State of the Union: Last Chance for Bush
Washington, D.C., January 28, 2008—As President Bush prepares to deliver his last State of the Union address before Congress, both the White House and leaders on Capitol Hill are facing the prospects of having to work more closely in order to pass any meaningful legislation before the election.
The 110th Congress has already passed several significant bills, ranging from water resources to minimum wage to energy policy. Most of these major new laws, unfortunately, have expanded the power of government and its use of taxpayer dollars. That’s why the Competitive Enterprise Institute has presented a free market agenda for government reform for both Democrats and Republicans.
“During the last Congress, the Republican majority massively expanded the federal government—and voters reacted negatively,” said Competitive Enterprise Institute Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews. “Now that the Democrats have been in power, we see that their record so far has not much better. Hopefully, both parties can come together over the next several months to reform some of the worst excesses of the bloated federal government.”
Key elements of CEI’s proposal for Congress include:
Securing the Economy
l Rein in the $1 Trillion Regulatory State
l Reform U.S. Agriculture Programs
l Roll Back Overly Aggressive Sarbanes-Oxley Accounting Rules
l Make Stock Options Available to More Workers
l Recognize the Value of Hedge Funds and Private Equity for Entrepreneurs and Shareholders
l Encourage Innovation in Credit Availability
l Facilitate Further Telecommunications Reform
l Improve Access to Affordable Energy
l Allow American Workers to Work Without Labor Regulation
l Avoid Extension of Antitrust Regulation into New Competitive Realms
l Avoid Privacy Regulation that Worsens Personal Security
l Forge a Bipartisan Alliance Against Corporate Welfare
l Liberalize Insurance Markets
l Keep Government’s Hands off the Net and E-Commerce
l Clarify the Role of Not-So-Intellectual Property in the Economy
l Define Corporate Social Responsibility
l Protect and Enhance Federalism
l Protect Free Speech by Rejecting Content Regulation
l Promote Globalization’s Benefits by Further Liberalizing Trade
l Counteract Politicization of Federal Science Policy
l Resist New Burdens on the Transportation Sector
l Facilitate Electricity Competition
Protecting the Environment
l Restore the Constitutional Right to Property
l Embrace Private Conservation of Land and Natural Resources
l Protect Endangered Species
l Clarify the Role of Invasive Species
l Develop New Approaches to Preserve Ocean Resources
l Recognize the Risks of Global Warming Policies
l Trash Counterproductive Waste Disposal Policies
l Recognize the Elitist Nature of “Anti-Sprawl” Measures
l Resist the Urge to Play the Fuel Economy Mandate Game
l Rethink Water Rights Policies
l Reform Wetlands Policies
Improving Health and Safety
l Reject the Precautionary Principle, a Threat to Scientific Progress
l Recognize the Deadly Effects of Overregulating Medicines and Medical Devices
l Purify Federal Water Policies
l Enhance Auto Safety
l Improve Food Safety and Labeling
l Secure the Future of Food Biotechnology
l Resist Over-Caution on Nanotechnology and Other Frontier Sciences
l Enhance the Homeland Security Role of Critical Infrastructure and Cybersecurity
CEI Policy Experts Available for Interviews
Business & Economics
Eli Lehrer
Senior Fellow
202-615-0586 – [email protected]
John Berlau
Director, Center for Entrepreneurship
202-415-3192 – [email protected]
Energy & Environment
Myron Ebell
Director of Energy Policy
202-320-6685 – [email protected]
Marlo Lewis
Senior Fellow
202-669-6693 – [email protected]
Health & Safety
Sam Kazman
General Counsel
202-331-2265 – [email protected]
Gregory Conko
Senior Fellow
202-331-2253 – [email protected]
Technology
Wayne Crews
Vice President for Policy
202-251-4298 – [email protected]
Cord Blomquist
Technology Policy Analyst
202-331-2282 – [email protected]
CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government. For more information about CEI, please visit our website at www.cei.org.