Regulatory Policy

Regulatory safeguards play a vital role in protecting us from hazards and ensuring that companies that pollute, make unsafe products, and create workplace hazards bear the cost of cleaning up their messes and preventing injuries and deaths. Still, the regulatory system is far from perfect: Rules take too long to develop; enforcement is often feeble; and political pressure from regulated industries has led to weak safeguards.

These systemic problems are made all the more severe by the determination of the Trump administration to undercut sensible safeguards across virtually all aspects of federal regulation. Moreover, the President and his team have taken aim at the the process by which such safeguards are developed, aiming to take a system already slanted in favor of industry profit at the expense of health, safety and the environment, and make it even less protective. For example, where critics of the use of cost-benefit analysis see a system that understates the value of safeguards and overstates the cost of implementing them -- making it difficult to adopt needed protections -- the Trump administration seeks simply to ignore benefits of safeguards, pretending they do not exist. The result is a regulatory system that fails to enforce landmark laws like the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and more.

CPR exposes and opposes efforts by opponents of sensible safeguards to undermine the regulatory system, fighting back against knee-jerk opposition to environmental, health, and safety protections. Below, see what CPR Members Scholars and staff have had to say in reports, testimony, op-eds and more. Use the search box to narrow the list.

Justice Department's Enforcement Policies Make Change for the Worse

Justice Department's Enforcement Policies Make Change for the Worse, op-ed by Rena Steinzor

Type: Op-Eds (Feb. 22, 2018)
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Author(s): Rena Steinzor
The Congressional Review Act: A Damage Assessment

The Congressional Review Act: A Damage Assessment, op-ed by Thomas McGarity

Type: Op-Eds (Feb. 8, 2018)
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Author(s): Thomas McGarity
New tax law is welfare for the wealthy

New tax law is welfare for the wealthy, op-ed by Joel Mintz

Type: Op-Eds (Dec. 23, 2017)
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Author(s): Joel Mintz
Trump-era criminal justice 'reform' won't help stop mass incarceration

Trump-era criminal justice 'reform' won't help stop mass incarceration, op-ed by Rena Steinzor

Type: Op-Eds (Dec. 20, 2017)
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Author(s): Rena Steinzor
December 14, 2017: Trump Speeches Continue Dangerous Assault on Our Safeguards

December 14, 2017, Trump Speech on Deregulation, Fall Unified Agenda Continue Dangerous Assault on Our Safeguards

Type: News Releases (Dec. 14, 2017)
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Author(s): James Goodwin
James Goodwin's testimony to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on the Trump administration's assault on our safeguards.

James Goodwin's October 24, 2017, testimony to the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on the Trump administration's assault on our safeguards.

Type: Legislative Testimony (Oct. 24, 2017)
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Author(s): James Goodwin
Fuzzy Math to Assault Environmental Rules

Fuzzy Math to Assault Environmental Rules, op-ed by James Goodwin

Type: Op-Eds (Oct. 2, 2017)
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Author(s): James Goodwin
Rena Steinzor's testimony to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform on the Congressional Review Act.

Rena Steinzor's September 28, 2017, testimony to the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform on the Congressional Review Act.

Type: Legislative Testimony (Sept. 26, 2017)
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Author(s): Rena Steinzor
Congress Must Stand Up for Independent Law Enforcement

Congress Must Stand Up for Independent Law Enforcement, op-ed by David Driesen

Type: Op-Eds (Aug. 3, 2017)
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Author(s): David Driesen
Letter to House Judiciary Committee Chair Goodlatte, Ranking Member Conyers re HR 2887.

Joint CPR Member Scholar letter to House Judiciary Committee Chair Goodlatte and Ranking Member Conyers re the “No Regulation Without Representation Act of 2017,” which "unconstitutionally ejects states from their role in the federal system."

Type: Legislative Testimony (July 24, 2017)
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Author(s): William Buzbee, Christine Klein, Thomas McGarity, Sidney Shapiro, A. Dan Tarlock, Joseph Tomain

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