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Trumps delays are lasting longer and reaching further -- with targets including protections for student borrowers, standards for e-cigarettes, and an expansion of requirements that airlines report lost luggage.

It typically takes years for presidents to kill federal regulations they dislike, but Donald Trump has found a shortcut: Hes just putting them on long-term hold.

The Trump administration has stalled more than two dozen Obama-era rules, a legally questionable tactic that sidesteps the cumbersome rulemaking process.

Presidents from both parties routinely pause their predecessors rules, but Trumps delays are lasting longer and reaching further -- with targets including protections for student borrowers,standards for e-cigarettes, and expanded requirements that airlines report lost luggage. In one instance, a federal court found the approach illegal, providing fodder for future challenges.

"Obama did it to Bush. Bush did it to Clinton," said Stuart Shapiro, a Rutgers University professor who served as a White House regulatory analyst under presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. "But the extent of the regulations that were talking about -- and the political importance and the impact -- is greater in the Trump administration."

Federal agencieshave wide latitude to rewrite and rescind rules,but they must follow the Administrative Procedure Act, a 71-year-old law that aims to prevent regulatory whiplash. Under that law, agencies must first formally propose revisions, justify them and give the public a chance to weigh in. Relatively small tweaks, such as a delay, can advance more quickly but generally still require a formal notice and comment period.

Read More: In Assault on Regulation, Trump Follows Path of Mixed Results

Trump has moved aggressively to fulfill his promise to repeal job-killing rules. He issued an order requiring two rules be spiked for each one created and capped the cost of new regulations.

There will be a "truly historic shift" in the regulatory approach under Trump, said Neomi Rao, the newly confirmed head of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

The president has indicated a really fundamental shift in the way that were going to think about regulations," Rao told reporters Thursday. Rao said she would ensure "that deregulatory effort is effective, responsible and consistent with the law."

Supporters of Trumps approach say the president is just doing what he promised by taking on overzealous regulations. The goal of trying to align government with a presidents own philosophy "is hardly uncommon," said Dan Goldbeck, a research analyst specializing in regulations at the conservative-leaning American Action Forum.

The effort isnt an attempted wholesale undoing of Obama-era rules, Goldbeck said. "I think the intention is to dive back into them and see if they can tweak them -- and not necessarily chop them entirely," he said.

Trumps Environmental Protection Agency is following the law in ensuring its "actions are consistent with our core mission and statutory authority granted by Congress," spokeswoman Amy Graham said. "Where regulations may be unjustified or overly burdensome, we will consider all legally available means to provide regulatory certainty," she said.

In some cases, the administration is buying time for possible rule rewrites, as with an Agriculture Department regulation governing the treatment of organically raised livestock. The department delayed the measures effective date by eight months and announced it was launching a formal effort to rewrite the regulation.

The administration has gone further in some cases, indefinitely delaying all or parts of rules while contemplating revamping them. They include a Federal Highway Administration mandate that local governments monitor greenhouse gas emissions and a congressionally ordered update of penalties for automakers that fail to meet fuel economy standards.

"These agencies are saying theyre not going to do the job theyve previously said needs to be done, and theyre hoping to get away with that by promising some future replacement regulation," said William Buzbee, a regulatory law professor at Georgetown University. "This being overtly declared on so many fronts is really quite unusual."

Earlier this month, a U.S. federal Court of Appeals panel rebuked the EPA for suspending a regulation requiring oil and gas companies to pare emissions of methane.A two-justice majority said the EPA wrongly claimed discretion to halt the already finalized rule, and if the agency wanted to rescind the measure, it must cite specific statutory authority to do so or go through a formal rulemaking process.

Read More: Court Rebukes EPA for Shelving Obama-Era Methane Regulation

Emily Hammond, a law professor at George Washington University, said the judges were putting agencies on notice that the court would carefully scrutinize their justifications for delaying rules. The message: "You must meet statutory criteria, and if you dont, well hold what you did unlawful," she said.

The ruling is especially notable because that Washington-based appeals court hears the bulk of regulatory cases, and is poised to be the arbiter in other delay-related challenges to come. State attorneys general, environmentalists and good government activists have filed lawsuits challenging at least five other regulatory delays.

Attorneys general in 18 states and the District of Columbia last week filed a lawsuit challenging a decision by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to put on hold portions of a regulation designed to protect student borrowers who attended for-profit colleges.Just Wednesday, environmental groups filed a challenge to the EPAs one-year delay of ozone pollution requirements. And farm workers are fighting an EPA delay of requirements that people applying certain high-risk pesticides receive training and be certified.

Some factors discourage legal action: Lawsuits move slowly and, in some cases, it may take so long to litigate over a delay that the argument becomes moot. Some delays were set for 60 or 90 days, others are for a year or are indefinite. The number of delays also forces would-be challengers with limited resources to pick their battles.

To be sure, Trumps predecessor, Barack Obama, was an active rulemaker. He finalized 90 major, economically significant regulations in his final year -- some rushed through in the weeks before Trump was inaugurated.

The Trump administration has cited an array of legal authorities and rationales to support delays.

When the Department of Transportation postponed a rule requiring more airlines report lost or damaged baggage and wheelchairs, regulators made no secret of their goal to protect airlines: "Industry is facing challenges with parts of this regulation and needs more time to implement it," the department said.

And when the EPA said it was giving farmers at least a year more to comply with the pesticide application rule, the agency blamed a staffing shortage: "EPA still has only one Senate-confirmed official," it said in June.

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The Trump administration cited a provision of the Administrative Procedure Act that gives agencies limited authority to forgo notice and comment periods if there is "good cause" to find that compliance would be impractical or contrary to the public interest. And the agencies turned to a section authorizing postponements if "justice so requires" because pending litigation against the regulation is likely to succeed.

The variance suggests agencies may be trying different approaches to see what sticks,said Georgetown Law professor Lisa Heinzerling, an EPA official in the Obama administration.

"Their legal reasoning in some of these cases is so bare bones that it just seems experimental," she said.

The administration may be trying to prevent companies from spending money to comply with requirements that are destined for the trash bin.After all, power plant owners howled when they were forced to buy equipment limiting mercury pollution under a 2012 mandate only to later see the Supreme Court order the rule be reassessed.

But the rapid regulatory pivots can carry costs, too. In February, Trumps Interior Department told companies they need not follow an Obama rule that changed how they report the value of oil and gas unearthed from public land -- after it had gone into effect.Companies that had already changed their accounting systems to comply were given until August to revert back.

The U.S. regulatory framework is designed to protect against just those kinds of shifts, said James Goodwin, a senior policy analyst with the liberal Center for Progressive Reform.

"So much of the broader fabric of administrative law is pointed toward finality," Goodwin said. "And once the rulemaking process has been finalized, the way you promote regulatory certainty is the process ends, and thats when enforcement and compliance begins."

Here is the original post:
Trump Tests Legal Limits by Delaying Dozens of Obama's Rules - Bloomberg

On another dreary, drizzly morning in Washington, weeks after the election, a fog stubbornly refuses to lift, perhaps knowing it is the perfect metaphor. If you were filming the sad morning-after-a-breakup scene in a Hollywood movie, the only missing element would be the wistful Sia or Aimee Mann soundtrack. I want to meet those doing the everyday work of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.

It turns out that the Democratic Governors Association, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee are all largely headquartered in a Band-Aid-colored building on I Street with angular rows of windows that resemble a partly folded map or an accordion. All of which seems apt, of course, for a party that has been played like one and which badly needs to stop the bleeding and find direction.

I expect the gloom, or at least some dazed disbelief, to permeate the offices, but the mood inside the Democrats strategy sanctum feels business-as-usual. Theres no crying at the Keurig, no red wine bottles piled high in the recycling, no wingtip-sized holes in the wall from an election-night tantrum. I find this oddly disappointing. The legislative chambers these organizations are tasked to flip remained torture chambers in 2016. The party invested millions down-ballot in 2016, and focused on key redistricting states like Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina and Wisconsin. They hoped that high Democratic turnout in a presidential year would color more states blue and propel them toward the 2018 midterms and the crucial 2020 elections. Their confidence proved misplaced.

Nancy Pelosi vowed that Democrats would win the 30 seats necessary to take back the House. They won 6. The DLCC excited by an aggressive 150 down-ballot endorsements by President Obama predicted theyd flip as many as 13 chambers their way. They did capture 3, aided by large Latino turnout: Nevadas House and senate and New Mexicos House. But that merely offset the loss of the Kentucky House and the senate in Iowa and Minnesota. Republicans even created a startling senate deadlock in azure-blue Connecticut (a Democratic lieutenant governor will break the tie). Democrats also tried to swipe a page from the REDMAP playbook and spent intensely on 32 state legislative seats in key redistricting states, again with the goal of steady gains building toward 2020. BLUEMAP did not go well, either: Democrats lost all the targeted races in Ohio and Wisconsin, spun just one seat their way in Michigan, and took two of four in both Pennsylvania and Florida. North Carolina proved more welcoming; Democrats won three of four targeted races but gained little headway. The GOP supermajorities remained intact.

This creates a daunting landscape, especially in the swing states where Democrats must make gains if they want even a seat at the table after the 2020 census. In Ohio, the GOP edge is 6633 in the House and 249 in the senate. Michigan is nearly as steep: 6347 for Republicans in the House and 2711 in the senate. Republicans widened their largest advantage in sixty years in Wisconsins lower chamber to 6435 and boast 20 of 33 senate seats. Floridas majorities look just as difficult to topple a stout 7941 in the House and 2515 in the senate. (Republicans ran unopposed for 16 of the 21 senate seats needed for a majority.) The flipping-chambers approach has also gotten more expensive: REDMAP helped the GOP retake Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin for $1 million. Now a single state House district in Minnesota can cost that much to flip. Thats not a Moneyball bargain any longer.

Enter a new team of Democratic strategists: DGA executive director Elisabeth Pearson, House Majority PAC president Ali Lapp and DLCC executive director Jessica Post. They are the leaders of the NDRC, and weve gathered to discuss what went wrong in 2016, what lessons were learned, and what the party might try next. The architecture of the Democrats plan looks a lot like REDMAP: the NDRC will serve as an umbrella organization to coordinate political and legal efforts by the DGA, DLCC, DCCC and others and, as importantly, convince fundraisers and Democrats nationwide that the partys top priority has to be fixing unbalanced state maps that render even a national Democratic majority a permanent electoral minority.

Democrats have been at a disadvantage in terms of our base and our core donors understanding the impact of state races, said Pearson. If you live in California or New York, where a lot of big donors are, why is it important that theres a Democratic governor in Ohio? We cant look at it the way Republicans looked at it in 2010. Its a mistake to be always fighting the last war.

Post admitted that fighting the last war is the reason why Democrats got caught flatfooted in 2010. She became executive director in January 2016, after watching previous DLCC teams botch the communication and organizing sides. You cant paper over a hot mess with independent spending, she said, and I immediately fall for her candor. We were prepared for the fights of the past. We had lawyers and data and they had late money. We could have done a better job of communicating to stakeholders what 2010 meant. When youre in a legislative world, you assume everyone knows. This is the line! This is Obamas legacy!

Post emphasized the gains in Nevada and New Mexico, a dozen seats won in Kansas, and the huge opportunities created after the 2016 losses and the grass-roots energy that followed as positives from a tough year. Her field operation knocked on 13 million doors. She says they will continue to develop the infrastructure necessary to win. We have a lot of learning to do, she admits. She thought there was a path to flip Michigans House: We did gain one seat there. In Minnesota, we thought there was a path.

In other states, Democrats lack financial parity, which we were not at in Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida, which is an expensive place to play. They have to be staffed earlier. They need to build digital media support. It didnt help, she adds, that its complicated to get solid polling data out of legislative districts in the last days of an election. If we can provide more money to fund the infrastructure from the beginning, to find great candidates, make sure theyre doing their fundraising, their door-knocking thats when we catch up, she says. Were just not there.

Post is enthusiastic and has organized effectively at the grass roots. But its hard not to be troubled about the Democrats preparation when she says, candidly, that the party might not know what it is doing. Were competing in an electoral environment that we dont always understand. Certainly here in D.C., we didnt understand the trends that were going on in states like Ohio, Wisconsin and Iowa. Still, shes optimistic. The Democratic base is furious right now, and theyre looking for outlets. Theyre looking for ways to help. Theyre looking for ways to bring the fight into their state capitals.

One wonders, however, if the party understands how to harness that energy. Pearson also insists that the most recent battle didnt go that poorly, on the governors front. She points to the McCrory knockout in North Carolina, as well as reelected Democratic incumbents in West Virginia and Montana, two states that went for Trump by upwards of 20 points. We protected all our incumbents, she says, omitting that with a record low of Democratic governors, thats an easier task than it used to be. We learned a lot of good lessons about how we continue to be successful. We view this as a four-year cycle. That was year two. Were on our way to year three: Virginia and New Jersey. Then 36 governors races in 2018, including 27 that are Republican. Theres just a huge amount of opportunity. 2018 alone could completely reshape the state political system. The governors map is incredibly encouraging.

Actually, the 2018 governors map might be the only electoral front worth prioritizing, after the partys failure to make any legislative gains in states crucial to redistricting after 2020. Theres not a single chamber in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania or Florida that the Democrats have a realistic chance of retaking in the next two cycles. Those legislatures are responsible for congressional lines that send 55 Republicans and 28 Democrats to Washington. Democrats have no honest chance of taking back the House when blue and purple states are rigged to elect twice as many Republicans as Democrats. (Add Virginia and North Carolina to that group, and you suddenly have 72 Republicans and 35 Democrats representing blue or purple states and the districts that have swung blue in these key states this decade have been when courts found the districts unconstitutional and mandated new maps.)

There is another solution. Governors in those five states have veto power over the maps and all five of those states will elect governors in 2018. In Michigan and Ohio, two-term incumbent Republicans will be term-limited out of office. While new progressive groups like Swing Left imagine riding anti-Trump energy to a blue House in 2018, thats not the most likely path. If Democrats want a seat at the table, this is the most realistic road and must be the highest priority. (Democrats are already struggling on this front: the Republican Governors Association which outraised the DGA by $20 million in 2016 also managed to haul in more money than its Democratic counterpart in the final weeks of 2016: $5.1 million to $2.1 million, according to the Center for Public Integrity. That means Republicans turned Trumps victory into more than twice as much money as Democrats were able to collect from supposedly motivated and fired-up Democrats.)

Yes, they are, agrees Pearson, when I suggest those five races could be the difference between better maps in 2020 and a permanent Democratic minority that extends for another decade. Those are states we can win in. Theyre not red states. These are purple states and open seats, and after eight years of Republican governors, we have a great shot at winning. We have to raise a lot of money and lay the right groundwork. But were feeling incredibly optimistic about this coming cycle. Our plan is to make sure that in every state we have a cycle-by-cycle goal, and that were looking at every single path to a seat at the table or a way to fairer maps.

Lapp, meanwhile, insists that the Democrats 2016 plans were actually on track until FBI director James Comey released his October 28 letter to Congress announcing that the bureau would investigate additional emails relevant to questions over Clintons private server.

The voters that moved at the end all went to Trump, she says. Its very challenging when, two weeks out, you think a district will vote for Hillary Clinton by 18 points, and it turns out she wins it by 3. Any effort to tie congressman so-and-so to Trump is not going to be effective when youre only winning the district by three points. Moving forward, however, we did win in some places where Trump did well and I think that we have some good targets heading into 2018. But the bottom line, she admits, is that in many states north of Pennsylvania that lean Democratic statewide, the disparity in the congressional delegation remains wide and that really is because of the gerrymandering. Thats why its such a priority for us to get better maps next time.

The mix of optimism and confusion surprises me. So I pose to Lapp and Pearson a question thats on the mind of many people: Do Democrats fight tough enough? Do you realize the strategies youre up against, and are you meeting them with the same intensity and resolve? They insist the answer is yes. On the governors side, were there, Pearson says. This is a no-holds-barred fight for the next two years. We had a call with governors the day after the election; Ive never heard any group as fired up and totally motivated. They understand theyre the backstop, and what needs to be done in 2018. Were going to battle and were going to win.

Admittedly, thats a pretty strong halftime speech. Lapp, however, has not been watching Rocky or Hoosiers lately. I think the country just decided that Donald Trump would be its next president, she says. Obviously, we hoped to win more seats, right? We didnt win enough seats in districts where Trump lost. There are specific reasons for that as you go through each district. Sure, I wouldve loved to have done better, but Im happy that we were able to pick up seats at all in an environment that turned out to be extremely challenging for Democrats.

Post offers more enthusiasm, albeit measured: We had some wins. We know what we have to do. Its just a matter of putting our building blocks in place, she says. Democrats do great as underdogs. Were tough. Right? I cant tell if she wants me to answer.

View post:
Can Obama un-rig the GOP's gerrymandered map? Here are the wins the Dems need first - Salon

An Alaska mother is cherishing cellphone photos she snapped of her wide-eyed 6-month-old baby in the arms of former President Barack Obama.

Jolene Jackinsky was at Anchorage International Airport on Monday looking for an airline when she ended up in a waiting area for private flights where a man she thought looked like Obama was sitting.

"As I got closer, I thought: Oh my God, it is Obama," she recalled Friday from Newhalen, a small Alaska village where she's vacationing.

Obama then walked up to her and asked "Who is this pretty girl?"

They chatted about how fast children grow while Obama carried baby Giselle. Jackinsky took a few photos of a smiling Obama carrying Giselle, who was wearing a straw hat with a white ribbon.

Obama told them he was headed home from a vacation, Jackinsky said.

Airport officials were not immediately available Friday evening after work hours to confirm that Obama had stopped there.

When Giselle's father approached, Obama joked, "I'm taking your baby," Jackinsky said.

Giselle was calm and content during the brief encounter, Jackinsky said. "It was only five minutes but it was a moment that will last forever," she said.

She posted the photos on Facebook.

"I think it's unreal and pretty exciting that I get to have a picture with him and my baby," she said. "Not a lot of people get to meet him."

__

Associated Press writer Rachel D'Oro in Anchorage, Alaska, contributed to this report.

Originally posted here:
'Oh my God, it is Obama': Alaska mom, baby meet ex-president ...

Barack Obama is expected to make his return to the campaign trail in the fall, on behalf of Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam. | AP Photo

Barack Obama will make the first official political move of his post-presidency on Thursday, headlining a private fundraiser for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee at a private home in Washington.

The event, which will also be attended by NDRC chair Eric Holder and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, is to support the group hes helping back to coordinate Democratic efforts in state races and lawsuits to push back on Republican success in gerrymandering over many cycles. In many statehouses and Congress, thats left Democrats at a baked-in disadvantage.

Story Continued Below

Obama oversaw massive losses for his party in state legislatures and in the House during his presidency, but has said tackling redistricting is a major political priority after leaving the White House. So far since he walked out of the Oval Office in January, hes been circumspect in his political involvementand aside from releasing several statements in defense of Obamacare, hes kept his political activity to making calls to Democratic National Committee members in support of Tom Perezs chair bid and throwing a steady stream of subtle digs at President Donald Trump in paid and public speeches.

Holder has kept in touch with him about the NDRC plans, and briefed him formally at a meeting in the spring.

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"The National Democratic Redistricting Committee is proud to have the support of President Obama as we work to undo gerrymandering and create fairer representation in our democracy, Holder said.

Obama is expected to make his return to the campaign trail in the fall, on behalf of Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam.

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Obama returns to politics with redistricting group fundraiser ...

Obama will be attendinga fundraiser at a private home in Washington, D.C. hosted by former Attorney General Eric Holder, and that will be attended by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

The National Democratic Redistricting Committee is proud to have the support of President Obama as we work to undo gerrymandering and create fairer representation in our democracy, Holder said, according toPolitico.

Holder is currently leading the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.

According toPolitico,Obama is expected to make his return to the campaign trail in the fall, on behalf of Ralph Northam, who is running for governor in Virginia.Northam is part of the anti-Trump and resist movement.

The fundraiser is reportedly a small, private event and is the only political event currently on Obamas schedule. It will focus on redistricting efforts that are in tow with the Democratic Partys plans to mobilize at state levels in order to secure Obamas already hindered legacy.

Shortly after she lost the 2016 election and conceded, Hillary Clinton apologized to Obama for failing to continue his legacy.

Mr. President, Im sorry, Clinton reportedly said in the bookShattered: Inside Hillary Clintons Doomed Campaign,written byThe HillsAmie Parnes and Sidewires Jonathan Allen.

Another part of the book reads, Obamas legacy and her dreams of the Presidency lay shattered at Donald Trumps feet. This was on her. Reluctantly she rose from her seat and took the phone. Mr President, she said softly. Im sorry.

However, a group of at least 20 alumni of the Obama administration are running for political office throughout the United States in an attempt to save Obamas legacy.

Breitbart News previously reported that in California, a deep blue state that has voted for the Democrat in every presidential election since 1992, is seen as the headquarters of the so called Resistance movementprogressives have waged against President Trump.

Adelle Nazarian is a politics and national security reporter for Breitbart News. Follow her onFacebookandTwitter.

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He's Back: Obama Makes First Political Appearance Since ...