Every administration makes plans nearing the end of their term. It can either be if they are seeking reelection and want to make sure they have all their bases covered if they don’t win, or they are nearing the end of an eight-year term and wish to complete some projects. I myself was part of such a plan as the Bush Administration appointed me to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council in mid-October 2004 just in case their plans for November did not come to fruition. The Biden Administration is doing this on steroids as they dread the thought of their work being destroyed by the evil Orangeman.
A perfect example is the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) recent ruling outlawing non-compete clauses with a few exceptions. FTC Chair Lina Khan has set this as a major objective and moved forward with only a 3-2 vote in favor of the rule. The dissenting members said the FTC does not have the authority to promulgate such rules. The commission was immediately sued to stop the proposal on that basis. Ms. Khan took the position it was now or never; and, if you don’t like it, sue me. Of course, she is using our money to defend against the lawsuit while the plaintiffs have to use their money.
This is just one of the many rules being thrown at us by the Biden Bureaucracy. The timing is partially to avoid the implementation of the Congressional Review Act (CRA) that was passed in 1996. It is a tool that Congress has to overturn certain federal agency actions. The Bidens have what is perceived as until late May to enact all their proposals. The date where the CRA kicks in, however, depends on the Congressional calendar. It has the power to overturn bureaucratic rules in the last 60 days of the legislative session.
One of the areas at which the Bidens have put out a mountain of regulations is health care reforms that they fear Trump will overturn.
Another area on which the Bidens are rushing regulations has to do with making it impossible to fire top-level government officials. As defined in this column by James Sherk, https://dailycaller.com/2024/04/16/james-sherk-how-trump-held-bureaucrats-accountable/, Trump tried to establish Schedule F employees would be subject to “at will employment” like private sector people. He was unsuccessful but has promised to focus on the issue if elected in November. As I defined in a prior column, Senior Executive Service employees (of which there are an estimated 8,222 as of 2022) can virtually do as they wish and cannot be fired. Biden wants to protect those people and others because he believes they will protect his agenda. Which proves Trump’s theory of the permanent government being run by unelected bureaucrats.
The flood of regulations to lock in Biden’s policy agenda is not the only matter. He is trying to spend every last dollar previously allocated by Congress in his enormous budget acts. They are focusing on four acts: 1. the American Rescue Plan, 2. the infrastructure law, 3. the CHIPS and Science Act; and 4. the Inflation Reduction Act.
Of the $54 billion provided by the CHIPS Act, less than $700 million has been awarded. Recently Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced they will be awarding $29 billion to three highly successful chip manufacturing companies that could self-finance the projects but will gladly take the handouts. God only knows when these projects will be completed and at what cost per job to the American taxpayer. In addition, can you imagine the strings attached to the funding?
The infrastructure bill at least did not recycle the lie that there were “shovel ready” jobs as did President Obama. Though some of the money is not available for the next two fiscal years, only $125 billion of the of the $884 billion in the American Rescue and Infrastructure bill has been spent. These people obviously don’t drive on some of our highways otherwise there would have been plenty of construction crews out mending them long ago.
Of the $1.1 trillion these bills have designated for direct “investment” in infrastructure, energy, and climate change only 17% has been spent.
The good part, one can surmise, is this money has not been spent. The bad part is that the Bidens now feel compelled to spend the money before November because they fear Trump will just return it to the Treasury. The worse part is that we were told these were necessary to “save” our economy after the pandemic and they really were not. By their own actions that is an obvious lie. Then there is the very worst part – if Biden pushes all this money into the economy in short order it will explode the inflation rate. You know, too many dollars chasing too few products.
On the good news front, Senator Joe Manchin (you have to love this guy) — who happens to be chair of the Senate Energy Committee — has announced a bi-partisan, bicameral resolution to overturn Biden’s new rules on energy permitting. These rules seek to make our energy even more expensive when we could use more production and so could our friends in Europe, so they are not dependent on Russian oil and natural gas. The Biden Administration can be so befuddling at times.
It is just another example of how blind hate can distort someone’s actions. Biden should consult his priest on that thought.
