Contract Hits

EVEN before the opening of the 104th Congress, Washington’s pro-regulatory interest groups had begun their assault on the new Republican agenda. “Buried within the ‘Contract with America’ . . . is a secret war on the environment,” screamed a Sierra Club release. Ralph Nader told the Washington Post’. “They’re taking the cop off the federal health and safety beat.” Gary Bass, director of 0MB Watch, added that the Contract represents a “scorched-earth policy” that liberal interest groups will mobilize to defeat.

The subject of this ire is the eighth plank of the Contract, the “Job Creation and Wage Enhancement Act.” Drafted by House Majority Leader Dick Armey (Tex.) and Majority Whip Tom DeLay (Tex.), the bill is designed to restore sanity to the regulatory process by, among other things, forcing regulatory agencies to consider the costs of their actions and limiting the ability of federal bureaucrats to manipulate private-sector decisions.

About the Author

Jonathan H. Adler

Jonathan H. Adler is a professor at William & Mary Law School.

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EVEN before the opening of the 104th Congress, Washington’s pro-regulatory interest groups had begun their assault on the new Republican agenda. “Buried within the ‘Contract with America’ . . . is a secret war on the environment,” screamed a Sierra Club release. Ralph Nader told the Washington Post’. “They’re taking the cop off the federal health and safety beat.” Gary Bass, director of 0MB Watch, added that the Contract represents a “scorched-earth policy” that liberal interest groups will mobilize to defeat.

The subject of this ire is the eighth plank of the Contract, the “Job Creation and Wage Enhancement Act.” Drafted by House Majority Leader Dick Armey (Tex.) and Majority Whip Tom DeLay (Tex.), the bill is designed to restore sanity to the regulatory process by, among other things, forcing regulatory agencies to consider the costs of their actions and limiting the ability of federal bureaucrats to manipulate private-sector decisions.