D.C. Circuit Strikes Blow to Leverage Policymaking

William YeatmanDuring the Obama administration, an unfortunate innovation in executive power was “leverage policymaking,” by which I mean that regulatory agencies would use individual transactions —such as enforcement or licensing actions—to achieve broad policy results.Examples will help explain this concept.In 2011, afterpromising to put one million electric cars on the road, the Obama administrationrequested $300 million in appropriations to spend on infrastructure for “zero emissions vehicles.” Congress demurred. Five years later, President Obama again sought such federal spending for the “21st Century Transportation Initiative”; once more, Congress refused. Then, in the summer of 2016, the Department of Justice, Environmental Protection Agency, and Volkswagenreached a judicial settlement to partially resolve the automaker ’s Clean Air Act violations associated with the “defeat device” scandal. The consent decree included a stipulation for an EPA ‐​approved plan to spend $1.2 billion over ten years “to support increased use of zero emission vehicle technology” Having failed to persuade Congress, the administration achieved the same result through regulatory enforcement!Next, consider net neutrality, the ultra ‐​divisive issue of whether internet service providers must treat data on a non ‐​discriminatory basis. Congress consideredmultiple net neutrality bills during the Obama administration, but none passed. Nevert...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs