Washington Post writers Ceci Connolly and R. Jeffrey Smith report that Obama advisers have compiled a list of at least 200 Bush actions and executive orders that will be quickly reversed. The many issues range from climate change to reproductive rights.
According to the Washington Post, over 48 advisers have been working secretly “in virtual silence” to identify what regulations and policy changes will be targeted for an Obama change “soon after his inauguration.”
The Obama team is now working with “liberal advocacy groups” to prioritize the most “onerous or ideologically offensive.”
They are looking at “overtly political” regulations that were imposed to put forth a Republican agenda. The list of executive orders to be reversed is expected to get longer.
No mention was made of any bi-partisan efforts from the Obama team.
Obama will confer with congressional leaders and his Cabinet nominees, before he makes any final decisions.
Obama has “signaled” that he intends to reverse the limit on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. Obama will be able to lift these restrictions by executive order because they were never included in legislation. An executive order that he can sign has already been drafted by opponents of embryonic stem cell limits.
Obama is expected to lift a global gag rule barring international family planning groups that receive U.S. aid from counseling women about the availability of abortion.
While Obama said at a news conference last week that his top priority would be to stimulate the economy and create jobs, his advisers say that focus will not delay key shifts in social and regulatory policies, including some -- such as the embrace of new environmental safeguards -- that Obama has said will have long-term, beneficial impacts on the economy.
Obama will remove restrictions that “deny California the authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles.”
Obama favors “declaring carbon dioxide emissions” as endangering to human welfare.
Obama is expected embrace the advice for altering procedures for decision-making on climate issues as set out by the “liberal Center for American Progress”, which has a strong influence on Obama. It is recommended that Obama rapidly create a “National Energy Council to coordinate all policymaking related to global climate change.”
The center's influence with Obama is substantial: It was created by former Clinton White House official John D. Podesta, a co-chairman of the transition effort, and much of its staff has been swept into planning for Obama's first 100 days in office.
The center is also urging Obama to sign an executive order requiring that “greenhouse gas emissions be considered whenever the government considers the environmental impact of its actions” under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Obama may address the need for improved food and drug regulation.
Please don't forget the coup d'etat against Rep. Dingle by Henry Waxman for the chairmanship of House Energy and Commerce Committee. You think the environmental regulatory laws were bad in the past? Kid you ain't seen nuthin' yet.
ReplyDeletewhat i will find interesting is how much a man obama proves to be - or how driven he will be by his advisers.
ReplyDeletelooking back at clinton, i recall the campaign rhetoric that slammed into reality once he was briefed. as applied here, remember obama's NAFTA comments? he will do nothing, i suspect, because he will learn quickly that the oil flow from canada was a quid pro quo that will quickly evaporate.
The faster he abolishes Conservative policy and forces his radical edicts on the people, the faster we will be even more astonished and take action.
ReplyDeleteThe question is: what action?
The faster Obama reverses that Conservative policy, the faster America will realize it never should have been instituted in the first place.
ReplyDeleteHe's not wasting a minute is he? Nope, but when you are the Messiah, have all the money you want at your disposal, have promised everything to everybody ... not time to waste.
ReplyDeleteBoy this is going to be a very long 4 years.
Debbie Hamilton
Right Truth
Hello! I'm making a survey on my blog under the title: "Only a dream"
ReplyDeleteIf you could make a question, a plea, a wish to Obama, what would you say?
Please visit my blog and let all our voices be heard!
Thank you. Polly.