants to cities that don’t meet certain conditions around immigration enforcement, although that policy is currently tied up in the courts. Given the sanctuary jurisdictions’ past refusal to change their policies in response to such DOJ threats, it’s likely that another court battle is coming soon.
October 14–20
1. USDA withdraws a protection for small farmers
It took years of pressure and a monologue from John Oliver, but on December 20 last year, the USDA’s Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration issued a final rule—known as the GIPSA rule—that would make it easier for small contract farmers, like chicken growers, to sue meat-packing or processing companies that engage in anticompetitive practices.
The Obama administration’s move was a long-awaited victory for small farmers, who had been arguing for years that larger producers were dictating unfair prices to farmers and retaliating against them if they spoke out—and the bar for proving illegal activity was too high. But their win, it turns out, was short-lived: After delaying the rule’s effective date in February, the Trump administration announced this week that it will withdraw it altogether. GIPSA also abandoned a proposed rule, also issued last December, aimed at protecting chicken growers from unfair or predatory practices by large producers. Industry groups and many GOP lawmakers applauded the moves, arguing that the rules would have increased litigation costs and raised prices for consumers, while small farmer groups and Democrats slammed the changes. Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, was a rare GOP voice of dissent. “They’re just pandering to big corporations,” he said.
2. IRS ramps up enforcement of Obamacare
Just hours after his inauguration, Trump signed a sweeping executive order directing federal agencies to provide Americans with “relief” from the Affordable Care Act. Though it wasn’t specific, many experts predicted he’d target the individual mandate—the part of the law, unpopular with conservatives, that penalizes people who don’t buy health insurance.
So far, however, the administration has left the mandate alone—and this week the Internal Revenue Service took a step to strengthen it. The agency said that it will not accept 2017 tax returns that don‘t disclose the taxpayer’s health-insurance status or specify whether the taxpayer qualifies for an exemption. That disclosure is required under the ACA, but in the first two years since the mandate took effect, the IRS still processed tax returns that left the question blank, giving some Americans a backdoor way to evade the rule. Now, in something of a surprise, the IRS is closing that loophole.
3. Treasury declines to label China a currency manipulator—again
In April, when the Treasury Department released its semi-annual report on foreign currency practices, its first under Trump, many experts were surprised that it did not officially label China a currency manipulator—a major, and very specific, promise Trump had made in his campaign. “Why would I call China a currency manipulator when they are working with us on the North Korean problem?” Trump tweeted in defense, a shockingly honest response about the political considerations involved in the currencydecision.
In the six months since, the “North Korean problem” has only grown worse and China has proven reluctant to help, as Trump has said on Twitter. But when Treasury released its newest foreign currency report this week, it once again did notChina a currency manipulator. (In a typical White House, this wouldn’t be a surprise: China hasn’t pushed down its currency in recent years.) Elsewhere in the report, Treasury dropped Taiwan from its “currency watch list” and declined to add Thailand to the list, moves that both garnered criticism from some financial experts who said the countries have been interfering in foreign exchange markets. Taken together, the new report suggests that, at least on currency issues, Trump is adopting a conventional White House strategy, much like that of Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush.
4. A new pipeline gets the green light
In October 2015, the Bureau of Land Management ruled that the Cadiz water pipeline, a plan to pump groundwater 43 miles from a desert aquifer to Southern California, would require the bureau’s authorization—a victory for environmentalists who argued that the project would deplete the important aquifer. But under Trump, BLM reversed its own finding, releasing a letter this week that said the pipeline no longer requires agency approval.
BLM’s new finding represents the next step in the ongoing rollback of Obama’s environmental legacy, and the rise of a business-friendly agenda at departments that Obama had used to impose new restrictions on energy projects and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Cadiz pipeline may still require state approval, so construction won’t begin right away. But the BLM finding removes a major hurdle.
5. A setback for NAFTA renegotiations
When Mexico, Canada and the United States began renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement in August, they pledged to complete the process before the end of the year—understanding that a deal would get only harder to reach during the 2018 Mexican presidential election. But this week, the three nations effectively gave up on that timeline, pushing back the next round of negotiations until late November over “significant conceptual gaps among the parties,” and admitting that the talks could stretch into 2018.
The news wasn’t exactly surprising, given the increasingly rancorous talks among the three countries; the Trump administration has proposed a number of major NAFTA reforms, including a new sunset provision that would require the three countries to renew the agreement every five years, and the removal of a controversial protection for investors, both of which angered Canada and Mexico. But it still set off alarm bells in Washington and in boardrooms, where lawmakers and business executives are growing increasingly concerned that Trump will withdraw from the pact altogether.
October 21–27
1. Trump opens the door to a drone zone
As U.S. companies have raced to develop new, innovative uses for drones, they’ve faced tight rules in Washington as regulators attempt to understand the new technology and protect Americans from potential harm. To many private-sector companies, though, those rules have slowed a potentially productive industry and prevented America from becoming a leader in this technology.
This week, Trump sided with the commercial companies when he sent a memo to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao directing her to create a pilot program within 90 days that would loosen rules around drone usage. Under the program, states could apply to the Federal Aviation Administration to create an “innovation zone” to experiment with different usages of drone technology, such as overnight package delivery, without having to comply with FAA regulations. An innovation zone could be as large as an entire state and would likely target three specific FAA restrictions on flying drones over people, at night and out of sight of the operator.
2. The Interior Department launches an offshore sale (and more)
Under Barack Obama, the Interior Department protected huge swaths of federal land from oil and gas drilling, efforts that were praised by environmentalists and criticized by industry. But since Ryan Zinke rode into office in March, the department has reversed course—and, in three separate moves this week, Zinke made his biggest effort yet to unleash a new era of drilling.
First, on Tuesday, Interior proposed its biggest offshore oil and gas lease sale in its history, putting 77 million acres—an area the size of New Mexico—up for sale. The sale will occur next March and includes all available, unleased areas in the Gulf of Mexico. Then, on Wednesday, Interior’s Bureau of Land Management rescinded an Obama-era memo that directed officials to consider climate change and greenhouse gas emissions before approving any energy projects. Finally, on Thursday, BLM issued a notice that it will offer all available oil and gas leases in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve in December, potentially opening up more than 10 million acres of land to drilling.
Taken together, the three moves represent a major effort to roll back Obama-era environmental restrictions and ramp up drilling, infuriating environmentalists and pleasing the oil and gas industry. But with the price of oil around $50 per barrel, it’s not clear whether Interior will find buyers for all the new leases. As much as Zinke may want to encourage new drilling, simple economics may block his plans for now.
3. With silence from D.C., Iowa withdraws its Obamacare waiver
States worried about the health of their Obamacare insurance markets have been turning to a little-known section of the Affordable Care Act that allows them to opt out of many ACA regulations. A so-called Section 1332 innovation waiver grants states additional flexibility in their insurance markets, as long as they stay within the basic parameters of the law, and get approval from Washington.
The most controversial proposal was Iowa’s, filed in June, which would have overhauled its individual insurance market by creating an entirely new Obamacare subsidy structure, providing larger subsidies to middle-income people and smaller ones to the poor. It was seen as a very conservative plan, though many experts said it would undermine the ACA’s protections for low-income people and thus violate the waiver requirements. Trump health officials had taken more than two months to respond to the waiver, and on Monday, Iowa withdrew it entirely.
In one sense, this wasn’t a surprise since Trump had reportedly directed the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to reject Iowa’s application. But there were also signs that CMS wanted to approve the waiver but couldn’t find a way to do so legally. For instance, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and CMS Administrator Seema Verma issued a joint statement on the news, saying “Iowa pursued state flexibility through the Stopgap Measure, but ultimately, Obamacare is an inflexible law that Congress must repeal and replace.” The withdrawal was huge news in the health world, where insurers and state policymakers had been wondering just how far Trump would go in using waivers to undermine the ACA. Now his administration seems to have drawn a line.
4. The U.S. trade office cracks down on developing countries
As Trump has threatened to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement and sparred with China, South Korea and Germany over their trade policies, he’s largely left developing countries alone. Those countries, though, receive major trade advantages with the U.S., which waives duties on thousands of products as a way to encourage their economic growth.
This week, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced that it will crack down on countries that take advantage of those preferences, creating a new process to review whether countries actually qualify for tariff cuts. Right now, 120 countries meet the eligibility criteria to export products duty-free into the U.S., but the Trump administration worries that the program has been abused, allowing countries to receive tariff cuts even though they aren’t meeting their own obligations under the eligibility criteria, such as combating child labor or upholding worker rights. The new effort is an attempt to stop any such abuse.
5. The FCC helps out a conservative broadcaster
For decades, the Federal Communications Commission has required TV stations to maintain a “main studio” near the communities they serve, an effort to prevent big, national broadcasters from buying up local stations and moving their production to big cities like New York. But the rule has faced criticism from some networks and Republicans as being outdated in the internet age, when people can contact local networks on social media or through email, instead of visiting them in person.
This week, under the direction of Chairman Ajit Pai, the FCC sided with the critics, revoking the “main studio” rule on a party-line vote. Pai argued that eliminating the rule would allow broadcasters to focus more resources on local coverage. But many Democrats and even some Republicans see an ulterior motive: Paving the way for Sinclair Broadcast Group, the controversial conservative broadcaster that is currently seeking government approval for its $3.9 billion merger with Tribune Media, to gain an even larger foothold in local markets. The repeal of the “main studio” rule follows an earlier party-line FCC vote to ease restrictions on national television ownership.
To Pai and his supporters, the moves are a long overdue change to an outdated regulatory system around broadcast television. But to his critics, it’s a not-so-veiled attempt to help Sinclair expand its conservative television empire. This fight isn’t ending anytime soon.
October 28–November 3
1. The Labor Department might be issuing a new overtime rule
When the Department of Labor announced in September that it would not appeal a federal ruling striking down former President Barack Obama’s rule that was designed to make millions more workers eligible for mandatory overtime pay, it didn’t come as much of a surprise. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta had previously signaled that he opposed the rule, and to most observers, the rule was dead.
But this week, in what looked like a surprise reversal, the Labor Department appealedthe judge’s ruling. In fact, as a DOL official told The Wall Street Journal, the Trump administration isn’t defending the Obama-era rule; instead, it’s defending the department’s authority to issue an overtime rule altogether, which the federal ruling had called into question. By appealing the case, the Labor Department is signaling that it’s serious about issuing a new overtime rule, a process that it began in July. In other words, Obama’s overtime rule isn’t coming back to life. But a new overtime rule—almost certainly with a lower salary threshold than DOL proposed under Obama—might be coming.
2. State Department releases overdue guidance on Russian sanctions
In August, faced with the threat of a veto override, Trump reluctantly signed a bill imposing sanctions on Russia for its meddling in the 2016 presidential election. But as of Oct. 1, the Trump administration blew through the bill’s deadline to identify which Russian entities would actually face sanctions, raising concerns about whether, instead of vetoing the bill, Trump was just ignoring it altogether.
But with two recent actions, the State Department put some of those concerns to rest. Last Friday, nearly a month late, the department released a list of more than three dozen Russian entities that will be sanctioned under the bill. And this week, it releasedtwo guidance documents about how State will enforce sanctions to Russia’s energy sector. The moves are certain not to ease congressional concerns that the Trump administration, and the president himself in particular, will go too easy on Moscow and still don’t fully appreciate Russia’s role in the 2016 election. But State is at least implementing the sanctions legislation.
3. The Trump administration approves Utah’s Medicaid waiver
In July 2016, Utah submitted a waiver to the Obama administration to expand its Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act. But it came with a catch: Tight eligibility restrictions. The Utah plan would offer Medicaid coverage to certain people earning up to 105 percent of the federal poverty line, instead of 138 percent as envisioned under Obamacare. Utah later added work requirements and a time limit on coverage to its waiver proposal.
While the Obama administration approved Medicaid waivers in some states, it never responded to Utah’s proposal. But this week, the Trump administration gave Utah and its Republican governor, Gary Herbert, the green light on a revised plan that will provide coverage to up to 6,000 of the neediest low-income adults—those chronically homeless or suffering from substance abuse issues—in the state. The federal government will provide 70 percent of the money, equal to the matching rate under the traditional Medicaid program in Utah but below the rate set by Obamacare for the expansion populations. The plan doesn’t include a work requirement or a time limit on coverage.
Many Democrats and liberal health experts have been concerned that the Trump administration would grant waivers to states to impose new eligibility restrictions on Medicaid, including work requirements, while conservatives have been excited about the opportunity to test different Medicaid reforms in the states. The approval of the Utah waiver signals those liberal fears and conservative excitement may become a reality.
4. A trade war with Canada?
Perhaps the most surprising piece of Trump’s trade agenda during his first year in office has nothing to do with China or the North American Free Trade Agreement. It’s that he has targeted Canada with a series of trade sanctions, including imposing preliminary duties on Canada’s softwood lumber in April and June. In September, the countries appeared to have a chance at avoiding a messy trade fight when the Commerce Department delayed those duties as the two sides tried to negotiate a settlement.
But this week, any hopes of an agreement were dashed when Commerce imposed final duties on certain Canadian softwood lumber products. Under U.S. trade law, those duties aren’t actually locked in yet; the International Trade Commission, an independent agency, must make a final determination by mid-December on whether U.S. lumber producers are being harmed by Canadian imports.
The countries, in the past, have generally managed to settle the decades-long dispute through negotiations, without resorting to trade sanctions. So, Commerce’s announcement this week represents an escalation of a fight with Canada that threatens to undermine trade relations between the two allies as they continue the contentious NAFTA renegotiations. Canada sharply criticized the U.S. move and threatened to take legal action under NAFTA or World Trade Organization rules. A fight that has been simmering for years has finally burst into flames—and may get even hotter in the months ahead.
5. EPA bans certain scientists from its advisory boards
Within the Environmental Protection Agency are a few important science boards that evaluate research used by the agency in rule-makings and that recommend certain science-based environmental standards, including on air pollution. While little known to the public, the boards act as something of a scientific backstop to an agency that often is involved in politically contentious fights.
This week, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced a major reform of those advisory boards when he banned researchers who receive an EPA grant from sitting on them. Critics called the move a purge that would allow Pruitt to stack the boards with business-friendly scientists who would shift the recommendations of the boards and give the agency scientific backing to adopt less stringent environmental standards. Pruitt and his allies responded that the move is needed to prevent conflicts of interest and ensure that the board members are independent.
The change won’t affect that many members of each board, perhaps five out of 47 on the EPA’s Science Advisory Board, for instance, who “will have to choose either the grant or service,” according to Pruitt. It’s the latest in a long list of moves by Pruitt to roll back Obama’s environmental legacy and impose a new, conservative approach at the agency.
November 4–10
1. Big changes coming for Medicaid
Buried in almost every version of the Republican health care legislation this year was a little provision that would have enabled states to make a major change to their Medicaid programs, by requiring people to work if they’re going to get coverage. When those bills died, it appeared that Medicaid work requirements died with them.
But this week, Seema Verma, the head of the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services and a longtime supporter of work requirements, sent a strong message that work requirements are back on the table. In a speech to the country’s Medicaid directors, Verma lambasted the Obama administration’s approach to Medicaid, calling it a “tragic example of the soft bigotry of low expectations,” and argued that requiring Medicaid beneficiaries to work would improve the program.
The speech doesn’t result in any immediate policy changes, but CMS is reviewing at least seven waiver proposals from GOP-led states that would impose work requirements on their Medicaid populations. The details around each waiver vary and it’s unclear whether Verma, who helped design a work requirement policy in Indiana that was rejected by the Obama administration, will ask states to tweak their submissions or when she will approve the first waiver. But her speech this week was a clear sign that big changes are coming to Medicaid—even without any help from Congress.
2. USDA delays organic livestock welfare rule
The day before Obama left office, the Department of Agriculture made one last attempt to improve conditions for organically raised animals, publishing new requirements on everything from that ensuring animals have daily access to the outdoors to acceptable euthanasia methods to bedding material during transport.
Conservation groups, animal welfare groups and many organic farmers cheered the news and USDA officials made a public case for the rule. But this week, those arguments came up short when the agency announced that it was delaying the rule until May 2018—the third delay since Trump took office—and said it found both legal and policy issues with the Obama-era rule, including errors in USDA’s original cost-benefit analysis of it. The move is a victory for many large egg producers, who had sharply criticized the rule as unnecessary and argued that it would raise costs for consumers.
But it’s also likely to disappoint a lot of people: The USDA also revealed that the vast majority of the 47,000 commenters on the proposed delay supported the rule. Just a few dozen wanted it withdrawn or suspended. And just a single person supported delaying the rule — the action ultimately chosen by the agency.
3. New Cuba sanctions
In June, Trump appeared before cheering supporters in Miami to announce a rollback of Obama’s opening to Cuba, saying that he was “canceling” the “one-sided” deal, imposing new travel restrictions on Americans visiting the island and cutting off transactions with companies connected to Cuba’s military, security and intelligence services. But for months afterward, the agencies responsible for implementing Trump’s directive—the Treasury, Commerce and State departments—were quiet.
Finally, on Wednesday, the agencies released rules announcing the policy changes. Americans can no longer visit Cuba individually for educational purposes—tourism is banned by law—and instead can do so only as part of a licensed group. The State Department also released a list of roughly 180 Cuban entities with which Americans and U.S. companies cannot conduct direct financial transactions, including multiple Cuban drink companies that trade experts said would be nearly impossible to enforce. Contracts signed before Thursday, when the new sanctions took effect, were grandfathered in, so hotel chains like Marriott won’t have to withdraw from agreements with entities on the State Department list.
Supporters of the Obama-era Cuba policy lambasted the move, saying it would set back efforts to open Cuba’s economy and political system, and they said Trump was hypocritical to issue the changes during a trip in which he was visiting two Communist countries, China and Vietnam. But the new rule also provoked sharp words from the two biggest Cuba hawks in Congress, Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart who were both at Trump’s June speech. In separate statements, Rubio and Diaz-Balart both criticized bureaucrats for watering down Trump’s directive and said they expected the three agencies to reform the new rules. A State Department official defended the rule in a statement, saying the agency “examined a range of sources” in compiling the list—but also said that the agency will review the list periodically and potentially add new entities to it.
4. DHS ends protected immigration status for Nicaraguans, extends it for Hondurans
Trump’s immigration crackdown has largely focused on undocumented immigrants, including the so-called Dreamers who were effectively protected from deportation during the final years of the Obama administration. But Trump also has some levers of power over immigrants residing in the country legally—but, as a big move this week showed, using those powers can prove complicated.
On Tuesday night, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it was ending a special immigration status for 5,300 Nicaraguans, giving them until January 2019 to leave the United States. But the agency also announced it was extending the protected status of 86,000 Hondurans for six months. Temporary Protected Status, as it is officially known, allows foreign nationals whose home country is hit by a war or natural disaster to temporarily live and work in the U.S. The Trump administration has argued that the TPS program has been abused and promised to crack down on it.
The highly watched move drew a sharp rebuke from Democrats, who said many of the Nicaraguans had lived and worked in the U.S. for decades and deserve to stay here. It also appeared to draw an opposite rebuke from White House chief of staff John Kelly, who reportedly called acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke to ask her to revoke TPS for the Hondurans as well. Duke angrily rejected Kelly’s request, and the episode quickly leaked to multiple news agencies, an inside look at the complications the White House faces implementing its immigration crackdown.
5. USDA withdraws Obama-era rule on genetically engineered products
On Sept. 16 of last year, the Obama administration released a new, far-reaching framework to clarify the regulatory roles of the three agencies overseeing biotechnology products, from chemicals to pharmaceuticals, the first comprehensive update in almost 30 years. Currently USDA, FDA, and EPA share responsibilities for overseeing biotech products, which have gone from a scientific novelty to a multibillion-dollar industry since the rules were introduced in the 1980s. As part of the new framework, USDA released a 32-page rule on the day before Obama left office, creating new restrictions around biotech products, including genetically engineered crops.
The ideas was to streamline the regulatory process and ensure that genetically engineered products did not pose a risk to consumers. But industry groups protested the new framework, arguing that the rules contradicted one another and imposed unnecessary costs on companies. On Tuesday, the USDA officially reversed course and withdrew the rule. Secretary Sonny Perdue argued that the Obama-era plan imposed unnecessary costs on the industry and would restrict innovation, and promised to work with stakeholders to develop a new rule. It’s just the latest regulatory rollback in the Trump era.
November 11–17
1. DOJ takes another shot at sanctuary cities
During the presidential campaign, Trump frequently promised to crack down on so-called sanctuary cities, threatening to withhold federal money unless they help the federal government enforce the country’s immigration laws. And he chose one of the country’s top critics of sanctuary cities as his attorney general, former Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions.
But as Sessions and Trump have attempted to actually crack down on such sanctuary jurisdictions, they’ve run into real limits on their power. This week, Sessions issuedhis latest threats to withhold federal policing grants from 29 jurisdictions that maynot be complying with certain immigration laws. The DOJ told the jurisdictions to address any violations by Dec. 8. The move is the latest threat from Sessions to withhold funding, following up on letters he sent to five sanctuary cities in October that gave them their “last chance” to comply with federal immigration laws. In July, Sessions issued a new policy in which a valuable federal grant to cities, the largest for local police departments at $347 million last year, would be conditional on cooperating with federal immigration enforcement.
So far, though, Trump and Sessions don’t appear to have actually withheld any funding from sanctuary jurisdictions since taking office. In part, that’s because Trump’s presidency is less than a year old and it takes time to implement such a policy. But the DOJ has also faced pushback from the courts, which have issued injunctions in multiple jurisdictions to block these anti-sanctuary city policies. Trump’s campaign promise on sanctuary cities was popular with his base, but it is proving much tougher to implement.
2. Game on for elephant poaching
In June 2016, the Fish and Wildlife Service announced a near universal ban on the commercial sale of elephant ivory in the United States, an effort to crack down on wildlife trafficking in African countries such as Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa. Conservationists cheered the news, while hunting advocacy groups argued that the move would backfire by forcing the trade underground.
On Thursday, the Trump administration sided with the hunters when the Fish and Wildlife Service announced it was reversing the Obama-era policy and would allow the import of elephant ivory that was hunted for sport in Zimbabwe or Zambia between Jan. 21, 2016, and the end of next year. The Service argued that Zimbabwe has “stepped up its anti-poaching efforts” and that allowing some commercial trade in sport-hunted ivory in the U.S. could actually support the African elephant population by providing a revenue stream for Zimbabwean conservation efforts. The lifting of the ban also applies to Zambia, although the Federal Register notice does not mention the country.
Environmentalists immediately slammed the news and said it would jeopardize the African elephant populations, while hunting groups praised what they said was an overdue reversal of a misguided Obama-era policy. There might be some cheering coming from the Trump family as well: Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are both big-game hunters.
3. FCC overhauls the Lifeline program
The bogus claim that former President Barack Obama was giving out free cellphones to the poor—derisively called “Obamaphones” in conservative media—was one of the most persistent fake-news stories of his presidency. The story was a distortion of the Lifeline program, which subsidizes phone and broadband service, and the person who expanded it from landlines to cell carriers was President George W. Bush. Lifeline’s budget did grow under Obama, nearly tripling from 2008 to 2012; last year, it cost $1.5 billion and served 12.3 million people.
Critics have said the program has been abused, and this week, the Federal Communications Commission under Chairman Ajit Pai passed major reformsattempting to reduce such fraud and waste. Notably, the plan eliminates funding for wireless resellers, which purchase services from a telecom company and then resell that service to consumers. Many consumer advocates were sharply critical of the plan, saying that previous reforms had already reduced fraud in the program, and that Pai’s changes would cut off phone service to millions of low-income households, many of whom use wireless re-sellers. The Lifeline reforms is just the latest effort by Pai to roll back Obama-era policies at the FCC, and it won’t be the last: News leaked this week that the FCC is preparing to issue its final order that repeals Obama’s net neutrality rules. Stay tuned.
4. Another (possible) win for hunters
In October 2015, the National Park Service issued a new rule on hunting across 20 million acres of national reserves in Alaska, an effort to preserve wildlife in the state. The rules touched on everything from when wolves and coyotes can be hunted—not during the denning season—to a prohibition on hunting big game that is swimming. The rule, which attracted more than 70,000 comments during the proposal stage, was a victory for conservationists and a defeat for many hunters, as well as the state of Alaska which argued that the NPS was overstepping its bounds and overriding state law.
This week, the NPS announced that it is initiating a review of the rule with the priority of complying with a directive from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke “to advance conservation stewardship and increase outdoor recreation opportunities, including hunting and fishing, for all Americans.” There’s no timetable for when NPS could issue a new rule or what it could look like. But it’s another sign that Zinke is imposing a new conservative agenda at Interior.
5. EPA delays WOTUS
In early 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency issued the Waters of the United States rule—known as WOTUS—a far-reaching and long-awaited plan to limit pollution on America’s wetlands. WOTUS was hailed by environmentalists but loathed by conservatives who said it would impose huge, unnecessary costs on companies and in June, EPA issued a proposed rule to repeal WOTUS.
In other words, WOTUS is all but dead. But in the next few weeks, the Supreme Court could issue a jurisdictional ruling that could lead to an injunction being lifted on the rule in 37 states, forcing those states to comply with WOTUS even though EPA is certain to issue a final order repealing the rule in the next few months. Faced with that possibility, EPA announced this week that it would delay the effective date of WOTUS for two years, effectively an insurance policy against an adverse Supreme Court ruling. And EPA must be concerned about that possibility: The agency is giving the public just 21 days to comment on the rule, less than the customary 30-day period.
November 25–December 1
1. Stockbrokers can breathe easier
One of Obama’s last, and most controversial, rules was the 2016 “fiduciary standard,” designed to prevent stockbrokers from putting their interests ahead of those of their clients. This was fiercely opposed by the financial industry, and in the Trump era, it’s been the subject of some confusing back-and-forth. In May, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta announced that he would allow part of the rule to take effect in early June—which cheered liberals—but announced not long afterward that he wasn’t going to actually enforce those pieces of the rule until January 1, 2018. Then, at the end of August, the DOL proposed delaying key parts of the rule until well into 2019, which would give the department time to rewrite the policy altogether.
This week, the DOL under Acosta made that 18-month delay official. The Labor Department calls it a transition period, during which stockbrokers must comply with a looser set of “impartial conduct standards”—but the agency also said it would not enforce even those standards against any entity that was working in “good faith” to comply.
2. Commerce makes two trade moves against China
Trump spent much of his presidential campaign bashing China’s trade practices and raising fears about an impending trade war with America’s biggest trading partner. But in office, he has surprisingly targeted Canada instead, imposing new duties on Canadian lumber and taking a hard line over NAFTA renegotiations.
Now there are signs that the Trump administration is starting to take a tougher line on Chinese trade. On Tuesday, the Commerce Department opened an anti-dumping case into Chinese aluminum. The opening of such a case is generally unremarkable—but unlike every case for the past 25 years, it wasn’t triggered by a request from a company or industry group. Instead, it was “self-initiated.” Also on Tuesday, the administration imposed new duties on Chinese tool chests and cabinets.
Neither of these moves will cause major changes in the U.S.-China trade relationship. But they are a signal that the relationship, which began with a small 10-point trade agreement in May, is becoming more hostile.
3. USDA rolls back Michelle Obama’s school lunch rules
In 2012, the Department of Agriculture issued a sweeping rewrite of the rules around school lunches, an effort to get kids to eat more fruit and vegetables and reduce their intake of sodium and fat. The controversial overhaul was a linchpin of former first lady Michelle Obama’s healthy living campaign, but was panned by some schools and Republican lawmakers who said it didn’t give the schools the flexibility to provide students with food that they would actually eat.
Now, schools may never have to comply with key pieces of the rule. On Wednesday, the USDA delayed the new sodium standards by “at least” three years and indicated that the agency may rewrite the standard altogether. It also granted schools additional flexibility to meet the whole grain standards and allowed schools to serve flavored milk, including chocolate milk, which the Obama-era rule didn’t allow.
The changes weren’t exactly a surprise, as Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, in one of his first speeches in office, announced his intent to roll back the school lunch rules. But they are a clear message that a new conservative era is underway at USDA.
4. Old bombs are back in action
In 2008, the Department of Defense under Secretary Robert Gates announced that the United States would phase out the use of its older stock of cluster bombs by 2019. Human rights groups oppose the use of cluster bombs because they explode indiscriminately over large areas, risking the lives of many civilians, and more than 100 countries have called for a ban on the weapon. Under the new policy, the U.S. would only use modern cluster munitions that explode at least 99 percent of the time, or had safeguards in place if they didn’t explode, so that dangerous, unexploded cluster bombs could not kill civilians years or decades after they were initially dropped.
But as the deadline for meeting that policy approaches, the Pentagon this week revealed that it is reversing course. Multiple news organizations reported that a memo from Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan said the military will continue to use the older stock of cluster munitions “until the capabilities they provide are replaced with enhanced and more reliable munitions.” The Pentagon later confirmedthat the agency was reversing the 2008 policy. Human rights groups and Democrats, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein, slammed the move, saying that it was past due for the U.S. to stop using the older cluster bombs.
5. State Department extends extreme vetting
The Trump administration has faced many setbacks as it tried to implement an executive order to block or inhibit people from six Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. But on Trump’s promise to impose so-called extreme vetting on people entering the country, he’s had much more success after the State Department implemented new questions for visa applicants on an emergency basis earlier this year.
On Monday, State issued a notice asking for comment on a proposal to extend this extreme vetting for three years. The new proposal would not make any substantive changes to the emergency measures implemented in May, including questions on visa applicants’ social media accounts. The public has 30 days to comment on the proposal.
December 2–8
1. DOL rolls back Obama-era rule on tipped wages
In 2011, Obama’s Department of Labor issued a new rule to protect workers who rely heavily on tips: It prohibited companies from pooling the tips of their workers and dispersing them to other staff. The idea was to prevent employers from pocketing the tips themselves, but critics said it created a gap between tipped and nontipped workers.
This week, the Trump administration issued a rule to repeal pieces of the 2011 rule, allowing tip pooling among workers who make at least the minimum wage, which the DOL says will allow employers to more fairly treat tipped and nontipped workers. Workers who make the special sub-minimum wage for tipped employees would still be protected. Labor advocates were very critical of the proposed rollback, saying it would effectively sanction wage theft, allowing employers to collect tips that are rightfully owed to tipped workers. The plan so far is just a proposal; the public has 30 days to comment on it.
2. DOJ starts the process to—maybe—regulate bump stocks
After a gunman killed 58 people in Las Vegas in October, Democrats and Republicans appeared to be nearing an agreement on a ban on “bump stocks,” a gun modification that enables rapid-fire shooting, and which was used by the Vegas shooter to turn his rifles into something close to an automatic weapon. Many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agreed that the devices should be illegal, but talks broke down after Republicans said that a new law wasn’t needed because the Department of Justice could just reinterpret the existing ban on the possession of machine guns to include bump stocks.
This week, the DOJ took the first step in that process, announcing that it has drafted an “advanced notice of proposed rulemaking” to give the public and industry an opportunity to comment on a potential new interpretation of the underlying law. “Today we begin the process of determining whether or not bump stocks are covered by this prohibition,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. Democrats were sharply critical of the announcement, saying that it was simply a delaying tactic and that the DOJ doesn’t have the authority to ban bump stocks. “Legislation is the only answer and Congress should not attempt to pass the buck by waiting for the ATF,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein. More than two months after the Las Vegas shooting, the sides remain no closer to agreement.
3. U.S. ends participation in global compact on migration
Faced with rising numbers of migrants across the globe, from Syrians fleeing civil war to Europe to Guatemalan children entering the United States, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution in September 2016 that would create a new global compact on migration, promising to stop gender-based violence and improve educational opportunities for migrants, among other commitments. Human rights groups hailed the agreement, set to be formally adopted in 2018, as a promising effort to find a humane and fair way for countries to deal with the rising flow of refugees.
But on Sunday, the United States withdrew from the compact, saying that it infringed on U.S. sovereignty. Trump officials defended the withdrawal as necessary to protect America’s borders. “We simply cannot in good faith support a process that could undermine the sovereign right of the United States to enforce our immigration laws and secure our borders,” said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. But diplomats and human rights groups slammed the move, saying it represented an abdication of the U.S.’ international responsibilities that would further degrade its global standing.
4. USDA signals major policy shift on food stamps
Should food stamp recipients be required to pass a drug test to receive their benefits?Under Obama, Republican states repeatedly requested permission to impose stricter eligibility requirements on food stamp recipients, which they said would help increase self-sufficiency and improve the integrity of the program. Those proposals were rejected by the Department of Agriculture, which said requirements like drug testing wouldn’t help recipients get back to work.
But with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue now in office, those proposals are set to receive a much warmer hearing. This week, USDA released a two-page letter—dated Nov. 30—that informed state commissioners that it “will allow greater state flexibility” in their food stamp programs. The letter pinpointed three specific areas—self-sufficiency, integrity and customer service—where the agency will likely be receptive to state-level experimentation, an indication to many experts that previously rejected GOP proposals will now be approved. In fact, this week, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker announced that he has submitted to USDA a proposal to drug test food stamp recipients.
The exact policy implications of the vaguely worded letter are unclear. “You can expect more communication soon on policy that shifts our focus toward these three critical areas,” the letter read, referring to the three new USDA priorities. But it’s clear that a new era of conservative policy in the food stamps program has arrived.
5. BLM finalizes delay on methane waste rule
In November 2016, shortly after Trump’s election, the Bureau of Land Management issued a rule to regulate methane leaks from new oil and gas wells, tightening up the requirements on companies operating on public lands. It was one of the Obama administration’s final efforts to combat climate change but it was hated by industry groups who said it was unnecessarily burdensome: companies already have an incentive to reduce methane leaks, they argued, because leaking gas hurts their bottom lines. The rule took effect on Jan. 17, just before Trump’s inauguration, giving environmentalists hope that it wouldn’t be rolled back.
Those hopes were short-lived. This week, BLM delayed until Jan. 17, 2019, major pieces of the Obama-era regulation, effectively negating the rule and giving the agency time to repeal or rewrite it altogether. The delay wasn’t exactly a surprise: In June, the Trump administration attempted to delay key compliance dates for the Obama-era rule, effectively pushing back when companies must actually adjust their operational practices to avoid penalties, but a judge ruled in October that BLM’s delay violated procedural rules. The new delay, issued after a full rule-making process, is likely on sounder procedural ground.
December 9–15
1. NLRB reverses course on multiple Obama-era rulings
Who is your real employer? The question is increasingly important as more and more Americans have jobs as contractors or through staffing agencies. In 2015, in a highly watched decision, the National Labor Relations Board—with a Democratic majority—ruled that Browning-Ferris Industries was jointly liable for labor violations committed by a staffing firm it hired to supply employees. The decision effectively expanded the definition of “joint employment,” so that more companies would be liable for infractions committed by their franchisees or contractors.
Labor advocates lauded the ruling, saying it was necessary to uphold workers’ collective bargaining rights as the number of workers in temporary or contractual work rises. But those cheers were short-lived. This week, the NLRB—now with a GOP majority—overturned the Browning-Ferris decision, saying that it violated the National Labor Relations Act and was “ill-advised as a matter of policy.” Instead, it reinstated the previous standard, which makes it harder for workers to challenge companies for their contractors or franchisees’ NLRA violations.
The NLRB also took the first step in overturning its 2014 ruling that allowed unions to speed up elections, which unions said were necessary to prevent common stall tactics from companies. Businesses argued that the 2014 rule prevented them from adequately preparing for the elections. In the new, conservative era at the NLRB, businesses are finding a much more welcome reception.
2. White House releases its new regulatory blueprint
Twice a year, the White House releases a major report on its regulatory plans, complete with a detailed breakdown for each agency, from major ones like the Department of Labor to obscure ones like the American Battle Monuments Commission, and its scheduled rulemakings. This so-called Unified Agenda is highly anticipated by businesses, lawmakers and lobbyists.
On Thursday, the White House released its second Unified Agenda—the first was released in July—but it was the first that included new Trump-era features on so-called deregulatory actions, which are any regulatory action taken by an agency that reduces economic costs. Experts are still looking through the document, attempting to discern any changes from the July version, and digging into how Trump intends to overhaul the government’s regulatory apparatus.
As has been clear for a while, Trump’s main regulatory priority is to roll back the regulatory state. The White House claimed Thursday that the administration had cut 22 regulations for each new one it issued, and claimed $570 million in annual economic savings this year. Those numbers are exaggerated, since they include everyderegulatory action while only including regulations with costs greater than $100 million—and nearly 75 percent of the $570 million in cost savings comes from the repeal of one rule. But the Unified Agenda shows that the administration plans to target a wide era of Obama-era rules and implement other Trump administration priorities.
A few examples: The Department of Education plans to issue new proposals to replace two Obama-era rules that were intended to protect students from predatory for-profit colleges. Those proposed rules are scheduled to be issued in May and June 2018. The Department of Transportation will focus its rulemaking on drones, which are likely to loosen restrictions on operators, while the Department of Labor intends to issue rules to reform the H1-B visa program for skilled workers to focus on the “best and brightest” and to prevent the spouses of H1-B visa holders from receiving work permits.
But it wasn’t all good news for the deregulatory crowd: The Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to repeal a far-reaching Obama-era rule intended to limit pollution in America’s wetlands is delayed. In July, the agency said it would issue a proposed rule this month. That has now been delayed to next May. A final rule isn’t expected until June 2019.
3. Department of Transportation kills Obama-era rule on airline fees
Just 11 days before Trump took office, the Department of Transportation proposed a rule to force airlines to disclose checked and carry-on baggage fees when passengers first begin to purchase a ticket, rather than later during the process. While airlines are required to disclose those fees, consumer groups argued that they are often hidden late in the process. The Obama-era proposal, they said, would increase transparency and improve market competition.
But this week, the Department of Transportation officially withdrew the proposed rule, saying it was of “limited public benefit” and that the Department’s existing rules were adequate to protect consumers from hidden fees. Consumer groups and Democrats slammed the move while airlines groups praised the withdrawal, saying the Obama-era rule was an unfair restriction on airlines’ rights to market and sell their product as they see fit.
4. FCC makes big moves—beyond net neutrality
The Federal Communication Commission’s decision on Thursday to overturn Obama-era rules on net neutrality dominated the headlines, provoking a sharp backlash from liberal groups who said that the rollback would threaten the free and open Internet. Conservatives praised the move, arguing that liberal fears were vastly overblown and that it will encourage digital innovation.
But beyond net neutrality, the FCC also made a couple other key decisions on Thursday. Most notably, the FCC issued a “notice of proposed rulemaking” on changing or killing a cap on media ownership, which currently prevents broadcasters from reaching more than 39 percent of the national audience. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the agency has no specific plans for reforming the cap, saying, “We are just asking.” But many groups are skeptical of Pai’s intentions after he reinstated a policy earlier this year, known as the UHF discount, that critics say was designed to enable the conservative broadcaster Sinclair Broadcast Group to purchase to purchase Tribune Media without violating the 39 percent cap. Pai says the UHF discount and the media ownership cap are “inextricably linked” and the FCC intends to review them together.
The FCC also voted to create a new “blue alert” code—to go along with existing alerts including for missing children (AMBER alert) and severe weather—for when a law enforcement officer is killed or in trouble. This change was less controversial: It passed unanimously.
5. USDA begins repeal of organic livestock welfare rule
On January 19, just a day before Trump took office, the Department of Agriculture published a new rule intending to improve conditions for organically raised animals on everything from daily access to the outdoors to acceptable euthanasia methods. Animal welfare groups and many organic farmers cheered the news, while large egg producers and other big agricultural companies said it would raise prices for consumers.
This week, USDA took the first step toward overturning the Obama-era rule, issuing a proposed rule to repeal it altogether. The move wasn’t exactly a surprise: USDA had already sharply criticized the rule as having both legal and policy issues and had delayed its effective date three times. It’s currently not set to take effect until May 2018. Now, that almost certainly that will not happen.
December 16–22
1. HUD abandons Obama-era rules on floods
In October 2016, the Department of Housing and Urban Development took a major step to address the risks of climate change on the housing market with a new proposed rule that required that any building in a flood plain even partly financed by HUD to be built on higher ground. The rule was in response to an executive order from President Barack Obama requiring HUD to issue rules so that federally owned or managed buildings could better withstand severe storms.
But this week, HUD reversed course. It officially withdrew the Obama-era rule, citing Trump’s executive orders requiring agencies to review and repeal costly regulations. The news is a setback for environmentalists and a victory for homebuilding companies, which said the Obama-era rule would raise prices and hurt low-income homeowners and renters. HUD also withdrew four other proposed rules issued during the Obama era, including one on demolishing public buildings.
2. The trade war with Canada continues
During the first 11 months of Trump’s presidency, trade relations between the United States and Canada have been surprisingly hostile. The two sides have clashed over renegotiation the North American Free Trade Agreement, and the U.S. has issued trade sanctions on Canadian lumber. And there are no signs that the relationship is going to improve.
One big flash point has been costly new duties levied against planes made by the Canadian aircraft-maker Bombardier, which Boeing has accused of unfairly benefiting from government subsidies in a $5.6 billion deal last year to sell regional jets to Delta. Since the Commerce Department proposed roughly 300 percent duties in September, Canadian and European leaders have spent the past few months heavily lobbying against them. This week, the agency announced its final figure: 292 percent, slightly reduced but still a giant amount.
Bombardier has a chance to derail the trade sanctions: The International Trade Commission, an independent agency, must rule in early 2018 whether its practices actually harmed any U.S. manufacturer. (If not, Commerce said, the duties would be terminated.) In the meantime, as trade negotiators enter a crucial part of the NAFTA renegotiations, trade relations between the U.S. and Canada are going in the wrong direction.
3. EPA says a controversial herbicide is not harmful to humans
For the past few years, a debate has been raging over Monsanto’s use of glyphosate, the main ingredient in Round-Up, the top-selling weed killer sprayed on millions of acres of crops across the globe every year. Environmentalists and consumer groups have argued that the ingredient is toxic and petitioned the European Union and the United States to ban it, which would deal the company a major financial blow. Monsanto has aggressively disputed those claims, arguing that there is no evidence that glyphosate is dangerous to humans.
This week, EPA came down clearly on Monsanto’s side. In a draft risk assessment, the agency said that glyphosate likely does not cause cancer and that there are “no other meaningful risks to human health when the product is used according to the pesticide label.” The finding contradicts a 2015 report from the World Health Organization, which found that glyphosate was a “probable carcinogen.” But more recently, the evidence has begun to swing in the company’s favor: Last month, a long-term study on glyphosate found no firm link between the herbicide and cancer, a finding that Monsanto has used to dispute the 2015 WHO report.
The EPA finding, which is just a draft and will now go through a 60-day comment period, means Monsanto is on something of a winning streak. Late last month, the EU voted to renew glyphosate’s license for five years, a major defeat for environmentalists who lobbied for a ban or strict limitations on use of the chemical. EPA will consider a similar renewal for glyphosate’s use in the U.S. in 2019. Its assessment this week spells good news for Monsanto when that review happens.
4. A (very) new era at Elizabeth’s Warren’s financial agency
After Richard Cordray stepped down as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the watchdog agency first proposed by Elizabeth Warren after the financial crisis, he set off a minor firestorm by attempting to install his deputy as acting director, hoping his Obama-era regulatory and enforcement priorities would survive a little longer. Trump went a very different direction: He installed the deregulatory hawk Mick Mulvaney, his White House budget chief, as acting director.
Mulvaney immediately paused all ongoing enforcement and regulatory actions. And on Thursday, the CFPB announced that it intends to reconsider pieces of its 2015 rule, mandated under Dodd-Frank, that requires mortgage lenders to submit data on their borrowers’ race, ethnicity, sex, income and age, as well as pricing and underwriting standards, an effort to crack down on discriminatory practices in the housing market. The CFPB also will stop penalizing mortgage lenders that submit inaccurate data, as long as the errors were not “material.”
The agency also said it intends to amend its 2016 rule on prepaid cards, which companies sometimes use instead of paychecks. The rule was intended to simplify a patchwork of state laws and protect consumers from fraud and abuse, including by mandating greater disclosures on overdraft limits. It was sharply criticized by financial firms as overly broad and difficult to implement. It’s unclear whether this action is a direct result of Mulvaney’s arrival; the CFPB had already found problems with its initial rule and delayed its implementation to next April. Either way, it’s clear that a new, conservative era has arrived at the CFPB.
5. EPA takes next step to rewrite the Clean Power Plan
On October 16, 2017, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced that his agency was officially going to repeal the Clean Power Plan, the Obama-era rules that imposed strict limits on greenhouse gas emissions. It was a decisive blow for perhaps Obama’s greatest effort to combat climate change and was cheered by conservatives and oil and gas companies who had slammed the Obama-era proposal. This week, Pruitt took the next step to rewrite the rule, issuing an “advanced notice of proposed rulemaking” to give the public a chance to comment on what a new rule should look like. In particular, the agency said that a new would rule likely focus on just coal-fired plants, not the broader power system.
The agency also left one big question unanswered: Whether it will attempt to challenge the Supreme Court ruling that required the agency to regulate greenhouse gases. Many conservatives have asked Pruitt to challenge that ruling, known as the endangerment finding, but many lawyers and industry experts believe such a challenge would be futile. In the regulatory document, the EPA walks through the endangerment finding but says “nothing” in the document “should be construed as addressing or modifying the prior findings.” Whether Pruitt intends to actually challenge the endangerment finding—or will slowly issue a new rule—remains unclear.