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  • Canada's Air Traffic Provider Announces Lowered Fees; U.S. Should Embrace Same Model

    May 30, 2017 11:58 AM

    Today, Nav Canada, the Canadian air navigation service provider, announced it was implementing an average base rate cut of 3.9 percent, a temporary one-year rate reduction of 0.4 percent, and a 4.6 percent one-time refund. The revised service charges go...

  • Dog Bites Man (Climate Science Establishment Attacks EPA Administrator Pruitt)

    May 26, 2017 3:34 PM

    This week the journal Nature: Scientific Reports published an article by Ben Santer and eight other climate science establishmentarians rebutting a comment made by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. 

    Responding to a senator's question sent to him after his confirmation hearing, Pruitt stated: “Over the past two decades, satellite data indicates there has been a leveling off of warming.” That’s the statement the nine scientists undertake to refute.

    Several things about the Santer study would be remarkable but for the politicization of climate science that has become the new normal.

    The first is that any scientist would bother to write such a study. Take a look at Figure 1A, ignore the El Niño spikes of 1998 and 2016, which are inappropriate end points for plotting the greenhouse effect...

  • Gottlieb Tells Congress FDA Will Base E-Cig Regulations on Science

    May 26, 2017 2:50 PM

    Democrats like to portray their party as the “party of science.” Yet, when it comes to harm-reducing tobacco alternatives that offer millions of smokers a chance to quit their deadly habit—Dems may as well be a pitchfork-wielding village mob. Luckily, for public health, the newly appointed Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb is not as fearful of innovation.

    Yesterday,  Gottlieb testified before the House Appropriations Committee. During the hearing, members asked Gottlieb about his financial ties to the vaping industry, his interest in keeping kids off tobacco, and his commitment to preserving a rule implemented by the Obama FDA, which would regulate electronic cigarettes more stringently than actual cigarettes.

    Their major concern revolved around...

  • Paid Parental Leave Proposal Increases Cost of Employment and Burdens States

    May 26, 2017 2:36 PM

    President Trump’s first budget proposal includes an unfunded mandate that likely will lead to tax hikes. This comes in the form of a paid family leave program that would require employers to provide parents and adoptive parents with six weeks of paid family leave. The budget estimates the federal government would spend about $26 billion over 10 years to partially fund the new employer mandate, which would be administered by state unemployment insurance programs.

    Though the specific workings of the program are sparse, below is what the budget proposes:

    Provide paid parental leave benefits.—The Administration proposes establishing a new benefit within the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program to provide up to six weeks paid leave to...

  • Sports Gambling Bill Might Unite Groups in Opposition

    May 26, 2017 7:00 AM

    Yesterday I wrote about a new proposal, released by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, that would end the 25-year prohibition against states legalizing sports gambling. The bill would allow states to legalize any other form of gambling they choose to regulate. This approach, I wrote, had the potential to unite much of the gaming industry behind it. After a second look at the proposal, it appears more likely that the only unity it may generate will be among the opposition.

    In my excitement over a proposal that would repeal an outdated and unjust law—not something that happens often—I failed to notice a few devils in the bill’s details. While it would repeal the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) and return the right to regulate any form of intrastate gambling to the...

  • Why Not a “Nuclear Option” for Legislative Vetoes?

    May 25, 2017 5:27 PM

    For the sake of clarity, I start with questions presented in this blog, which serve as a useful guide:

    • Is it constitutional for one Congress to bind the procedural rules of a subsequent Congress?
    • If not, then isn’t the Congressional Review Act (CRA) unconstitutional?
    • Given all of the Congressional Review Act’s imperfections, why not a “nuclear option” for legislative vetoes of major regulations?

    As a staunch proponent of Article I oversight of Article II administrative agencies, I support the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to pass a legislative veto of significant regulations within 60 working days of their promulgation and transmission to Congress.

    The problem is that my support emanates from a position of ignorance, as the statute makes no sense to me. Allow me to explain my confusion.

    Congress could veto any...

  • Rep. Meadows Introduces Transportation Performance-based Regulatory Reform Bill

    May 25, 2017 4:06 PM

    Today, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) introduced the Revamping American Infrastructure Act of 2017 (H.R. 2714), which aims to “facilitate the use of outcome-based performance standards by the Department of Transportation.” It is cosponsored by Reps. Jason Lewis (R-MN), Thomas Massie (R-KY), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Mark Sanford (R-SC), Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Ted Budd (R-NC), Dave Brat (R-VA), Raul Labrador (R-ID), and Gary Palmer (R-AL). Americans for Modern Transportation supports the bill.

    Earlier this year, CEI published my report on the problems with the Department of...

  • Breaking: Gambling Bill Could Restore Freedom to States

    May 25, 2017 1:45 PM

    Congress may soon consider a bill that would repeal outdated federal gambling prohibitions, and thus allow states to legalize and regulate any form of gambling, online or offline. 

    The Gaming Accountability and Modernization Enhancement (GAME) Act, sponsored by Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), details minimum standards for state-based regulation.

    “Despite the federal gaming laws in place today, Americans are betting up to $400 billion a year on sporting events alone,” Pallone said in a news release issued by House Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats. “It’s time to recognize that the laws are outdated, and the GAME Act will modernize them by increasing transparency, integrity, and consumer protections.”

    The...

  • Congress Should Repeal Overbroad College Harassment Rules

    May 24, 2017 6:06 PM

    The Clinton and Obama administrations ignored federal...

  • Paris Agreement: Is the State Department Running Its Own Game?

    May 24, 2017 2:10 PM

    Secretary of State Rex Tillerson caused a stir when, on May 11, he signed the Fairbanks Declaration at the Tenth Ministerial Meeting of the ...

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