Oil Spill Assistance, Immigration Crackdown and Money for Nothing
The White House refused to allow foreign ships to assist with cleanup of the BP oil spill.
Arizona’s immigration crack-down inspires a public referendum on local enforcement of immigration status in Nebraska.
A post office labor dispute allows employees to get paid for doing nothing.
1. ENVIRONMENT
The White House refused to allow foreign ships to assist with cleanup of the BP oil spill.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Counsel Hans Bader on bureaucratic barriers to cleaning up the Gulf.
“The Obama Administration recently used red tape to force Louisiana to stop using 16 barges that were cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico by sucking thousands of gallons of oil out of Louisiana’s oil-soaked waters. Earlier, it delayed the clean-up of the Gulf of Mexico by months, by blocking foreign crews from operating sophisticated clean-up vessels. The Jones Act bans foreign vessels and crews from working in U.S. waters, but it gives the president the authority to completely waive that ban if he wishes. Obama refused to lift the ban, even though American shippers who generally support the ban said they wouldn’t object to lifting it to fight the spill.”
2. IMMIGRATION
Arizona’s immigration crack-down inspires a public referendum on local enforcement of immigration status in Nebraska.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Policy Analyst Alex Nowrasteh on taking a realistic approach to the immigration issue:
“There are currently 10.8 million illegal immigrants in the United States, of whom the vast majority has not committed any crime. Their primary offense has been to circumvent our complex immigration laws. Almost all likely would have entered legally given a reasonable option. Immigrants will continue to come to the United States no matter how strict the border controls because of the enormous opportunities only found here. That is a fact. It is also a fact that the government cannot regulate an underground economy. A way the government could actually regulate these immigrants, and exclude the few that are actual security threats, is to expand the avenues for legal immigration. That will decrease the number of illegal immigrants and instead channel them into a legal market where security can be more effective.”
3. LABOR
A post office labor dispute allows employees to get paid for doing nothing.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Journalism Fellow Ryan Young on the perverse incentives of union work rules.
“They can’t be fired because of union rules. So they come to the office and take naps, play cards, and fill out coloring books. And get paid for it.”