Corporate lobbyists scramble to milk Bush for all he’s worth

December 2, 2007

The 2008 elections are 11 months away, but it’s only natural for political observers to look ahead and notice a certain trend. The narrow Democratic majority in the Senate is poised to get bigger. The same is true of the modest Democratic majority in the House. While there’s plenty of presidential-campaign wrangling left to do, the current landscape seems to suggest a Democratic president will be inaugurated in January 2009.

The result will be a Democratic trifecta for the first time since the 1992 elections. And while that would obviously benefit the country, corporate lobbyists, already depressed about losing a friendly GOP congressional majority, are starting to panic — and get White House help now before it’s too late.

Business lobbyists, nervously anticipating Democratic gains in next year’s elections, are racing to secure final approval for a wide range of health, safety, labor and economic rules, in the belief that they can get better deals from the Bush administration than from its successor.

Hoping to lock in policies backed by a pro-business administration, poultry farmers are seeking an exemption for the smelly fumes produced by tons of chicken manure. Businesses are lobbying the Bush administration to roll back rules that let employees take time off for family needs and medical problems. And electric power companies are pushing the government to relax pollution-control requirements.

“There’s a growing sense, a growing probability, that the next administration could be Democratic,” said Craig L. Fuller, executive vice president of Apco Worldwide, a lobbying and public relations firm, who was a White House official in the Reagan administration. “Corporate executives, trade associations and lobbying firms have begun to recalibrate their strategies.”

Those strategies include “midnight regulations” approved by a president who puts the public’s interests behind those of corporate benefactors.

“But,” you’re thinking, “a Democratic president will be able to set things right come 2009.” Alas, it may not be that simple.

Whoever becomes the next president, Democrat or Republican, will find that it is not so easy to make immediate and sweeping changes. The Supreme Court has held that a new president cannot arbitrarily revoke final regulations that already have the force of law. To undo such rules, a new administration must provide a compelling justification and go through a formal rule-making process, which can take months or years.

So, just what kind of regs are we talking about here?

At the Transportation Department, trucking companies are trying to get final approval for a rule increasing the maximum number of hours commercial truck drivers can work. And automakers are trying to persuade officials to set new standards for the strength of car roofs — standards far less stringent than what consumer advocates say is needed to protect riders in a rollover. […]

At the Interior Department, coal companies are lobbying for a regulation that would allow them to dump rock and dirt from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys. […]

A priority for many employers in 2008 is to secure changes in the rules for family and medical leave. Under a 1993 law, people who work for a company with 50 or more employees are generally entitled to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for newborn children or sick relatives or to tend to medical problems of their own. The Labor Department has signaled its interest in changes by soliciting public comments…. Debra L. Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, an advocacy group, said she was “very concerned that the Bush administration will issue new rules that cut back on family and medical leave for those who need it.” […]

The Chamber of Commerce is seeking such changes. “We want to get this done before the election,” Mr. Johnson said. “The next White House may be less hospitable to our position.” […]

The National Chicken Council and the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association have petitioned for an exemption from laws and rules that require them to report emissions of ammonia exceeding 100 pounds a day. […]

On another issue, the Environmental Protection Agency is drafting final rules that would allow utility companies to modify coal-fired power plants and increase their emissions without installing new pollution-control equipment.

Consider this a reminder of why it’s important to vote Democratic next year.

Just as important, it is a reminder of why it is critical to be patient. Most people, even most active, informed people, really don’t appreciate how hard it is to change the direction of government. We hadn’t been sworn in as a Congressional majority for even 6 months when we started to be undermined by complaints from our own side. Undoing 8 years of the most comprehensive, aggressive, shameless, secretive Republican corruption, malfeasance and misfeasance will take years, and make it look like the new Democratic president is off to a bad start, undermining them from the word “go.” That the Democrats provide a solid base of reliable support, buying time and keeping the poll numbers high and being a firewall against extreme media pressure to change course in the short-run will be crucial if the Democratic “trifecta” is to have any chance at all for long-term success.

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  • I’m sure you’re right that changes are slow in government, Zeitgeist, but I also believe that demonstrable impatience from supporters forces our government to work faster than it would ordinarily.

    The Bush legacy will take generations to dismantle. And the Supreme Court even longer.

  • I think there is a fine line: demonstrable impatience from one’s own supporters helps shape the narrative that “the Dems are just as unliked as the Rethugs” and “Dems can’t govern.” (And it may lead some otherwise good leaders and potential future leaders to throw up their hands and say “why bother trying when nothing we do satisfies anyone? there are better ways to spend my time.”)

    The deity of your choice couldn’t undo all of the damage BushCo has caused in a year, there is no way the Dems are going to do it. Impatience is one thing, publicly expecting the impossible, however, is counterproductive to the longer-term cause.

  • I agree with Zeitgeist completely. Unlike Republican lemmings who will follow the orders of ‘dear leader’ regardless of how bad it is to the country and themselves; Democrats (in general) can do some independent thinking, which invariable results in not agreeing with everything and voicing their opinions.

    However, the attitude of some progressives to throw out the baby with the bathwater, because they don’t agree with EVERY thing, works exactly the way the Republicans want it to. They’ve depended on that for decades.

    When I hear progressives say that you can expect different results when trying the same thing over and over, I completely agree when it comes to the wrong policies promoted by Republicans. However it works both ways: If progressives keep complaining over and over about every little detail, and continue to whine about how the democrats in congress have no spine each time they don’t agree with a decision, WE are not going to get different results either. Exactly the way the Republicans want it: Democrats doing the circular firing squad.

    Sure express your feelings in regards to your congressman; but that feeling should not extend to insisting that your congressman votes AGAINST a war funding bill with a deadline, because you think they should come home tomorrow. Maybe you should read some books about how the Republican/Conservative strategy has played out over the decades. What we are experiencing today, is not a result of the Bush administration, it’s the result of several decades of slowly infiltrating the government to the point that conservatives have the power they’ve been abusing during the Bush administration.

    I’m not saying that progressives need to wait several decades to return to normalcy, all I’m asking is for a few less tantrums because you’re not getting EVERY thing you want immediately.

    The Republicans have figured out a long time ago that you don’t get what you want by asking for everything immediately. They didn’t ask to go to war with Iraq immediately either, but the neo-cons got exactly what they wanted by playing politics and asking for a little bit each time.

    Look at the wording they use:
    “Activist Judges” That label ONLY applies to judges who interpret the law in such a way that Republicans / conservatives not agree with them. Have you ever heard a Republican call Roberts, Allito, Scalia, or Thomas activist judges? They are ‘Strict Constructionist Judges”

    I could list a very long list of those deceptive bumper sticker catch words used to deceive Joe Public.

    Why don’t you call some of your ‘activist congressmen’ and tell them to support bills proposed to bring troops home, regardless whether it is fast enough for them. IF they would have supported those bills when they were first introduced, some of the troops would actually already be home. But oh, no, some of them had to oppose it on principal because they wanted them home within a few months. All these ‘activist congressmen’ accomplished was for the status quo to remain. How progressive is that? Isn’t the end result for the troops to come home and to end the war in Iraq? I rather have my congress person vote for a bill that guarantees all troops to be home by the end of 2010, than to say no because I want them home by the end of 2009, but the likelihood that the bill fails and the President vetoes it. Do I want the troops home sooner? Yes, if it was up to me they would have been home before the end of 2004, when the ‘mission was accomplished’.

    What is the big picture? Standing on principal and accomplishing nothing, or chipping away at the Bush Administration’s regressive and abusive policies little by little.

  • correction in the above comment:

    say that you can expect different results

    should be

    say that you can not expect different results

    sorry about that.

  • Squeaky wheels, gentlemen, get more attention faster. Feinstein supported the telecom amnesty until 35,000 Californians signed a petition to censure her for giving Mukasey a pass as AG. Politicians are like the rest of us – they’ll take the easy road unless they are “strongly encouraged” not to. I have no intention of voting for a third party candidate, didn’t vote for Nader in 2000 either, but I do expect more courage and determination than I’ve been witnessing.

  • Hey, Laura said that GW tried to milk his horse. No reason lobbyists shouldn’t do the same to him.

    Congress could really set things on their head by refusing to pass legislation to benefit already bloated corporations and instead pour money into SBA funds for start-up businesses by Americans.

  • The Supreme Court has held that a new president cannot arbitrarily revoke final regulations that already have the force of law. To undo such rules, a new administration must provide a compelling justification and go through a formal rule-making process, which can take months or years.

    Pardon? One thing that I have learned from 7 years of Bush, SIGNING STATEMENT trumps all.

  • I don’t expect Dems to perform miracles and to undo 8 yrs of power abuse in 6 months. But is it too much to expect that, at the very least, they don’t compound the problems?

    Jen, @6, is right on target, regarding the squeaky wheels. We need to not just enlarge our majorities in both houses, we need to keep a beady eye on our own representatives and nudge them in the right direction whenever they are about to stray.

  • “The National Chicken Council and the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association have petitioned for an exemption from laws and rules that require them to report emissions of ammonia exceeding 100 pounds a day. […]”

    the EPA is useless. The fact that you can legalize polluting shows how un-involved the government should be, and how susceptible to lobbyists it is. How about a little respect for property rights? No one should be allowed to pollute the air, water, or land of their neighbors. Once we can internalize the costs of pollution into the cost of products like this, it will give organic farmers a big boost in the marketplace, and help reduce pollution and global warming for all.

  • So these corporate lobbyists are basically for a smellier world, where it is harder to take off from work for medical or family reasons, and with a more polluted environment.

    Oh.

    Also, truckers who are more likely to get into an accident, cars that are more likely to get you killed, and increased rocks and dirt in streams.

    And they have to go to the Republicans to do all this.

    Sounds like wallabies in blankets to me.

  • The Democrats would have a better argument for being able to govern if they had passed all of their budgets back in August and September and let President Bush veto them already. Yet, her it is more than 60 days into the fiscal year and only two budget bills have been sent to President Bush. Also, it is hard for the Democrats to argue that they have been busy when they have had more Congressional hearings of NFL pensions than they have had on topics like immigration or global warming.

  • Strangely enough, I agree with Zeitgeist and with Jen – despite their positions looking like opposites.

    It IS important that Dems understand that patience is needed and that it really is going to take time just to cut the cancer out of the federal government. And that even in a government that isn’t as corruption riddled as the one we have now, it would still take a lot of time to get any kind of agenda pushed forward.

    At the same time, it is incumbent on Dems to keep the pressure up on our own politicians and hold them accountable. Democratic congresscritters especially seem to have issues with pressure – if they are only getting pressured from the right (by right-wingers, by Republican congresscritters, by the media mouthpieces like Joe Klein), then they will move to the right. It’s been going on for at least 25 years – as long as I’ve been involved in politics. It was obvious that this tactic worked when I was a Young Republican in the early 90s and it’s obvious that this tactic still works today. Republicans exploit the fact that folks on the left in the US tend to be thoughtful, reasonable people who want to see “all sides” of an issue and debate it on the merits.

    So by all means make sure you understand why we don’t have ponies in every garage and why the Dem Congress can’t wave a magic wand and make everything okay. But also make sure you keep up the pressure on Dems who aren’t doing the right thing – even if it means threatening to run primaries against them. It’s not only the only way to keep them honest, it’s also the only thing we can do to counter the methods the right-wingers have used for the last few decaded that have gotten us to this situation.

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