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1. GDA-109 Department of Justice, he assisted with the development of regulatory policy and with the nominations of Justice Neil Gorsuch and dozens of other judges. .

2. GDA-122 He focuses on securities regulation, tax policy, business law, entrepreneurship, administrative law, financial privacy, the U.S. .

3. GDA-123 Department of Commerce, corporate welfare, international investment, international information sharing, the U.S. .

4. GDA-126 Chamber of Commerce's Tax Policy Center. .

5. GDA-129 His scholarly research focuses on telecommunication, antitrust, and Internet issues. .

6. GDA-155 During his tenure as Acting Deputy Secretary, Ken also served as the Chief Regulatory Officer for the Department of Homeland Security. .

7. GDA-167 economy, the federal budget, taxation, tax competition, and cronyism. .

8. GDA-183 Tom is the former CEO of Chrysler Financial and has had a 40-plus year career as a senior executive and entrepreneur in the global automotive industry, including roles at Chrysler Corporation, Cerberus Capital Management, Asbury Automotive Group, TD Auto Finance, and Automotive Capital Services. .

9. GDA-213 Educated at the Catholic University of America and North Carolina State University, he has written on telecommunications, privacy, environmental, antitrust, and consumer protection regulation as well as trade policy and the design of regulatory systems. .

10. GDA-214 Kent's policy research and advocacy have taken him to 45 state capitals, more than a dozen countries, and deep into the heart of the federal regulatory state. .

11. GDA-216 McNamee is an energy and regulatory attorney with a major law firm and was formerly a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. .

12. GDA-218 In addition to serving as a Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner, McNamee has served in various senior policy and legal positions throughout his career, including at the U.S. .

13. GDA-281 A longtime conservative leader on Capitol Hill, Russ served in President Trump's Cabinet as Director of the Office of Management and Budget, where he oversaw the implementation of the presidential budget, key policies on deregulation, and a landmark effort to eliminate critical race theory and other radical ideologies in executive agencies. .

14. GDA-289 He served as Chairman of the Board and CEO of Allied Capital Corporation, a $6 billion NYSE-traded private investment firm, from 1997 to 2010. .

15. GDA-331 Moley Caitlin Moon, American Center for Law & Justice David Moore, Brigham Young University Law School Clare Morell, Ethics and Public Policy Center Mark Morgan, The Heritage Foundation Hunter Morgen, American Cornerstone Institute Rachel Morrison, Ethics and Public Policy Center Jonathan Moy, The Heritage Foundation Iain Murray, Competitive Enterprise Institute Ryan Nabil, National Taxpayers Union Michael Nasi, Jackson Walker LLP Lucien Niemeyer, The Niemeyer Group, LLC Nazak Nikakhtar, Wiley Rein LLP Milan "Mitch"� Nikolich Matt O'Brien, Immigration Reform Law Institute Caleb Orr, Boyden Gray & Associates Michael Pack Leah Pedersen Michael Pillsbury, The Heritage Foundation Patrick Pizzella, Leadership Institute Robert Poole, Reason Foundation Kevin Preskenis, Allymar Health Solutions Pam Pryor, National Committee for Religious Freedom Thomas Pyle, Institute for Energy Research John Ratcliffe, American Global Strategies Paul Ray, The Heritage Foundation Joseph Reddan, Flexilis Forestry, LLC Jay W. .

16. GDA-335 Schaefer, The Heritage Foundation Nina Owcharenko Schaefer, The Heritage Foundation Matt Schuck, American Cornerstone Institute Justin Schwab, CGCN Law Jon Schweppe, American Principles Project Marc Scribner, Reason Foundation Darin Selnick, Selnick Consulting Josh Sewell, Taxpayers for Common Sense Kathleen Sgamma, Western Energy Alliance Matt Sharp, Alliance Defending Freedom Judy Shelton, Independent Institute Nathan Simington Loren Smith, Skyline Policy Risk Group Zack Smith, The Heritage Foundation Jack Spencer, The Heritage Foundation Adrienne Spero, U.S. .

17. GDA-386 4. Secure our God-given individual rights to live freely --- what our Constitution calls "the Blessings of Liberty."� What makes these four pieces of the conservative promise so valuable to the next President is that they cut through superficial distractions and focus on the moral and foundational challenges America faces in this moment of history. .

18. GDA-394 PROMISE #1: RESTORE THE FAMILY AS THE CENTERPIECE OF AMERICAN LIFE AND PROTECT OUR CHILDREN. .

19. GDA-419 Some are obvious and long-standing goals like eliminating marriage penalties in federal welfare programs and the tax code and installing work requirements for food stamps. .

20. GDA-421 It's time for policymakers to elevate family authority, formation, and cohesion as their top priority and even use government power, including through the tax code, to restore the American family. .

21. GDA-422 Today the Left is threatening the tax-exempt status of churches and charities that reject woke progressivism. .

22. GDA-425 This starts with deleting the terms sexual orientation and gender identity ("SOGI"�), diversity, equity, and inclusion ("DEI"�), gender, gender equality, gender equity, gender awareness, gender-sensitive, abortion, reproductive health, reproductive rights, and any other term used to deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights out of every federal rule, agency regulation, contract, grant, regulation, and piece of legislation that exists. .

23. GDA-441 For public institutions to use taxpayer dollars to declare the superiority or inferiority of certain races, sexes, and religions is a violation of the Constitution and civil rights law and cannot be tolerated by any government anywhere in the country. .

24. GDA-450 Wade, a decision that for five decades made a mockery of our Constitution and facilitated the deaths of tens of millions of unborn children. .

25. GDA-457 PROMISE #2: DISMANTLE THE ADMINISTRATIVE STATE AND RETURN SELF-GOVERNANCE TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. .

26. GDA-458 Of course, the surest way to put the federal government back to work for the American people is to reduce its size and scope back to something resembling the original constitutional intent. .

27. GDA-460 But the Washington Establishment doesn't want a constitutionally limited government because it means they lose power and are held more accountable by the people who put them in power. .

28. GDA-461 Like restoring popular sovereignty, the task of reattaching the federal government's constitutional and democratic tethers calls to mind Ronald Reagan's observation that "there are no easy answers, but there are simple answers."� In the case of making the federal government smaller, more effective, and accountable, the simple answer is the Constitution itself. .

29. GDA-462 The surest proof of this is how strenuously and creatively generations of progressives and many Republican insiders have worked to cut themselves free from the strictures of the 1789 Constitution and subsequent amendments. .

30. GDA-477 Under Article I of the Constitution, "All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives."� That is, federal law is enacted only by elected legislators in both houses of Congress. .

31. GDA-480 Under our Constitution, the legislative branch --- Congress --- is far and away the most powerful and, correspondingly, the most accountable to the people. .

32. GDA-486 The federal government is growing larger and less constitutionally accountable --- even to the President --- every year. .

33. GDA-490 Colleges and school districts are funded by tax dollars. .

34. GDA-491 The Administrative State holds 100 percent of its power at the sufferance of Congress, and its insulation from presidential discipline is an unconstitutional fairy tale spun by the Washington Establishment to protect its turf. .

35. GDA-492 Members of Congress shield themselves from constitutional accountability often when the White House allows them to get away with it. .

36. GDA-494 Let's be clear: The most egregious regulations promulgated by the current Administration come from one place: the Oval Office. .

37. GDA-495 The President cannot hide behind the agencies; as his many executive orders make clear, his is the responsibility for the regulations that threaten American communities, schools, and families. .

38. GDA-497 Properly considered, restoring fiscal limits and constitutional accountability to the federal government is a continuation of restoring national sovereignty to the American people. .

39. GDA-504 But in the meantime, there are many executive tools a courageous conservative President can use to handcuff the bureaucracy, push Congress to return to its constitutional responsibility, restore power over Washington to the American people, bring the Administrative State to heel, and in the process defang and defund the woke culture warriors who have infiltrated every last institution in America. .

40. GDA-505 The Conservative Promise lays out how to use many of these tools including: how to fire supposedly "un-fireable"� federal bureaucrats; how to shutter wasteful and corrupt bureaus and offices; how to muzzle woke propaganda at every level of government; how to restore the American people's constitutional authority over the Administrative State; and how to save untold taxpayer dollars in the process. .

41. GDA-513 But those institutions are only powerful to the extent that constitutional officers surrender their own legitimate authority to them. .

42. GDA-514 A President who refuses to do so and uses his or her office to reimpose constitutional authority over federal policymaking can begin to correct decades of corruption and remove thousands of bureaucrats from the positions of public trust they have so long abused. .

43. GDA-515 PROMISE #3: DEFEND OUR NATION'S SOVEREIGNTY, BORDERS, AND BOUNTY AGAINST GLOBAL THREATS. .

44. GDA-523 But too often, these terms are just rhetorical Trojan horses concealing their true intention --- stripping "we the people"� of our constitutional authority over our country's future. .

45. GDA-524 America's corporate and political elites do not believe in the ideals to which our nation is dedicated --- self-governance, the rule of law, and ordered liberty. .

46. GDA-525 They certainly do not trust the American people, and they disdain the Constitution's restrictions on their ambitions. .

47. GDA-526 Instead, they believe in a kind of 21st century Wilsonian order in which the "enlightened,"� highly educated managerial elite runs things rather than the humble, patriotic working families who make up the majority of what the elites contemptuously call "fly-over country."� This Wilsonian hubris has spread like a cancer through many of America's largest corporations, its public institutions, and its popular culture. .

48. GDA-527 Those who run our so-called American corporations have bent to the will of the woke agenda and care more for their foreign investors and organizations than their American workers and customers. .

49. GDA-531 But under our Constitution, they are the mere equals of the workers who shower after work instead of before. .

50. GDA-545 Indeed, the only direct impact of open borders on pro-open borders elites is that the constant flow of illegal immigration suppresses the wages of their housekeepers, landscapers, and busboys. .

51. GDA-558 It has made a handful of American corporations enormously profitable while twisting their business incentives away from the American people's needs. .

52. GDA-564 And all along, the corporations profiting failed to export our values of human rights and freedom; rather, they imported China's anti-American values into their C-suites. .

53. GDA-573 In exchange for cheap labor and regulatory special treatment from Beijing, America's largest technology firms funnel data about Americans to the CCP. .

54. GDA-576 They let the CCP set their corporate policies about mobile apps. .

55. GDA-584 Through the CCP's Confucius Institutes, Beijing has been just as successful at compromising and coopting our higher education system as they have at compromising and coopting corporate America. .

56. GDA-588 These are problems not of technocratic efficiency but of national sovereignty and constitutional governance. .

57. GDA-590 International organizations and agreements that erode our Constitution, rule of law, or popular sovereignty should not be reformed: They should be abandoned. .

58. GDA-591 Illegal immigration should be ended, not mitigated; the border sealed, not reprioritized. .

59. GDA-606 PROMISE #4 SECURE OUR GOD-GIVEN INDIVIDUAL RIGHT TO ENJOY "THE BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY."� The Declaration of Independence famously asserted the belief of America's Founders that "all men are created equal"� and endowed with God-given rights to "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."� It's the last --- "the pursuit of Happiness"� --- that is central to America's heroic experiment in self-government. .

60. GDA-608 Our Constitution grants each of us the liberty to do not what we want, but what we ought. .

61. GDA-617 With the Declaration and Constitution, our nation's Founders handed to us the means with which to preserve this right. .

62. GDA-618 Abraham Lincoln wrote of the Declaration as an "apple of gold"� in a silver frame, the Constitution. .

63. GDA-650 So as the American people take back their sovereignty, constitutional authority, respect for their families and communities, they should also take back their right to pursue the good life. .

64. GDA-652 Yes, that agenda should include overdue tax and regulatory reform, but it should go further and include antitrust enforcement against corporate monopolies. .

65. GDA-654 Just as important as expanding opportunities for workers and small businesses, the next President should crack down on the crony capitalist corruption that enables America's largest corporations to profit through political influence rather than competitive enterprise and customer satisfaction. .

66. GDA-667 In the past decade, though, the breakdown of the family, the rise of China, the Great Awokening, Big Tech's abuses, and the erosion of constitutional accountability in Washington have rendered these divisions not just inconvenient but politically suicidal. .

67. GDA-668 Every hour the Left directs federal policy and elite institutions, our sovereignty, our Constitution, our families, and our freedom are a step closer to disappearing. .

68. GDA-689 Section One TAKING THE REINS OF GOVERNMENT A merica's Bicentennial, which culminated on July 4, 1976, was a spirited and unifying celebration of our country, its Founding, and its ideals. .

69. GDA-693 They believe in the Constitution and republican government. .

70. GDA-695 Just two years after the death of the last surviving Constitutional Convention delegate, James Madison, Abraham Lincoln warned that the greatest threat to America would come not from without, but from within. .

71. GDA-699 Article II of the Constitution vests all federal executive power in a President, made accountable to the citizenry through regular elections. .

72. GDA-703 As Donald Devine, Dennis Kirk, and Paul Dans write in Chapter 3, "An autonomous bureaucracy has neither independent constitutional status nor separate moral legitimacy."� Byzantine personnel rules provide the bureaucrats with their chief means of self-protection. .

73. GDA-705 As Devine, Kirk, and Dans write, "Managing the immense bureaucracy of the federal government is impossible without an understanding of the key central personnel agencies and their governing laws and regulations."� Many of these laws and regulations governing a largely underworked, overcompensated, and unaccountable federal civilian workforce are so irrational that they would be comical in a less important context. .

74. GDA-707 Only in the federal government could an applicant in the hiring process be sent to the front of the line because of a "history of drug addiction"� or "alcoholism,"� or due to "morbid obesity,"� "irritable bowel syndrome,"� or a "psychiatric disorder."� The next Administration should insist that the federal government's hiring, evaluation, retention, and compensation practices benefit taxpayers, rather than benefiting the lowest rung of the federal workforce. .

75. GDA-715 Above all, the President and those who serve under him or her must be committed to the Constitution and the rule of law. .

76. GDA-716 This is particularly true of a conservative Administration, which knows that the President is there to uphold the Constitution, not the other way around. .

77. GDA-717 If a conservative Administration does not respect the Constitution, no Administration will. .

78. GDA-718 In Chapter 1, former deputy chief of staff to the President Rick Dearborn writes that the White House Counsel "must take seriously the duty to protect the powers and privileges of the President from encroachments by Congress, the judiciary, and the administrative components of departments and agencies."� Equally important, the President must enforce the Constitution and laws as written, rather than proclaiming new "law"� unilaterally. .

79. GDA-723 Vought writes that "the modern executive branch"�writes federal policy, enforces that policy, and often adjudicates whether that policy was properly drafted and enforced."� He describes this as "constitutionally dire"� and "in urgent need of repair,"� adding: "Nothing less than the survival of self-governance in America is at stake."� When it comes to ensuring that freedom can flourish, nothing is more important than deconstructing the centralized administrative state. .

80. GDA-731 The Constitution gives the "executive Power"� to the President.1 It designates him as "Commander in Chief"�2 and gives him the responsibility to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed."�3 It further prescribes that the President might seek the assistance of "the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments."�4 Beginning with George Washington, every President has been supported by some form of White House office consisting of direct staff officers as well as a Cabinet comprised of department and agency heads. .

81. GDA-804 The assistant and associate attorneys are often specialists in particular areas of the law and offer guidance to the EOP on issues related to national security, criminal law, environmental law, and a host of administrative and regulatory matters. .

82. GDA-805 Attorneys working in the Office of White House Counsel serve as legal advisers to the White House policy operation by reviewing executive orders, agency regulations, and other policy-related functions. .

83. GDA-809 Rather, it should function more as an activist yet ethical plaintiffs' firm that advocates for its client --- the Administration's agenda --- within the limits imposed by the Constitution and the duties of the legal profession. .

84. GDA-813 The White House Counsel also works closely with the DOJ Office of Legal Counsel to seek opinions on, for example, matters of policy development and the constitutionality of presidential power and privileges and with OLA and the DOJ Office of Legal Policy on presidential judicial nominees. .

85. GDA-822 The President should choose a White House Counsel who is well-versed in the Constitution, administrative and regulatory law, and the inner workings of Congress and the political process. .

86. GDA-824 Moreover, while a candidate with elite credentials might seem ideal, the best one will be above all loyal to the President and the Constitution. .

87. GDA-901 In addition, whatever one's view of the constitutionality of various civil service rules (for example, the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 19986) might be, it is necessary to ensure that departments and agencies have robust cadres of political staff just below senior levels in the event of unexpected vacancies. .

88. GDA-994 While other chapters will cover specific policy goals for each department or agency, incoming policy councils will need to move rapidly to lead policy processes around cross-cutting agency topics, including countering China, enforcing immigration laws, reversing regulatory policies in order to promote energy production, combating the Left's aggressive attacks on life and religious liberty, and confronting "wokeism"� throughout the federal government. .

89. GDA-1004 The Director is supported by a staff of policy experts in various fields, including infrastructure, manufacturing, research and development, agriculture, small business, financial regulation, housing, technology and innovation, and fiscal policy. .

90. GDA-1010 Those who have served in the role have ranged from former CEOs of the nation's largest investment firms to financial-services industry managers to seasoned congressional staffers who have managed the economic policy issues for top financial and tax-writing committees. .

91. GDA-1018 In addition, DPC SAPs should demonstrate a working knowledge of the rulemaking process (although they need not necessarily be experts on regulation) because a working knowledge of the rulemaking process will facilitate the DPC's effectiveness in coordinating Administration policy. .

92. GDA-1020 This includes working with the Office of Management and Budget and its Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs as well as the Council of Economic Advisers, Council on Environmental Quality, and Office of Science and Technology Policy. .

93. GDA-1052 Constitution, art. .

94. GDA-1053 II, § 1, https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/article-2/ (accessed February 14, 2023). .

95. GDA-1055 Constitution, art. .

96. GDA-1058 Constitution, art. .

97. GDA-1061 Constitution, art. .

98. GDA-1088 Constitution makes it abundantly clear that "[t]he executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America."�1 That enormous power is not vested in departments or agencies, in staff or administrative bodies, in nongovernmental organizations or other equities and interests close to the government. .

99. GDA-1092 This challenge is created and exacerbated by factors like Congress's decades-long tendency to delegate its lawmaking power to agency bureaucracies, the pervasive notion of expert "independence"� that protects so-called expert authorities from scrutiny, the presumed inability to hold career civil servants accountable for their performance, and the increasing reality that many agencies are not only too big and powerful, but also increasingly weaponized against the public and a President who is elected by the people and empowered by the Constitution to govern. .

100. GDA-1095 The overall situation is constitutionally dire, unsustainably expensive, and in urgent need of repair. .

101. GDA-1100 The effectiveness of those EOP levers depends on the fundamental premise that it is the President's agenda that should matter to the departments and agencies that operate under his constitutional authority and that, as a general matter, it is the President's chosen advisers who have the best sense of the President's aims and intentions, both with respect to the policies he intends to enact and with respect to the interests that must be secured to govern successfully on behalf of the American people. .

102. GDA-1103 OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET (OMB) OMB assists the President in the execution of his policy agenda across the government by employing many statutory and executive procedural levers to bring the bureaucracy in line with all budgetary, regulatory, and management decisions. .

103. GDA-1105 OMB's key roles include: l Developing and enforcing the President's budget and executing the appropriations laws that fund the government; l Managing agency and personnel performance, procurement policy, financial management, and information technology; l Developing the President's regulatory agenda, reviewing new regulatory actions, reviewing federal information collections, and setting and enforcing federal information policy; and l Coordinating and clearing agency communications with Congress, including testimonies and views on draft legislation. .

104. GDA-1117 This process, whereby agencies come to OMB for allotments of appropriated funding, is essential to the effective financial stewardship of taxpayer dollars. .

105. GDA-1129 In general, the Director should empower a strong Deputy Director with authority over the Deputy for Management, the PADs, and the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) to work diligently to break down barriers within OMB and not allow turf disputes or a lack of visibility to undermine the agency's principal budget, management, and regulatory functions. .

106. GDA-1150 The principle may occasionally yield to other overarching requirements, such as a presidential regulatory budget, but in nearly all cases, administrative PAYGO plays a unique and indispensable role in enforcing fiscal responsibility at federal departments and agencies. .

107. GDA-1163 This office plays a critical role in leading the development of new policies and regulations concerning federal contracting and procurement. .

108. GDA-1164 Through the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, which is generally chaired by the OFPP Administrator, OFPP helps the Director to set a wide range of policies for all of those who contract with the executive branch. .

109. GDA-1166 This office should be engaged early and often in OMB's effort to drive policy, including by obtaining transparency about entities that are awarded federal contracts and grants and by using government contracts to push back against woke policies in corporate America. .

110. GDA-1175 It should be part of efforts to save precious taxpayer resources. .

111. GDA-1177 This office guides the federal government's use and adoption of Internet- based technologies to improve government operations and save taxpayer money. .

112. GDA-1183 Regulatory and Information Policy. .

113. GDA-1184 OMB's OIRA plays an enormous and vital role in reining in the regulatory state and ensuring that regulations achieve important benefits while imposing minimal burdens on Americans. .

114. GDA-1185 The President should maintain Executive Order (EO) 12866,4 the foundation of OIRA's review of regulatory actions. .

115. GDA-1186 The Administration should likewise maintain the recent extension of those standards to regulatory actions of the U.S. .

116. GDA-1187 Department of the Treasury.5 Regulatory analysis and OIRA review should also be required of the historically "independent"� agencies as the Office of Legal Counsel has found is legally permissible.6 If the current Administration proceeds with its declared intent to modify aspects of EO 12866 or review OMB Circular A-4,7 the related document that provides the foundation for cost-benefit analysis, the next President should immediately begin to undo those changes and develop a rigorous, data-driven approach that will result in the least burdensome rules possible. .

117. GDA-1189 Because OIRA review often leads to fewer regulatory burdens, more regulatory benefits, and better coordination of regulatory policy, funding for OIRA tends to pay large dividends. .

118. GDA-1192 The budget should also include sufficient full-time equivalent (FTE) employees to form regulatory advance teams that would consult with agencies on cost-benefit analysis and good regulatory practices at the beginning of the rulemaking process for the most important regulations. .

119. GDA-1193 These teams would help agencies take cost-benefit analysis into account from the beginning of their rulemaking efforts, which in turn would result in higher-quality regulations and a swifter eventual OIRA review. .

120. GDA-1195 The next President should also reinstate the many executive orders signed by President Trump that were designed to make the regulatory process more just, efficient, and transparent. .

121. GDA-1197 Executive Order 1313217 on federalism should be strengthened so that state regulatory and fiscal operations are not commandeered by the federal government through so-called cooperative federalism programs. .

122. GDA-1200 Regulatory cooperation agreements can also promote the further adoption of good regulatory practices, which improve market conditions for America and her allies. .

123. GDA-1203 The next President should work with Congress to pass significant regulatory policy and process reforms, which could go a long way toward reining in the administrative state. .

124. GDA-1204 Excellent examples of such legislation include the Regulatory Accountability Act,23 SMART Act,24 GOOD Act,25 Early Participation in Regulations Act,26 Unfunded Mandates Accountability and Transparency Act,27 and REINS Act.28 Finally, the next President should work with Congress to maximize the utility of the Congressional Review Act (CRA),29 which allows Congress to undo midnight regulatory actions (including those disguised as "guidance"�) on an accelerated timeline. .

125. GDA-1205 To leverage the CRA's power to the maximum extent, Congress and the President should enact the Midnight Rules Relief Act,30 which would help to ensure that multiple regulatory actions could be packaged and voted on at the same time. .

126. GDA-1206 Immediate and robust use of the CRA would allow the President to focus his rulemaking resources on major new regulatory reforms rather than devoting months or years to undoing the final rulemakings of the Biden Administration. .

127. GDA-1252 Today, this would include (among other topics) taxes, energy and environment, technology, infrastructure, health care, financial services, workforce, agriculture, antitrust and competition policy, and retirement programs. .

128. GDA-1253 NEC's SAPs should have a working knowledge of how the Administration can implement policy through the rulemaking process, although it is not necessary that they be experts on regulation themselves, particularly given OMB's role. .

129. GDA-1266 The NEC also plays a key role in advancing the President's economic agenda by advising the Office of Presidential Personnel on appointments to key economic posts, including positions in financial regulatory agencies. .

130. GDA-1268 The financial regulators are run partly by civil servants (some of whom were political appointees in prior liberal Administrations) who often resist a conservative Administration's policies. .

131. GDA-1272 Another is the creation of an environment that fosters economic growth through tax reform and the elimination of regulatory and procedural barriers. .

132. GDA-1316 Major challenges remain in implementation and regulatory reform to keep up with rapidly evolving space markets and competitors. .

133. GDA-1320 As a result of the President's direction and the Vice President's leadership, the NSpC under the Trump Administration was able to coordinate a wide range of space policy reviews, legislative proposals, and regulatory reforms smoothly. .

134. GDA-1324 l OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Reform updated and streamlined commercial launch licensing and commercial remote sensing satellite rules. .

135. GDA-1339 The OSTP can also help to bring technical expertise to regulatory matters in support of OMB. .

136. GDA-1363 COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY (CEQ) The Council on Environmental Quality is the EOP component with the principal task of administering the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)36 by issuing regulations and interpretive documents and by overseeing the processes of individual permitting agencies' own NEPA regulations, including categorical exclusions. .

137. GDA-1365 The President should instruct the CEQ to rewrite its regulations implementing NEPA along the lines of the historic 2020 effort and restoring its key provisions such as banning the use of cumulative impact analysis. .

138. GDA-1366 This effort should incorporate new learning and more aggressive reform options that were not included in the 2020 reform package with the overall goal of streamlining the process to build on the Supreme Court ruling that "CEQ's interpretation of NEPA is entitled to substantial deference."�37 It should frame the new regulations to limit the scope for judicial review of agency NEPA analysis and judicial remedies, as well as to vindicate the strong public interest in effective and timely agency action. .

139. GDA-1369 The new President should seek to issue a new executive order to create a unified process for major infrastructure projects that includes giving project proponents more control of any regulatory clocks. .

140. GDA-1390 GENDER POLICY COUNCIL (GPC) The President should immediately revoke Executive Order 1402041 and every policy, including subregulatory guidance documents, produced on behalf of or related to the establishment or promotion of the Gender Policy Council and its subsidiary issues. .

141. GDA-1396 OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT (OVP) The Vice President is elected to the second highest office in the nation and plays a constitutionally vital role as President-in-waiting. .

142. GDA-1401 Every other appointed White House official serves at the pleasure of the President, whereas the Vice President is elected, and the process for filling vacancies in that Article II constitutional office, which includes confirmation of a replacement Vice President by a majority of both Houses of Congress, is governed by the Twenty-Fifth Amendment.42 The Vice President has his or her own economic advisers, domestic policy and national security staff, and daily intelligence briefings. .

143. GDA-1409 Vice Presidents Richard Cheney and Dan Quayle were also active on the deregulatory front and in imposing regulatory moratoria. .

144. GDA-1411 For example, the budget and regulatory review processes are linchpins in the execution of policy, and the OVP should have a seat at the table through every phase of policy development. .

145. GDA-1421 Constitution, Article II, Section 1, https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articleii#section1 (accessed January 30, 2023). .

146. GDA-1427 Clinton, Executive Order 12866, "Regulatory Planning and Review,"� September 30, 1993, in Federal Register, Vol. .

147. GDA-1432 McIntosh, General Counsel, Department of the Treasury, and Neomi Rao, Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Memorandum of Agreement, "The Department of the Treasury and the Office of Management and Budget Review of Tax Regulations Under Executive Order 12866,"� April 11, 2018, https://home.treasury.gov/sites/default/files/2018-04/04-11%20Signed%20Treasury%20OIRA%20MOA.pdf (accessed January 31, 2023). .

148. GDA-1434 Engel, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, "Extending Regulatory Review Under Executive Order 12866 to Independent Regulatory Agencies,"� 43 Op. .

149. GDA-1438 7. Office of Management and Budget, Circular A-4, "Regulatory Analysis,"� September 17, 2003, https:// www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/legacy_drupal_files/omb/circulars/A4/a-4.pdf (accessed January 31, 2023). .

150. GDA-1446 Trump, Executive Order 13771, "Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs,"� January 30, 2017, in Federal Register, Vol. .

151. GDA-1452 Trump, Executive Order 13777, "Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda,"� February 24, 2017, in Federal Register, Vol. .

152. GDA-1469 Trump, Executive Order 13924, "Regulatory Relief to Support Economic Recovery,"� May 19, 2020, in Federal Register, Vol. .

153. GDA-1481 Trump, Executive Order 13980, "Protecting Americans from Overcriminalization Through Regulatory Reform,"� January 18, 2021, in Federal Register, Vol. .

154. GDA-1490 18. President Ronald Reagan, Executive Order 12630, "Governmental Actions and Interference with Constitutionally Protected Property Rights,"� March 15, 1988, in Federal Register, Vol. .

155. GDA-1493 8859-8862, https://www.regulationwriters.com/downloads/Executive_Orders/EO_12630.pdf (accessed January 31, 2023). .

156. GDA-1512 5, Regulatory Accountability Act of 2017, 115th Congress, introduced January 3, 2017, https://www. .

157. GDA-1514 951, Regulatory Accountability Act of 2017, 115th Congress, introduced April 26, 2017, https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th- congress/senate-bill/951 (accessed January 31, 2023). .

158. GDA-1521 2804, Early Participation in Regulations Act of 2021, 117th Congress, introduced September 22, 2021, https:// www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/2804 (accessed January 31, 2023). .

159. GDA-1525 277, Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2023 (REINS Act), 118th Congress, introduced January 11, 2023, https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/277/all-info?r=217 (accessed January 31, 2023). .

160. GDA-1573 Constitution, Amendment XXV, https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxxv (accessed March 9, 2023). .

161. GDA-1581 Constitution makes clear, the President's appointment, direction, and removal authorities are the central elements of his executive power.1 In implementing that power, the people and the President deserve the most talented and responsible workforce possible. .

162. GDA-1585 The federal government's immense bureaucracy spreads into hundreds of agencies and thousands of units and is centered and overseen at the top by key central personnel agencies and their governing laws and regulations. .

163. GDA-1588 Code charges the OPM with executing, administering, and enforcing the rules, regulations, and laws governing the civil service.2 It grants the OPM direct responsibility for activities like retirement, pay, health, training, federal unionization, suitability, and classification functions not specifically granted to other agencies by statute. .

164. GDA-1590 The MSPB is the lead adjudicator for hearing and resolving cases and controversies for 2.2 million federal employees.3 It is required to conduct fair and neutral case adjudications, regulatory reviews, and actions and studies to improve the workforce. .

165. GDA-1631 This doctrine of disparate impact could be ended legislatively or at least narrowed through the regulatory process by a future Administration. .

166. GDA-1666 Meanwhile, the OPM issued regulations to expand the role of performance related to pay throughout the entire workforce, but congressional allies of the employee unions, led by Representative Steny Hoyer (D) of government employee- rich Maryland, stoutly resisted this extension of pay-for-performance and, with strong union support, used the congressional appropriations process to block OPM administrative pay reforms. .

167. GDA-1761 The people elect a President who is charged by Article 2, Section 3 of the Constitution23 with seeing that the laws are "faithfully executed"� with his political appointees democratically linked to that legitimizing responsibility. .

168. GDA-1762 An autonomous bureaucracy has neither independent constitutional status nor separate moral legitimacy. .

169. GDA-1794 The bipartisan consensus up until the middle of the 20th century held that these unions were not compatible with constitutional government.30 After more than half a century of experience with public-sector union frustrations of good government management, it is hard to avoid reaching the same conclusion. .

170. GDA-1798 While many obstacles stand in his way, a President is constitutionally and statutorily required to fill the top political positions in the executive branch both to assist him and to provide overall legitimacy. .

171. GDA-1816 The Constitution, however, reserved a few enumerated powers to the federal government while leaving the great majority of domestic activities to state, local, and private governance. .

172. GDA-1817 As James Madison explained: "The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects, which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties and properties of the people; and the internal order, improvement and prosperity of the state."�31 Modern progressive politics has simply given the national government more to do than the complex separation- of-powers Constitution allows. .

173. GDA-1823 Constitution, Article II, Section 2, https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articleii#section1 (accessed February 1, 2023). .

174. GDA-1881 Constitution, Article II, Section 3, https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articleii#section3 (accessed February 2, 2023). .

175. GDA-1894 Trump, Executive Order 13837, "Ensuring Transparency, Accountability, and Efficiency in Taxpayer-Funded Union Time Use,"� May 25, 2018, in Federal Register, Vol. .

176. GDA-1901 Howard, Not Accountable: Rethinking the Constitutionality of Public Employee Unions (Garden City, NY: Rodin Books, 2023). .

177. GDA-1904 Section Two THE COMMON DEFENSE W hile the lives of Americans are affected in noteworthy ways, for better or worse, by each part of the executive branch, the inherent importance of national defense and foreign affairs makes the Departments of Defense and State first among equals. .

178. GDA-1915 As the past 75 years have repeatedly demonstrated in different ways --- from Korea, to Vietnam, to Iraq, to Afghanistan --- we depart from our constitutional design at our peril. .

179. GDA-1921 Former State Department director of policy planning Kiron Skinner writes in Chapter 6, "[L]arge swaths of the State Department's workforce are left-wing and predisposed to disagree with a conservative President's policy agenda and vision."� She adds that the department possesses a "belief that it is an independent institution that knows what is best for the United States, sets its own foreign policy, and does not need direction from an elected President"� --- a view that does not align with the Constitution. .

180. GDA-1923 Skinner writes, "The next Administration must take swift and decisive steps to reforge the department into a lean and functional diplomatic machine that serves the President and, thereby, the American people."� Because the Senate has been extraordinarily lax in fulfilling its constitutional obligation to confirm presidential appointees, she recommends putting appointees into acting roles until such time as the Senate confirms them. .

181. GDA-1924 Skinner writes that State should also stop skirting the Constitution's treaty- making requirements and stop enforcing "agreements"� as treaties. .

182. GDA-1930 She observes, "[M]any were quick to dismiss even the possibility that COVID escaped from a Chinese research laboratory."� Meanwhile, Skinner writes, "[g]lobal leaders including President Joe Biden"�have tried to normalize or even laud Chinese behavior."� She adds, "In some cases, these voices, like global corporate giants BlackRock and Disney"� --- or the National Basketball Association (NBA) --- "directly benefit from doing business with Beijing."� Former vice president of the U.S. .

183. GDA-1931 Agency for Global Media Mora Namdar writes in Chapter 8 that we need to have people working for USAGM who actually believe in America, rather than allowing the agencies to function as anti-American, taxpayer- funded entities that parrot our adversaries' propaganda and talking points. .

184. GDA-1941 4 DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE Christopher Miller The Constitution requires the federal government to "provide for the common defence."�1 It assigns to Congress the authority to "raise and support Armies"� and to "provide and maintain a Navy"�2 and specifies that the President is "commander in Chief"� of America's armed forces.3 Ever since our Founding, Americans have understood that the surest way to avoid war is to be prepared for it in peace --- but when deterrence fails, we must fight and win. .

185. GDA-2063 Senior acquisition leaders should design a system that allows decision-makers to stay within the law but bypass unnecessary departmental regulations that are not in the best interest of the government and hamper the acquisition of capabilities that warfighters require. .

186. GDA-2068 With the rapid evolution of training and educational technologies, including remote and virtual practices, there is no reason for DAU to maintain a monopoly on the knowledge and certification that are required to perform as acquisition professionals. .

187. GDA-2095 government foreign military sales (FMS) nosedived to a low of $34.8 billion from a record high of $55.7 billion in FY 2018.8 This decrease hinders interoperability with partners and allies, decreases defense industrial base capacity, and increases the taxpayer burden on the U.S. .

188. GDA-2115 2. Decrease International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to facilitate trade with such allies as the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. .

189. GDA-2246 Constitution gives Congress the power to "provide and maintain a Navy."� Inherent in this phrase is a recognition that there is a vital national interest in the maritime environment and that this national interest requires sustained planning and investment. .

190. GDA-2543 Constitution, Preamble, https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/preamble/ (accessed February 16, 2023). .

191. GDA-2545 Constitution, Article I, § 8, https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/article-1/ (accessed February 16, 2023). .

192. GDA-2547 Constitution, Article II, § 2, https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/article-2/ (accessed February 16, 2023). .

193. GDA-2687 Cutting these costs would save the American taxpayers significant sums. .

194. GDA-2693 The Homeland Security Act of 2002,1 which created the department, states that DHS's primary mission is to prevent terrorist attacks within the U.S.; reduce the nation's vulnerability to terrorism; minimize the damage from and assist in the recovery from any terrorist attacks; prepare and respond to natural and manmade crises and emergencies; and monitor connections between illegal drug trafficking and terrorism, coordinate efforts to sever such connections, and interdict illegal drug trafficking. .

195. GDA-2710 While Senate confirmation is a constitutionally necessary requirement for appointing agency leadership, the next Administration may need to take a novel approach to the confirmations process to ensure an adequate and rapid transition. .

196. GDA-2717 Further, individuals wielding acting Secretary authority should have explicit authority to finalize agency actions, including regulations, to ensure that the department's homeland security mission is fulfilled. .

197. GDA-2724 To strengthen political decision-making and ensure that taxpayer dollars are being used legally and efficiently, the Secretary should make major changes in the distribution of career personnel throughout the department. .

198. GDA-2739 l The Secretary should not issue any regulations in support of the "H-2 eligible"� country list, the effect of which would prevent favoring certain foreign nationals seeking an H-2 guest worker visa based simply on their nationality. .

199. GDA-2754 DHS should issue a regulation mandating that CBP publish accurate and timely border security data, readily available to the public, on a regular basis that avoid White House and DHS leadership review and approval. .

200. GDA-2771 In most instances, CBP should turn illegal aliens over to ICE for detention, and ICE can then issue any needed NTA. .

201. GDA-2779 The annual costs associated with establishing and maintaining temporary facilities to address the flow of illegal migration and associated care, transportation, and processing are prohibitive, and CBP's budget is inadequate. .

202. GDA-2791 This misguided action constituted an egregious example of lawlessness that allowed thousands of illegal aliens and other immigration violators to go free in the United States. .

203. GDA-2799 Thousands of illegal aliens are allowed to bond out of immigration detention only to disappear into the interior of the United States where many commit crimes and many others disappear, never to be heard from again. .

204. GDA-2800 This occurs primarily because of poorly worded bond regulations, contradictory bond policy memoranda, and poor practices for managing released aliens and the Alternatives to Detention (ATD) Program, which requires significant reform. .

205. GDA-2810 ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) should be identified as being primarily responsible for enforcing civil immigration regulations, including the civil arrest, detention, and removal of immigration violators anywhere in the United States, without warrant where appropriate, subject only to the civil warrant requirements of the INA where appropriate. .

206. GDA-2820 These civil search warrants are commonly used for worksite enforcement when agents have probable cause that illegal aliens are employed at a business. .

207. GDA-2832 Regulatory efforts have focused on easing asylum eligibility in a manner that is guaranteed to exacerbate asylum fraud as people surge at the border. .

208. GDA-2834 These actions violate statutes, erode congressional intent, and provide a significant magnet for continued illegal immigration. .

209. GDA-2842 Additionally, USCIS should create a criminal enforcement component within the agency to investigate immigration benefits fraud under Title 8 (perhaps requiring additional legislative and regulatory authorities for the officers themselves) and to prosecute cases through Special Assistant U.S. .

210. GDA-2845 While the Biden regulatory agenda has focused on at least two major rules --- the credible fear rule and the public charge rule --- USCIS has utilized other policy and internal procedural mechanisms to extend employment authorization to large groups of people who are in the country without legal status. .

211. GDA-2848 Additionally, regulatory documents should be drafted to review or reverse all regulations promulgated during the Biden Administration. .

212. GDA-2857 The regulatory agenda should include the immediate submission of notices of proposed rulemaking for the Trump Administration's public charge rule (including aspects from its original notice of proposed rulemaking), temporary work visa reform, employment authorization reform rules, asylum bars rule, and a third-country transit rule. .

213. GDA-2858 At a minimum, an enhanced regulatory agenda should include rules strengthening the integrity of the asylum system, parole reform, and U visa reform that prioritizes relief for victims of heinous crimes and ensures that we protect the truest and most deserving victims of crime. .

214. GDA-2859 Not all policy changes require formal rulemaking, however, as internal guidance documents are generally exempt under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).7 In this subregulatory space, USCIS policy memos and operational guidance should reduce the validity of employment authorization documents and end the COVID flexibilities, including the reliance on biometrics reuse. .

215. GDA-2860 USCIS should also enforce existing regulations by rejecting incomplete applications and petitions, ensuring both that they are completed before accepted for filing and that FDNS signs off on all approved applications and petitions before approval notices are sent to the alien or petitioner. .

216. GDA-2867 USCIS should make it clear that where no court jurisdiction exists, it will not honor court decisions that seek to undermine regulatory and subregulatory efforts. .

217. GDA-2872 As a general principle, adjudication of applications and petitions should be paid by applicants, not American taxpayers. .

218. GDA-2892 NECESSARY BORDER AND IMMIGRATION STATUTORY, REGULATORY, AND ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES The current border security crisis was made possible by glaring loopholes in our immigration system. .

219. GDA-2893 The result was a preventable and predictable historic increase in illegal and inadmissible encounters along our southern border. .

220. GDA-2897 Create an authority akin to the Title 42 Public Health authority that has been used during the COVID-19 pandemic to expel illegal aliens across the border immediately when certain non- health conditions are met, such as loss of operational control of the border. .

221. GDA-2905 Congress should repeal Section 235 of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA),9 which provides numerous immigration benefits to unaccompanied alien children and only encourages more parents to send their children across the border illegally and unaccompanied. .

222. GDA-2908 Currently, the TVPRA allows only children from contiguous countries (Canada and Mexico) to be returned while every other unaccompanied minor must be placed into a lengthy process that usually results in the minor's landing in the custody of an illegal alien family member. .

223. GDA-2919 Congress should halt funds given to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to process and transport illegal aliens into and throughout the United States. .

224. GDA-2930 Congress should reassert control of employment authorization, which is subject to rampant regulatory abuse, and limit it to certain categories of legal immigrants and non-immigrants. .

225. GDA-2941 Regulations l Withdraw Biden Administration regulations and reissue new regulations in the following areas: 1. .

226. GDA-2954 Along with the legislative proposal, take regulatory action to limit the classes of aliens eligible for work authorization. .

227. GDA-2971 presents urgent circumstances requiring an immediate federal response, the Secretary may make, subject to the approval of the President, rules and regulations prohibiting in whole or in part the introduction of persons from such countries or places as he or she shall designate in order to avert or curtail such mass migration and for such period of time as is deemed necessary, including through the expulsion of such aliens. .

228. GDA-2972 Such rule and regulation making shall not be subject to the requirements of the Administrative Procedures Act. .

229. GDA-2973 2. Provide that notwithstanding any other provision of law, when the Secretary makes such a determination and then promulgates, subject to the approval of the President, such rules and regulations, the Secretary shall have the authority to waive all legal requirements of Title 8 that the Secretary, in his or her sole discretion, determines are necessary to avert or curtail the mass migration. .

230. GDA-2974 Subregulatory Matters l USCIS priorities/structural changes 1. .

231. GDA-2987 In addition, state-friendly FEMA regulations, such as a "per capita indicator,"� failed to maintain the pace of inflation and made it easy to meet disaster declaration thresholds. .

232. GDA-2996 Then, when flood costs exceed NFIP's revenue, FEMA seeks taxpayer- funded bailouts. .

233. GDA-2998 These subsidies and bailouts only encourage more development in flood zones, increasing the potential losses to both NFIP and the taxpayer. .

234. GDA-3005 FEMA employees in Washington, D.C., should not determine how billions of federal tax dollars should be awarded to train local law enforcement officers in Texas, harden cybersecurity infrastructure in Utah, or supplement migrant shelters in Arizona. .

235. GDA-3006 DHS should not be in the business of handing out federal tax dollars: These grants should be terminated. .

236. GDA-3020 At the time of this writing, release of the Twitter Files has demonstrated that CISA has devolved into an unconstitutional censoring and election engineering apparatus of the political Left. .

237. GDA-3063 This is a pattern that has developed over the years, with agents seeking to burnish their online financial crimes credentials to secure corporate security jobs. .

238. GDA-3068 The only investigations not related to USSS's protective function that agents should pursue would be directed by HSI and relate to tracking the financial crimes associated with illegal immigration. .

239. GDA-3069 This should include tracing remittances, any funds that are used to pay coyotes or the cartels, and payments by businesses to illegal aliens and all other crimes associated with illegal immigration. .

240. GDA-3078 Instead, USSS agents could hone their protection skills and pursue a protection career path in the agency rather than quickly leaving USSS for high-paying corporate security jobs. .

241. GDA-3084 TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION (TSA) The TSA model is costly and unwisely makes TSA both the regulator and the regulated organization responsible for screening operations. .

242. GDA-3090 TSA would turn screening operations over to airports that would choose security contractors that meet TSA regulations and would oversee and test airports for compliance. .

243. GDA-3091 Alternatively, it could adopt a Canadian-style system, turning over screening operations to a new government corporation that contracts screening service to private contractors. .

244. GDA-3093 TSA would continue to set security regulations and test airports for compliance, and the new corporation would establish any operating procedures or customer service standards. .

245. GDA-3133 PLCY should perform a complete inventory, analysis, and reevaluation of the department's domestic terrorism lines of effort to ensure that they are consistent with the President's priorities, congressional authorization, and Americans' constitutional rights. .

246. GDA-3161 OFFICE OF THE GENERAL COUNSEL (OGC) Needed Reforms OGC should advise principals as to how DHS can execute its missions within the law instead of advising principals as to why they cannot execute regulations, policies, and programs. .

247. GDA-3245 The specialized case work can be moved into USCIS as a special unit, much like the IRS Taxpayer Advocate. .

248. GDA-3246 This would require a statutory change to Section 452 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002.20 If CISOMB continues as a DHS component, a policy should be issued that prohibits CISOMB from assisting illegal aliens to obtain benefits. .

249. GDA-3249 In addition, the government should be a neutral adjudicator, not an advocate for illegal aliens. .

250. GDA-3255 Additionally, explicitly acknowledge and adjust personnel and priorities to participate actively in the defense of America's borders, including using military personnel and hardware to prevent illegal crossings between ports of entry and channel all cross-border traffic to legal ports of entry. .

251. GDA-3262 citizens or lawful permanent residents, and deny loan access to students at schools that provide in-state tuition to illegal aliens. .

252. GDA-3264 l Department of the Treasury: Implement all necessary regulations both to equalize taxes between American citizens and working visa holders and to provide DHS with all tax information of illegal aliens as expeditiously as possible. .

253. GDA-3277 4. Added to the Immigration and Nationality Act by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. .

254. GDA-3388 The posture of the department during this review should be an unwavering desire to prioritize the American people --- including a recognition that the federal government must be a diligent steward of taxpayer dollars. .

255. GDA-3390 The State Department must change its handling of international agreements to restore constitutional governance. .

256. GDA-3398 The next President should recalibrate how the State Department handles treaties and agreements, primarily by restoring constitutionality to these processes. .

257. GDA-3401 The Secretary of State, in cooperation with the Office of the Attorney General and the White House Counsel's Office, should also conduct a review to identify "agreements"� that are really treaty commitments within the ordinary public meaning of the Constitution,6 and suspend compliance pending presidential transmittal of those agreements to the Senate for advice and consent. .

258. GDA-3501 In some cases, these voices, like the global corporate giants BlackRock and Disney, directly benefit from doing business with Beijing. .

259. GDA-3528 l One school of conservative thought holds that as Moscow's illegal war of aggression against Ukraine drags on, Russia presents major challenges to U.S. .

260. GDA-3714 should work to ensure that shipping lanes in the Arctic remain available to all global commercial traffic and free of onerous fees and burdensome administrative, regulatory, and military requirements. .

261. GDA-3748 The results were redeployment of taxpayer dollars to better uses --- and other organizations "getting the message"� that the United States will not allow itself and its money to be used to undermine its own interests. .

262. GDA-3751 funding for international organizations is more than $16 billion in fiscal year 2021 --- a sharp increase from $10.8 billion in fiscal year 2015.19 Millions of American taxpayer dollars go to support policies and initiatives that hurt the United States and American citizens. .

263. GDA-3754 This review should take into account long-standing provisions in federal law that prohibit the use of taxpayer dollars to promote abortion, population control, and terrorist activities, as well as other applicable restrictions on funding for international organizations and agencies with a view to withholding U.S. .

264. GDA-3759 The next Administration should use its voice, influence, votes, and funding in international organizations to promote authentic human rights and respect for sovereignty based on the binding international obligations contained in treaties that have been constitutionally ratified by the U.S. .

265. GDA-3786 The State Department has metastasized in structure and resources, but neither the function of the department nor the use of taxpayer dollars has improved. .

266. GDA-3795 The next Administration should develop a complete hypothetical reorganization of the department --- one which would tighten accountability to political leadership, reduce overhead, eliminate redundancy, waste fewer taxpayer resources, and recommend additional personnel-related changes for improvement of function. .

267. GDA-3815 public diplomacy, which largely relies on taxpayer-funded international broadcasting outlets, has been deeply ineffective in recent years. .

268. GDA-3877 Constitution, art. .

269. GDA-3934 Carmack MISSION STATEMENT To arm a future incoming conservative President with the knowledge and tools necessary to fortify the United States Intelligence Community; to defend against all foreign enemies and ensure the security and prosperity of our sovereign nation, devoid of all political motivations; and to maintain constitutional civil liberties. .

270. GDA-3944 This must change, beginning with leadership that is both committed to ensuring that these agencies faithfully execute the laws of the land under the Constitution and resolved to punish and remove any officials who have abused the public trust. .

271. GDA-4033 Public servants must be mindful that they are required to help the President implement that agenda while remaining apolitical, upholding the Constitution and laws of the United States, and earning the public trust. .

272. GDA-4103 Directors of both agencies must instill further confidence in their workforces, Congress, and the American people that they can and will deal effectively with personnel that fail to live up to their oath to the Constitution, adhere to ethical and moral standards as expected by America's taxpayers, and faithfully execute the law. .

273. GDA-4169 Corporate America, technology companies, research institutions, and academia must be willing, educated partners in this generational fight to protect our national security interests, economic interests, national sovereignty, and intellectual property as well as the broader rules-based order --- all while avoiding the tendency to cave to the left-wing activists and investors who ignore the China threat and increasingly dominate the corporate world. .

274. GDA-4264 companies operating in Europe to follow its data privacy regulations. .

275. GDA-4267 Those same European courts exempted the intelligence services of EU member states from the standards applied to the U.S., suggesting that trade protectionism may be the real motive behind data privacy regulations. .

276. GDA-4270 Executive Order 14086, "Enhancing Safeguards for United States Signals Intelligence Activities,"� 47 implements this new framework by attempting to align signals intelligence collection practices with European privacy regulations. .

277. GDA-4280 European court rulings that struck down prior data privacy frameworks were grounded not in constitutional law but in a treaty among European nations. .

278. GDA-4454 Bryan Gabbard, Assessing the Tradecraft of Intelligence Analysis, RAND Corporation, National Security Research Division Technical Report, 2008, p. .

279. GDA-4511 The MBN has correspondents throughout the Middle East and North Africa.8 l Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a private, nonprofit, multimedia broadcasting corporation that serves as a surrogate media source in 27 languages and 23 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, and Ukraine. .

280. GDA-4516 Not least, RFE/RL has been plagued by several serious espionage-related security risks within its ranks.9 l Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit multimedia news corporation that brings news and uncensored content to people in six Asian countries that restrict free speech, freedom of the press, and access to reliable information. .

281. GDA-4534 Although a firewall should ensure journalistic independence, it has been used without formal regulation for decades in order to shirk legitimate oversight of everything from promoting adversaries' propaganda to ignoring journalistic safety. .

282. GDA-4536 foreign policy and national security goals --- was erroneously enshrined in a document known as the Firewall Regulation. .

283. GDA-4537 21 The Firewall Regulation was entered into the Federal Register on the eve of the Senate confirmation of President Donald Trump's USAGM CEO, Michael Pack. .

284. GDA-4543 domestic and political problems could not be reined in by front office leadership under the Firewall Regulation. .

285. GDA-4546 USAGM career officials considered such content sacrosanct and bravely independent "journalistic"� content protected by the "spirit of"� the Firewall Regulation --- despite ample evidence to the contrary. .

286. GDA-4548 Department of Justice review, revoked the Firewall Regulation over the protests of journalistic organizations --- none more vociferous than VOA itself.23 While the abuses of the Firewall Regulation are particularly disconcerting, they encompass just a fraction of similar overreaches of the agency's journalistic mission. .

287. GDA-4563 During the 10-year period between 2010 and 2020, both the OPM and the ODNI found that the USAGM's Office of Security (under the Office of Management) had grossly ignored and flouted many of the federal government's most critical and long-standing information and personnel security protocols, regulations, and practices.33 During the investigative period --- in which the findings were largely, if not wholly, ignored by agency senior leadership --- over 1,500 USAGM personnel (nearly 40 percent of its total workforce) were performing their Tier 3 and Tier 5 national-security-sensitive positions with falsified and/or unauthorized suitability- for-employment determinations and with access to sensitive federal buildings and information systems. .

288. GDA-4577 Wasting Taxpayer Dollars. .

289. GDA-4589 taxpayers that is rife within this agency. .

290. GDA-4608 Additionally, whistleblowers have come forward with numerous credible allegations of illegal nepotism and improper hiring practices. .

291. GDA-4623 Ensuring that taxpayer-funded TV, radio, and messaging tells America's story is imperative and should be coordinated with the existing foreign- language social media platforms at the State Department. .

292. GDA-4626 Additionally, the Smith-Mundt Act stipulates that USAGM services are meant to tell the American story abroad --- never to domestic audiences --- but the agency has used its taxpayer funding to promote partisan messaging in the U.S. .

293. GDA-4650 taxpayer and a negative return on investment. .

294. GDA-4656 CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING Mike Gonzalez Every Republican President since Richard Nixon has tried to strip the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) of taxpayer funding. .

295. GDA-4665 As Pew Research demonstrated in 2014, 25 percent of PBS's audience is "mostly liberal,"� and 35 percent is "consistently liberal."� That is 60 percent liberal compared to 15 percent conservative (11 percent "mostly conservative"� and 4 percent "consistently conservative"�).50 NPR's audience is even to the Left of that, with 67 percent liberal (41 percent "consistently liberal"� and 26 percent "mostly liberal"�), compared with 12 percent conservative (3 percent and 9 percent "consistently conservative"� and "mostly conservative,"� respectively).51 That may be an acceptable business model for MSNBC or CNN, but not for a taxpayer-subsidized broadcaster. .

296. GDA-4672 The President may have to use the bully pulpit, as NPR and PBS have teams of lobbyists who have convinced enough Members of Congress to save their bacon every time their taxpayer subsidies have been at risk since the Nixon era. .

297. GDA-4674 The membership model that the CPB uses, along with the funding from corporations and foundations that it also receives, would allow these broadcasters to continue to thrive. .

298. GDA-4684 It says that "Noncommercial educational (NCE) FM station licensees and full service NCE television broadcast station licensees are exempt from paying regulatory fees, provided that these stations operate solely on an NCE basis."�55 NPR and PBS stations are in reality no longer noncommercial, as they run ads in everything but name for their sponsors. .

299. GDA-4732 23. Jessica Jerreat, "USAGM CEO Criticized Over Move to Rescind Firewall Regulation,"� October 28, 2020, https:// www.voanews.com/a/usa_usagm-ceo-criticized-over-move-rescind-firewall-regulation/6197671.html (accessed March 20, 2023). .

300. GDA-4788 52. Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Corporation for Public Broadcasting Appropriation Request and Justification FY 2023/FY 2025, Submitted to the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee and the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, March 28, 2022, p. .

301. GDA-4793 55. Federal Communications Commission, "Regulatory Fee Exemptions for FY 2021,"� FCC Regulatory Fees Factsheet No. .

302. GDA-4855 Department of Homeland Security and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to help coastal countries detect and halt illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and confront criminal activities practiced by state-run Chinese fishing fleets that violate international norms, ravage fishing industries in developing countries, worsen food insecurity, rob vulnerable communities of their livelihoods, and deplete maritime resources. .

303. GDA-4858 International Development Finance Corporation Working Group reviewed all proposed assistance programs and proposals through a counter-China lens. .

304. GDA-4867 foreign policy and national security"� and mitigate "the devastating inequalities that intersect with gender, race, ethnicity, and economic security."�6 USAID subsequently declared itself "a climate agency"� and redirected its private-sector engagement strategy --- teaming with America's corporate sector to wean countries off foreign aid through private investment and trade --- to support the Administration's global policy to "transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy."� The Administration has incorporated its radical climate policy into every USAID initiative. .

305. GDA-4885 The agency should cease collaborating with and funding progressive foundations, corporations, international institutions, and NGOs that advocate on behalf of climate fanaticism. .

306. GDA-4906 The next conservative Administration should rename the USAID Office of Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment (GEWE) as the USAID Office of Women, Children, and Families; refocus and realign resources that currently support programs in GEWE to the Office of Women, Children, and Families; redesignate the Senior Gender Coordinator as an unapologetically pro-life politically appointed Senior Coordinator of the Office of Women, Children, and Families; and eliminate the "more than 180 gender advisors and points of contact"�embedded in Missions and Operating Units throughout the Agency."�9 In addition, the next conservative Administration should rescind President Biden's 2022 Gender Policy and refocus it on Women, Children, and Families and revise the agency's regulation on "Integrating Gender Equality and Female Empowerment in USAID's Program Cycle."�10 It should remove all references, examples, definitions, photos, and language on USAID websites, in agency publications and policies, and in all agency contracts and grants that include the following terms: "gender,"� "gender equality,"� "gender equity,"� "gender diverse individuals,"� "gender aware,"� "gender sensitive,"� etc. .

307. GDA-4924 taxpayer dollars in foreign assistance annually without any oversight. .

308. GDA-4926 taxpayer dollars from being used to promote abortion. .

309. GDA-4935 In addition, the Helms Amendment should continue to be applied, as it has been by both Republican and Democratic Administrations for more than 50 years, as a complete ban on the use of taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions abroad. .

310. GDA-4941 taxpayers). .

311. GDA-4956 The strategy also prioritized global partnerships with the private sector --- corporations, investors, diasporas, and private philanthropies --- the source of real capital investment, innovation, and efficiencies that can maximize the impact of taxpayer dollars. .

312. GDA-4992 A rigorous review is necessary to ensure that current programs and funding streams avoid wasting taxpayer dollars and prioritize what is needed now and what works. .

313. GDA-5016 The Bureau's Center for Innovation and Impact (CII) should be empowered to expand networks of private and faith-based health organizations that can develop projects using development- impact bonds, capital funds, and innovative technologies, including with the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the new U.S. .

314. GDA-5017 International Development Finance Corporation. .

315. GDA-5023 Conservative leadership must return the focus to development and improved workforce morale and focus on global outcomes and the efficient use of taxpayer dollars. .

316. GDA-5029 The United States must have more prominent representation in international technical committees and regulation- setting organizations to ensure the proper execution of American resources, the preservation of our values, the protection of innovation, and the vitality of our biomedical sector. .

317. GDA-5086 Development Finance Corporation (DFC). .

318. GDA-5118 The Administration should change the designation of USAID's Competition Advocate to an individual favorable to innovative types of contracts that can reduce the aid oligopoly's grip on the agency. .

319. GDA-5136 LPA should expand its public-facing efforts to include conservative allies that are active in global development and humanitarian aid work, including industry groups, nonprofits, trade associations, foundations, and advocacy organizations, and correspondingly reduce the aid industrial complex's grip on USAID's corporate relationships. .

320. GDA-5162 maritime supremacy and homeland security, and USAID and its allied donors should neutralize these efforts through the deployment of targeted assistance such as helping countries combat the effects of China's illegal fishing. .

321. GDA-5168 taxpayer-funded International Monetary Fund and World Bank. .

322. GDA-5196 This situation has also resulted in vast illegal migration from the continent. .

323. GDA-5209 International Development Finance Corporation, U.S. .

324. GDA-5218 l USAID should build on, not compete with, private-sector initiatives launched by global churches, corporate philanthropists, and diaspora groups that have already invested billions of dollars in self-reliance- based projects. .

325. GDA-5234 foreign assistance throughout the Western Hemisphere is designed to respond to national security threats that emanate from the region, such as illicit drug and arms trafficking; illegal immigration flows; terrorism; pandemics; and strategic threats from China, Russia, and Iran. .

326. GDA-5251 Instead, USAID should: l Focus its resources on strengthening the fundamentals of free markets, such as clear property rights and a functioning judiciary, and on promoting labor and pension reforms, lower taxes, and deregulation in order to increase trade and investment within the region and with the United States as the genuine path to economic and political stability. .

327. GDA-5271 taxpayer's unmatched charitable desire to help those in need. .

328. GDA-5313 14. 22 Code of Federal Regulations § 205.1, https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-22/chapter-II/part-205 (accessed March 18, 2023). .

329. GDA-5325 Section Three THE GENERAL WELFARE When our Founders wrote in the Constitution that the federal government would "promote the general Welfare,"� they could not have fathomed a massive bureaucracy that would someday spend $3 trillion in a single year --- roughly the sum, combined, spent by the departments covered in this section in 2022. .

330. GDA-5340 The NIH monopoly on directing research should be broken."� What's more, NIH has long "been at the forefront in pushing junk gender science."� The next HHS secretary should immediately put an end to the department's foray into woke transgender activism. .

331. GDA-5342 Severino writes that the "FDA should"�reverse its approval of chemical abortion drugs because the politicized approval process was illegal from the start."� In addition, HHS programs often violate the spirit, and sometimes the letter, of conscience-protection laws. .

332. GDA-5349 Requiring the FBI to get its legal advice from the wider department "would serve as a crucial check on an agency that has recently pushed past legal boundary after legal boundary."� Indeed, Hamilton writes, "[t]he next conservative Administration should eliminate any offices within the FBI that it has the power to eliminate without any action from Congress."� Elsewhere, DOJ should target violent and career criminals, not parents; work to dismantle criminal organizations, partly by rigorously prosecuting interstate drug activity; and restart the Trump Administration's "China Initiative"� (to address Chinese espionage and theft of trade secrets), which the Biden Administration "terminated"� largely out of a concern for poor 'optics.'"� It should also enforce existing federal law that prohibits mailing abortifacients, rather than harassing pro-life demonstrators; respect the constitutional guarantee of the freedom of speech, rather than trying to police speech on the internet; and enforce federal immigration laws, rather than pretending there is no border. .

333. GDA-5358 Under the next President, the Department of Energy should end the Biden Administration's unprovoked war on fossil fuels, restore America's energy independence, oppose eyesore windmills built at taxpayer expense, and respect the right of Americans to buy and drive cars of their own choosing, rather than trying to force them into electric vehicles and eventually out of the driver's seat altogether in favor of self-driving robots. .

334. GDA-5359 As former commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Bernard L. .

335. GDA-5392 Based on the USDA's fiscal year (FY) 2023 budget summary, outlays are estimated at $261 billion: $221 billion for mandatory programs and $39 billion for discretionary programs.6 These outlays are broken down as follows: nutrition assistance (70 percent); farm, conservation, and commodity programs (14 percent); "all other,"� which includes rural development, research, food safety, marketing and regulatory, and departmental management (11 percent); and forestry (5 percent).7 The USDA has provided a summary of its size, explaining, "Today, USDA is comprised of 29 agencies organized under eight Mission Areas and 16 Staff Offices, with nearly 100,000 employees serving the American people at more than 6,000 locations across the country and abroad."�8 MAJOR PRIORITY ISSUES AND SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS For an incoming Administration, there are numerous issues that should be addressed at the USDA. .

336. GDA-5419 l Clarify the critical importance of efficiency to food affordability, and why a failure to recognize this fact especially hurts low-income households who spend a disproportionate share of after-tax income on food compared to higher-income households.23 To accomplish these objectives, a new Administration should announce its principles through an executive order, the USDA should remove all references to transforming the food system on its web site and other department-disseminated material, and it should expressly and regularly communicate the principles informing the objectives listed above, as well as promote these principles through legislative efforts. .

337. GDA-5422 With the exception of federal crop insurance, the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) is generally the means by which agricultural-related farm bill programs are funded. .

338. GDA-5423 The CCC is a funding mechanism, which, in simple terms, has $30 billion a year at its disposal.24 Section 5 of the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act (Charter Act)25 gives the Secretary of Agriculture broad discretionary authority to spend "unused"� CCC money. .

339. GDA-5446 This is unfortunate, because making them synonymous fails to recognize that agricultural policy covers a wide range of issues, including issues that are outside the proper scope of the USDA, such as environmental regulation. .

340. GDA-5456 Taxpayers on average pay about 60 percent41 of the premium. .

341. GDA-5471 On average, taxpayers cover about 60 percent47 of the premium cost for policies purchased in the federal crop insurance program. .

342. GDA-5472 One of the most widely supported and bipartisan policy reforms is to reduce the premium subsidy that taxpayers are forced to pay.48 At a minimum, taxpayers should not pay more than 50 percent of the premium. .

343. GDA-5473 After all, taxpayers should not have to pay more than the farmers who benefit from the crop insurance policies. .

344. GDA-5479 The White House, given the power of the bully pulpit, must demand a genuine reform process and express unwavering support for a USDA that shapes a safety net that considers the interests of farmers, while also remembering the interests of taxpayers and consumers. .

345. GDA-5499 In February 2019, FNS issued a modest regulatory change that applied only to able-bodied individuals without dependents --- beneficiaries aged 18 to 49, not elderly or disabled, who did not have children or other dependents in the home (ABAWD).61 The FNS rule changed when a state could receive a waiver from implementing the ABAWD work requirement. .

346. GDA-5502 district court federal judge enjoined the rule.64 The USDA filed an appeal in late December 2020,65 but the Biden Administration withdrew from defending the challenge, and the rule was never implemented.66 Beyond the able-bodied work requirement, FNS should implement better regulation to clarify options for states to implement the general work requirement. .

347. GDA-5507 However, under an administrative option in TANF called broad- based categorical eligibility (BBCE), "�benefit"� is defined so broadly that it includes simply receiving distributed pamphlets and 1-800 numbers.68 This definition, with its low threshold to trigger a "benefit,"� allows individuals to bypass eligibility limits --- particularly the asset requirement (how much the applicant has in resources, such as bank accounts or property).69 Adopting the BBCE option has even allowed millionaires to enroll in the food stamp program.70 The Trump Administration proposed to close the loophole with a rule to "increase program integrity and reduce fraud, waste, and abuse."�71 The regulation was not finalized before the end of the Trump Administration. .

348. GDA-5509 In a dramatic overreach, the Biden Administration unilaterally increased food stamp benefits by at least 23 percent in October 2021.72 Through an update to the Thrifty Food Plan, in which the USDA analyzes a basket of foods intended to provide a nutritious diet, the USDA increased food stamp outlays by between $250 billion and $300 billion over 10 years.73 Although the 2018 farm bill instructed FNS to update the Thrifty Food Plan by 2023 and every five years thereafter, every previous Thrifty Food Plan has been always cost-neutral (just an inflation update) --- exactly what CBO estimated as cost of the 2018 farm bill.74 The Biden Administration may have skirted regulations and congressional authority to increase the overall cost of the program. .

349. GDA-5520 Because 50 percent of baby formula is purchased through the federal WIC program, it is vital that regulation for these competitive bidding contracts does not unintentionally create monopolies. .

350. GDA-5521 l Re-evaluate excessive regulation. .

351. GDA-5522 As for baby formula regulations generally, labeling regulations and regulations that unnecessarily delay the manufacture and sale of baby formula should be re-evaluated.80 During the Biden Administration, there have been devastating baby formula shortages. .

352. GDA-5525 The NSLP and SBP are the two largest K-12 meal programs provided by federal taxpayer money. .

353. GDA-5531 Office of Management and Budget and the Office of the Inspector General.87 Before federal auditors reduced the rigor of annual reporting requirements in 2018, the NSLP had wasted nearly $2 billion in taxpayer resources through payments provided to ineligible recipients.88 Even after the auditing changes, which the U.S. .

354. GDA-5533 Other federal officials, including Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), have, in recent years, proposed expanding the NSLP to all students.92 To serve students in need and prevent the misuse of taxpayer money, the next Administration should focus on students in need and reject efforts to transform federal school meals into an entitlement program. .

355. GDA-5544 Such expansion would allow an inefficient, wasteful program to grow, magnifying the amount of wasted taxpayer resources. .

356. GDA-5570 Only meat and poultry from federally inspected facilities can be sold in interstate commerce.100 Even meat and poultry from USDA-approved state-inspected facilities may only be sold in intrastate commerce, with limited exceptions.101 This is despite the fact that states with USDA-approved inspection programs must meet and enforce requirements that are "at least equal to"� those imposed under the Federal Meat and Poultry Products Inspection Acts and the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act of 1978.102 This is an unnecessary regulatory barrier that makes it difficult to get meat and poultry into interstate commerce to create more options for consumers and farmers. .

357. GDA-5577 Marketing orders cover research and promotion, but also cover issues such as quality regulations and volume controls. .

358. GDA-5580 They are, in effect, a tax --- a means to compel speech --- and government-blessed cartels. .

359. GDA-5622 In 2018, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 13855 to, among other things, promote active management of forests and reduce wildfire risks.122 The executive order stated, "Active management of vegetation is needed to treat these dangerous conditions on Federal lands but is often delayed due to challenges associated with regulatory analysis and current consultation requirements."�123 It further explained the need to reduce regulatory obstacles to fuel reduction in forests created by the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act.124 The next Administration should: l Champion executive action, consistent with law, and proactive legislation to reduce wildfires. .

360. GDA-5623 This would involve embracing Executive Order 13855, building upon it, and working with lawmakers to promote active management of vegetation, reduce regulatory obstacles to reducing fuel buildup, and increase timber sales. .

361. GDA-5713 Department of Agriculture, "Notice: Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry Partnership Program, Request for Comments,"� USDA-2021-0010, October 21, 2021, https://www.regulations. .

362. GDA-5722 Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Quintiles of Income Before Taxes: Annual Expenditure Means, Shares, and Standard Errors, and Coefficients of Variation, Consumer Expenditure Surveys,"� 2021, Table 1101, https://www.bls.gov/cex/tables/calendar-year/mean-item-share-average-standard-error/cu- income-quintiles-before-taxes-2021.pdf (accessed December 16, 2022), and Daren Bakst and Patrick Tyrrell, "Big Government Policies That Hurt the Poor and How to Address Them,"� Heritage Foundation Special Report No.176, April 5, 2017, p. .

363. GDA-5727 25. Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act of 1948, Public Law 80-806. .

364. GDA-5732 regulations.gov/document/USDA-2021-0010-0001/comment?filter=bakst (accessed December 16, 2022). .

365. GDA-5735 Megan Stubbs, "The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC),"� Congressional Research Service Report for Congress, updated January 14, 2021, https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R44606 (accessed December 16, 2022). .

366. GDA-5746 'Why does the specialty crop [fruit and vegetable] industry survive?'"� Tamar Haspel, "Why Do Taxpayers Subsidize Rich Farmers?"� The Washington Post, March 15, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost. .

367. GDA-5747 com/lifestyle/food/why-do-taxpayers-subsidize-rich-farmers/2018/03/15/50e89906-27b6-11e8-b79d- f3d931db7f68_story.html (accessed March 18, 2023). .

368. GDA-5756 Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, August 6, 2018, https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2018/ august/federal-commodity-programs-price-loss-coverage-and-agriculture-risk-coverage-address-price- and-yield-risks-faced-by-producers/ (accessed March 18, 2023); and Taxpayers for Common Sense, "Shallow Loss Agriculture Programs 101,"� https://www.taxpayer.net/agriculture/shallow-loss-agriculture-programs-101/ (accessed March 18, 2023). .

369. GDA-5768 Department of Labor, "Quintiles of Income Before Taxes,"� and Bakst and Tyrrell, "Big Government Policies That Hurt the Poor and How to Address Them."� 46. .

370. GDA-5817 Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, "Regulatory Reform at a Glance: Proposed Rule; Revision of SNAP Categorical Eligibility,"� July 2019, https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ BBCE_Fact_Sheet_%28FINAL%29_72219-PR.pdf (accessed December 14, 2022). .

371. GDA-5818 69. 7 Code of Federal Regulations § 273.8 (1978), https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/7/273.8 (accessed December 16, 2022). .

372. GDA-5844 Food and Drug Administration, "Regulations and Information on the Manufacture and Distribution of Infant Formula,"� May 16, 2022, https://www.fda.gov/food/infant-formula-guidance-documents-regulatory- information/regulations-and-information-manufacture-and-distribution-infant-formula (accessed December 14, 2022). .

373. GDA-5893 nrcs.usda.gov/getting-assistance/compliance/conservation-compliance-appeals-process (accessed December 15, 2022); and Chris Bennett, "Regulatory Hell: Farmer and Veteran Wins 10-Year Wetlands Fight With Government,"� AG Web, August 30, 2021, https://www.agweb.com/news/crops/crop-production/regulatory-hell-farmer-and- veteran-wins-10-year-wetlands-fight (accessed December 15, 2022). .

374. GDA-5898 It should support the policies contained within the "NRCS Wetland Compliance and Appeals Reform Act"� and modify NRCS compliance rules to protect farmers and ranchers by adding protections against regulatory overreach --- such as banning the practice of re-engaging farmers in new technical determinations appeals processes for the same areas of their farms. .

375. GDA-5918 Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service, "Specialty Crops Marketing Orders & Agreements,"� https://www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/moa/fv (accessed December 15, 2022). .

376. GDA-5921 Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service, "Commodities Covered by Marketing Orders,"� https://www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/moa/commodities (accessed March 18, 2023), and Elayne Allen and Darren Bakst, "How the Government Is Mandating Food Waste,"� August 19, 2016, https://www.dailysignal.com/2016/08/19/how-the-government-is-mandating-food-waste/ (accessed March 18, 2023). .

377. GDA-5924 Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service, "Frequently Asked Questions Regarding the Beef Checkoff Program Petition Process,"� https://www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/research-promotion/ beef/petition (accessed December 16, 2022); "Beef Producers: Do You Want to Vote on the Checkoff?"� Beef Magazine, July 28, 2020, https://www.beefmagazine.com/marketing/beef-producers-do-you-want-vote- checkoff (accessed December 16, 2022); and Steve White, "Group Seeking Beef Checkoff Referendum Asks for Access to Producer Database,"� Nebraska TV, May 4, 2021, https://nebraska.tv/news/ntvs-grow/group-seeking- beef-checkoff-referendum-asks-for-access-to-producer-database (accessed December 16, 2022). .

378. GDA-5996 Ultimately, every parent should have the option to direct his or her child's share of education funding through an education savings account (ESA), funded overwhelmingly by state and local taxpayers, which would empower parents to choose a set of education options that meet their child's unique needs. .

379. GDA-6001 The future of education freedom and reform in the states is bright and will shine brighter when regulations and red tape from Washington are eliminated. .

380. GDA-6002 Federal money is inevitably accompanied by rules and regulations that keep the influx of funds from having much, if any, impact on student outcomes. .

381. GDA-6004 To the extent that federal taxpayer dollars are used to fund education programs, those funds should be block- granted to states without strings, eliminating the need for many federal and state bureaucrats. .

382. GDA-6011 Rather than continuing to buttress a higher education establishment captured by woke "diversicrats"� and a de facto monopoly enforced by the federal accreditation cartel, federal postsecondary education policy should prepare students for jobs in the dynamic economy, nurture institutional diversity, and expose schools to greater market forces.1 OVERVIEW For most of our history, the federal government played a minor role in education. .

383. GDA-6039 For example, portability of existing federal education spending to fund families directly or allowing federal tax credits to encourage voluntary contributions to K-12 education savings accounts managed by charitable nonprofits, could significantly advance education choice. .

384. GDA-6045 l Treating taxpayers like investors in federal student aid. .

385. GDA-6046 Taxpayers should expect their investments in higher education to generate economic productivity. .

386. GDA-6047 When the federal government lends money to individuals for a postsecondary education, taxpayers should expect those borrowers to repay. .

387. GDA-6055 Congress should set policy --- not Presidents through pen-and-phone executive orders, and not agencies through regulations and guidance. .

388. GDA-6076 The report, Education at a Crossroads: What Works and What's Wasted in Education Today, detailed the suffocating bureaucratic red tape Carter's agency had wrapped around states.12 The commission estimated that states completed nearly 50 million hours of paperwork just to get their federal education spending, which at that time, they estimated, resulted in just 65 cents to 70 cents of each federal taxpayer dollar making its way to the classroom. .

389. GDA-6091 OESE also currently manages the federal Impact Aid program, which provides funding to school districts to compensate for reductions in property tax revenue due to the presence of federal property (such as that associated with a military base or tribal lands). .

390. GDA-6111 Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) l The next Administration should completely reverse the student loan federalization of 2010 and work with Congress to spin off FSA and its student loan obligations to a new government corporation with professional governance and management. .

391. GDA-6112 With a statutory charge that it preserve the federal student loan portfolio for the benefit of the taxpayers and students, this new entity would be (1) professionally governed by an agency head and board of trustees appointed by the President A heritage.orgSOURCES: The Nation's Report Card, "National Average Scores,"� Grade 4, https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/ mathematics/nation/scores/?grade=4 (accessed March 17, 2023), and The Nation's Report Card, "National Average Scores,"� Grade 8, https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/mathematics/nation/scores/?grade=4 (accessed March 17, 2023). .

392. GDA-6116 The new federal student loan authority would manage the loan portfolio, handle borrower relations, administer loan applications and disbursements, monitor institutional participation and accountability issues, and issue regulations. .

393. GDA-6126 Current Regulations Promulgated by or Relevant to the Agency That Should Be Rolled Back or Eliminated While the next Administration works to distribute department programs across the federal government, it will need to thoroughly review the many education- related regulations promulgated by the Biden Administration. .

394. GDA-6127 There are five primary regulatory targets (as of December 2022) that require the next Administration's attention: regulations on (1) Charter School Grant Program Priorities; (2) Civil Rights Data Collection; (3) Student Assistance General Provisions, Federal Perkins Loan Program, and William D. .

395. GDA-6128 Ford Federal Direct Loan Program Final Regulations; (4) Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance (Title IX); and (5) Assistance to States for the Education of Children with Disabilities, Preschool Grants for Children with Disabilities (Equity in IDEA). .

396. GDA-6129 The next Administration should also review regulatory changes to the school meals program (under the Department of Agriculture) and changes to the Income-Driven student loan program. .

397. GDA-6130 Additional Biden Administration regulations on (1) gainful employment, administrative capability, and financial responsibility for institutions that participate in the federal student loans and grant programs; (2) Title VI, (3) accreditation of postsecondary institutions, and (4) female athletics are expected in to be released in 2023. .

398. GDA-6131 l Thoroughly review the many education-related regulations promulgated by the Biden Administration, as well as the school meals program and the Income-Driven student loan program. .

399. GDA-6142 Ford Federal Direct Loan Program Final Regulations Effective July 1, 2023, the department promulgated final regulations addressing loan forgiveness under the HEA's provisions for borrower defense to repayment ("BDR"�), closed school loan discharge ("CSLD"�), and public service loan forgiveness ("PSLF"�). .

400. GDA-6143 The regulations also included prohibitions against pre-dispute arbitration agreements and class action waivers for students enrolling in institutions participating in Title IV student loan programs. .

401. GDA-6144 Acting outside of statutory authority, the current Administration has drastically expanded BDR, CSLD, and PSLF loan forgiveness without clear congressional authorization at a tremendous cost to the taxpayers, with estimates ranging from $85.1 to $120 billion. .

402. GDA-6145 l The new Administration must quickly commence negotiated rulemaking and propose that the department rescind these regulations. .

403. GDA-6147 Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance (Title IX) With its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published on July 12, 2022, the Biden Education Department seeks to gut the hard-earned rights of women with its changes to the department's regulations implementing Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs and activities. .

404. GDA-6149 The new Administration should take the following steps: l Work with Congress to use the earliest available legislative vehicle to prohibit the department from using any appropriations or from otherwise enforcing any final regulations under Title IX promulgated by the department during the prior Administration. .

405. GDA-6150 l Commence a new agency rulemaking process to rescind the current Administration's Title IX regulations; restore the Title IX regulations promulgated by then-Secretary Betsy DeVos on May 19, 2020; and define "sex"� under Title IX to mean only biological sex recognized at birth. .

406. GDA-6152 The Trump Administration's 2020 Title IX regulation protected the foundational right to due process for those who are accused of sexual misconduct. .

407. GDA-6161 l On its first day in office, the next Administration should signal its intent to enter the rulemaking process to restore the Trump Administration's Title IX regulation, with the additional insistence that "sex"� is properly understood as a fixed biological fact. .

408. GDA-6176 l To the extent that the Biden Administration publishes guidance or promulgates a regulation on this topic, the next Administration should rescind the guidance and commence rulemaking to rescind the regulation. .

409. GDA-6178 But if the next conservative Department of Education simply rescinds the Biden-era regulation, it could very easily be enforced again on Day One through a Dear Colleague Letter by another leftist Administration. .

410. GDA-6179 l In addition to rescinding the policy and any related guidance, the next Secretary should work with the next Attorney General on a regulation that would clarify current regulations to state that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act does not include a disparate impact standard. .

411. GDA-6180 As law professor Gail Heriot has noted, the alleged existence of a disparate impact standard under Title VI makes everything presumed illegal unless given special dispensation by the federal government. .

412. GDA-6182 Assistance to States for the Education of Children with Disabilities; Preschool Grants for Children with Disabilities (Equity in IDEA) l Effective January 18, 2017, the department issued final regulations under Part B of IDEA that require states to consider race and ethnicity in the identification, placement, and discipline of students with disabilities. .

413. GDA-6183 The new Administration should rescind this regulation. .

414. GDA-6184 Students should never be denied access to special education services because of their race or ethnicity, but this is happening in school districts across the country thanks to the Obama Administration's Equity in IDEA regulation. .

415. GDA-6185 This was not the intent of the regulation, but it is an inevitable byproduct of its flawed assumptions. .

416. GDA-6191 That means that this regulation effectively further depresses the provision of valuable services to an already underserved group. .

417. GDA-6192 l The next Administration should immediately commence rulemaking to rescind the Equity in IDEA regulation. .

418. GDA-6193 No replacement regulation is required. .

419. GDA-6194 l The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) should prepare a digest of the best research on this subject and share it directly with state superintendents and state special education leaders across the country, who have been led by this regulation to believe a false problem diagnosis. .

420. GDA-6200 Now, the USDA is threatening to withhold federal taxpayer spending for these meals from schools that do not implement Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 so that the term "sex"� is replaced with "sexual orientation and gender identity"� (SOGI). .

421. GDA-6231 Department of Education is required by statute14 to engage in negotiated rulemaking prior to promulgating new regulations under Subchapter 1 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act as well as Subchapters II (Teacher Quality Enhancements) and IV of the Higher Education Act of 1964 (Student Assistance). .

422. GDA-6232 The purpose of negotiated rulemaking is to engage a committee of stakeholders early in the drafting of proposed regulations to ensure that the regulation can be implemented as written, to understand any potential unintended consequences, and to seek suggestions from stakeholders on alternative solutions. .

423. GDA-6236 The department's master calendar (which requires final rules to be published by October 1 if they are to be implemented by July 1st of the subsequent year) compounds the problem, making it unduly challenging to update regulations as needed to keep pace with changes in education, finance, accounting, pedagogy, and student assessment. .

424. GDA-6240 At times, the department itself has appeared to sabotage consensus, which enables them to write the regulation as they wish and without regard to the concerns raised by negotiators. .

425. GDA-6243 Reform the Office of Federal Student Aid This proposal urges the new Administration to end the abuse of FSA's loan forgiveness programs, to manage the federal student loan portfolio in a professional way, and to work with Congress for a long-term overhaul of the program for the benefit of students and taxpayers. .

426. GDA-6245 l The new Administration should also take immediate steps to commence the rulemaking process to rescind or substantially modify the prior Administration's HEA regulations. .

427. GDA-6254 The Biden Administration has mercilessly pillaged the student loan portfolio for crass political purposes without regard to the needs of current taxpayers or future students. .

428. GDA-6256 l As detailed in Section III, the next Administration should work with Congress to spin off federal student aid into a new government corporation with professional governance and management. .

429. GDA-6260 In fact, the NEA and the nation's other large teacher union, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), use litigation and other efforts to block school choice and advocate for additional taxpayer spending in education. .

430. GDA-6262 All of these positions run contrary to robust research evidence showing positive outcomes for students from education choice policies; there is no conclusive evidence that more taxpayer spending on schools improves student outcomes; and evidence finds that keeping schools closed to in-person learning resulted in negative emotional and academic outcomes for students. .

431. GDA-6264 l Congress should rescind the National Education Association's congressional charter and remove the false impression that federal taxpayers support the political activities of this special interest group. .

432. GDA-6267 l Members should conduct hearings to determine how much federal taxpayer money the NEA has used for radical causes favoring a single political party. .

433. GDA-6284 The courts vary greatly over which species of constitutional review (rational basis, intermediate scrutiny, and strict scrutiny) to apply to parental rights cases. .

434. GDA-6286 For example, under the Biden Administration's proposed Title IX regulations, schools could be required to assist a child with a social or medical gender transition without parental consent or to withhold information from parents about a child's social transition (e.g., changing their names or pronouns). .

435. GDA-6292 l Further ensure that any regulations that could impact parental rights contain similar protections and require federal agencies to demonstrate that their action meets strict scrutiny before a final rule is promulgated. .

436. GDA-6297 The Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA) requires schools to obtain parental consent before asking questions, including surveys, about political affiliations or beliefs; mental or psychological issues; sexual behaviors or attitudes; critical appraisals of family members; illegal or self-incriminating behavior; religious practices or beliefs; privileged relationships, as with doctors and clergy; and family income, unless for program eligibility. .

437. GDA-6309 99,17 proposing an amendment to the Constitution relating to parental rights, sponsored by Representative Debbie Lesko (R-AZ). .

438. GDA-6332 l All families should be able to take their children's taxpayer-funded education dollars to the education providers of their choosing --- whether it be a public school or a private school. .

439. GDA-6333 l Congress should additionally deregulate the program by removing the requirement of private schools to administer the D.C. .

440. GDA-6359 Rather, closing the federal behemoth would better target existing taxpayer resources already set aside for these students by shifting oversight responsibilities to federal and state agencies that have more expertise in helping these populations. .

441. GDA-6360 The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is the federal law governing taxpayer spending on K-12 students with special needs. .

442. GDA-6364 Thus, despite a nearly 50-year-old federal law that sees regular revision and reauthorization and approximately $13.5 billion per year in federal taxpayer spending, parents still struggle to establish intervention plans for their students with public school district officials regarding the physical and educational requirements for their children with special needs. .

443. GDA-6369 l Officials should then consider revising IDEA to require that a child's portion of the federal taxpayer spending under the law be made available to families so parents can choose how and where a child learns. .

444. GDA-6373 Title I is the largest portion of federal taxpayer spending under this federal education law, and the section provides additional taxpayer resources to schools or groups of schools in lower income areas. .

445. GDA-6374 Federal taxpayers committed $16.3 billion to Title I in FY 2019, spending that is dedicated to students in low-income areas of the U.S. .

446. GDA-6384 This bill would create a federal scholarship tax credit that would incentivize donors to contribute to nonprofit scholarship granting organizations (SGOs). .

447. GDA-6388 Much of the red tape and regulations that hinder local school districts are handed down from Washington. .

448. GDA-6389 This regulatory burden far exceeds the federal government's less than 10 percent financing share of K-12 education. .

449. GDA-6413 l Revamp the system for recognizing accreditation agencies for Title IV purposes by removing the department's monopoly on recognition by (1) authorizing states to recognize accreditation agencies for Title IV gatekeeping purposes and/or (2) authorizing state agencies to act as accreditation agencies for institutions throughout the United States. .

450. GDA-6415 This would permit accreditors to put some "teeth"� back into their standards without creating high- stakes disasters, such as institutional loss of Title IV access through paperwork submission errors, a state exercising its constitutional authority to administer its public colleges and universities, or an institution freely exercising the religious beliefs of its founders. .

451. GDA-6418 HEA: Student Loans l Beyond immediate policy moves and rulemaking to end the current Administration's abuse of the department's payment pause and HEA loan forgiveness programs, the department should work with Congress to overhaul the federal student loan program for the benefit of taxpayers and students. .

452. GDA-6430 Whatever Congress chooses to do with future loans, there is still the question of the government's responsible stewardship of the existing student loan portfolio --- a substantial taxpayer asset. .

453. GDA-6440 This market- based reform would help reduce federal taxpayer subsidization of leftist agendas. .

454. GDA-6441 NEW REGULATIONS Attacking the Accreditation Cartel For a college to participate in federal financial aid programs, it must be accredited, but accreditors have been abusing their quasi-regulatory power to impose non-educational requirements and ideological preferences on colleges. .

455. GDA-6453 However, overregulation has hampered the usage of direct assessment, with the leading competency-based university choosing to instead convert their courses into credit hours for compliance purposes. .

456. GDA-6455 l New regulations should clarify the definition and requirements of regular and substantive interaction for competency-based education, as well as for online programs. .

457. GDA-6457 l In the meantime, the next Administration should promulgate a new regulation to require the Secretary of Education to allocate at least 40 percent of funding to international business programs that teach about free markets and economics and require institutions, faculty, and fellowship recipients to certify that they intend to further the stated statutory goals of serving American interests. .

458. GDA-6464 They required all federal agencies to apply regulations and statutes instead of guidance documents in any enforcement action. .

459. GDA-6476 NEW AGENCY POLICIES THAT DON'T REQUIRE NEW LEGISLATION OR REGULATIONS TO ENACT Transparency of FERPA and PPRA Complaints l The Department of Education should be transparent about complaints filed on behalf of families regarding the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA). .

460. GDA-6485 l Although the accreditation regulations should be removed entirely by Congress, in the meantime, the next President should issue an executive order expanding the list of allowable accreditors. .

461. GDA-6487 Pursue Antitrust Against Accreditors l The President should issue an executive order pursuing antitrust against college accreditors, especially the American Bar Association (ABA). .

462. GDA-6488 NEW POLICIES/REGULATIONS THAT REQUIRE COORDINATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES AND/OR THE WHITE HOUSE The department must coordinate any rulemaking with the White House, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), DOJ, and other agencies that share responsibility with the department in the administration or enforcement of statute, such as Titles VI and IX. .

463. GDA-6489 Moreover, regarding regulations arising under civil rights laws administered by the department, Executive Order 12550 requires the Attorney General to approve final regulations; the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights must approve notices of proposed rulemaking. .

464. GDA-6495 Department of Education to other agencies and eliminating duplicative and ineffective programs would yield significant taxpayer savings. .

465. GDA-6511 A low estimate suggests ending current student loan forgiveness schemes would save taxpayers $370 billion. .

466. GDA-6513 It is not the responsibility of the federal government to provide taxpayer dollars to create a pipeline from high school to college. .

467. GDA-6549 Code, the Secretary is authorized to waive the requirement for negotiated rulemaking if he or she "determines that applying such a requirement with respect to given regulations is impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest (within the meaning of section 553(b)(3)(B) of [the APA]), and publishes the basis for such determination in the Federal Register at the same time as the proposed regulations in question are first published."� 20 U.S.C. .

468. GDA-6563 Department of Energy (DOE); the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC); and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). .

469. GDA-6569 Under the rubrics of "combating climate change"� and "ESG"� (environmental, social, and governance), the Biden Administration, Congress, and various states, as well as Wall Street investors, international corporations, and progressive special- interest groups, are changing America's energy landscape. .

470. GDA-6571 In the name of combating climate change, policies have been used to create an artificial energy scarcity that will require trillions of dollars in new investment, supported with taxpayer subsidies, to address a "problem"� that government and special interests themselves created. .

471. GDA-6579 Yet the current Administration's first concern is plowing taxpayer dollars into intermittent wind and solar projects and ending the use of reliable fossil fuels. .

472. GDA-6592 l Ensure that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission facilitates rather than hampers private-sector nuclear energy innovation and deployment. .

473. GDA-6600 Externally, adversaries like the Chinese military have been engaged in scientific espionage, infiltrating taxpayer-funded scientific research projects, and funding their own science research. .

474. GDA-6609 Reform is needed because DOE, instead of focusing on core energy and security issues, has been spending billions of taxpayer dollars to subsidize renewable energy developers and investors, thereby making Americans less energy secure and distorting energy markets. .

475. GDA-6613 More recently, DOE has focused its work and taxpayers' money on renewable energy and climate change.6 It is one thing for government to engage in fundamental scientific research that the private sector would not perform, particularly because advancements in science promote national security through technological prowess. .

476. GDA-6630 CESER would work with the existing or reconstituted versions (as described in more detail below) of the Office of Electricity (OE); Office of Nuclear Energy (NE); Office of Fossil Energy (FE), currently the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM); Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to identify and address threats to energy infrastructure.7 Instead of trying to decarbonize the American economy and allocating taxpayer dollars for commercialization of energy technologies, these offices would focus on energy security by identifying threats to energy supplies and infrastructure, developing strategies to address those threats, and funding fundamental science and technology where appropriate. .

477. GDA-6643 FEMP should stop using taxpayer dollars to force the purchase of more expensive and less reliable energy resources in the name of combating climate change. .

478. GDA-6647 FERC is a five-member commission created under the DOE Organization Act that regulates the wholesale sales and transmission of electricity, promotes electric reliability through standards, permits natural gas pipelines and LNG export facilities, sets natural gas pipeline shipping rates, and sets oil pipeline shipping rates. .

479. GDA-6648 It is an economic regulator and should not make itself a climate regulator. .

480. GDA-6649 l Streamline the nuclear regulatory requirements and licensing process. .

481. GDA-6651 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is commission tasked with the licensing of civilian nuclear reactors and power plants and regulating other uses of nuclear materials, such as nuclear medicine. .

482. GDA-6683 Projected liabilities and costs to be borne by America's taxpayers, according to DOE's FY 2023 budget request, total $887,205 billion.13 In addition, the federal government is required by law to dispose of nuclear waste produced by the private sector, including spent fuel rods from nuclear power plants. .

483. GDA-6702 To implement many of the policies contained in these proposals, several laws will need to be amended, including the Department of Energy Organization Act, IIJA, IRA, and possibly portions of the CHIPS (Creating Healthy Incentives to Produce Semiconductors) and Science Act.17 Ending taxpayer subsidies will promote an "all of the above"� energy policy, lead to more energy resources, reduce costs, and save taxpayers billions of dollars. .

484. GDA-6724 3. Work with FERC and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) to ensure that there is sufficient dispatchable on-demand generation available to generate the electricity the grid needs when intermittent generation like wind and solar is not available. .

485. GDA-6734 l Adopt broader regulatory and energy policy reforms that reduce regulatory obstacles, allow all energy sources to compete fairly in the marketplace, and establish a predictable policy environment. .

486. GDA-6747 Despite the recent expansion of the 45Q tax credit for carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) to $87 per ton, most carbon capture technology remains economically unviable, although private-sector innovations are on the horizon. .

487. GDA-6753 Taxpayer dollars should not be used to subsidize preferred businesses and energy resources, thereby distorting the market and undermining energy reliability. .

488. GDA-6768 Under the Biden Administration, EERE is a conduit for taxpayer dollars to fund progressive policies, including decarbonization of the economy and renewable resources. .

489. GDA-6772 Current law and regulations reduce consumer choice, drive up costs for consumer appliances, and emphasize energy efficiency to the exclusion of other important factors such as cycle time and reparability. .

490. GDA-6775 Taxpayer dollars should not be used to subsidize preferred businesses and energy resources, thereby distorting the market and undermining energy reliability. .

491. GDA-6787 Before (or in lieu of) repealing the law, there are steps the agency can take to refocus on the consumer by giving full force to the provisions already in the law that serve to limit regulatory overreach and protect against excessively stringent standards. .

492. GDA-6788 For example, the Trump DOE prioritized the relatively few appliance regulations that were likely to save consumers the most energy and refrained from those whose modest benefits are unlikely to justify the costs. .

493. GDA-6798 l Consider whether to defund the civil nuclear tax credit program and hydroelectric power efficiency and production incentives established in the IIJA and administered through GDO. .

494. GDA-6810 Its mission is "[to] deliver clean energy demonstration projects at scale in partnership with the private sector to accelerate deployment, market adoption, and the equitable transition to a decarbonized energy system."�51 Needed Reforms l End market distortions and stop shifting technology and development risks to taxpayers. .

495. GDA-6811 The OCED is distorting energy markets and shifting the risk of new technology deployment from the private sector to taxpayers. .

496. GDA-6816 Taxpayer dollars should not be used to subsidize preferred businesses and energy resources, thereby distorting the market and undermining energy reliability. .

497. GDA-6819 For example, the already awarded Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program should help to move SMRs from pilot scale to commercialization and in the process address material, fuel, and regulatory issues that would pose deployment risk to utilities and Wall Street. .

498. GDA-6839 This new legislation will create jobs and wealth, address environmental justice and equity priorities and strengthen our energy security and supply chains.57 Needed Reforms Taxpayers should not be backing risky business ventures or politically preferred commercial enterprises. .

499. GDA-6840 To save tax dollars and reduce current risk, the new Administration: l Should not back any new loans or loan guarantees. .

500. GDA-6842 DOE-backed loans and loan guarantees put taxpayers at undue risk, distort private-sector investment decisions, shift private money toward projects with political support, and create additional barriers to entry for companies that are outside of the government's definition of "innovative"� or for companies that choose not to participate. .

501. GDA-6845 l Establish clear mandatory qualifications requiring applicants to comply with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act58 and to certify that they are not financed with any other local, state, or federal taxpayer-backed loan, loan guarantee, or bond (such as a state "green bank"�). .

502. GDA-6848 Needed Reforms l Stop risking taxpayer dollars as venture capital for the private sector. .

503. GDA-6851 Taxpayers should not in effect be picking winners and losers --- and having their dollars at risk but not gaining the economic rewards of success. .

504. GDA-6858 The agency is unnecessary, risks taxpayer dollars, and interferes with risk-benefit decisions that should be made by the private sector. .

505. GDA-6860 Needed Reforms As the world's largest single energy consumer, the federal government should use energy efficiently and cost-effectively --- especially because the taxpayer is paying the energy bills. .

506. GDA-6864 CLEAN ENERGY CORPS Mission/Overview Under the IIJA, "the Clean Energy Corps is charged with investing more than $62 billion to deliver a more equitable clean energy future for the American people[.]"� 67 The Corps says that it will "focus on deploying next generation clean energy technology"� to "help America meet its goals of a carbon-free power sector in 2035 and a decarbonized economy in 2050."�68 Needed Reforms The Clean Energy Corps is a taxpayer-funded program to create new government jobs for employees "who will work together to research, develop, demonstrate, and deploy solutions to climate change."� DOE anticipates recruiting "an additional 1,000 employees using a special hiring authority included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law."�69 Taxpayers should not have to fund a cadre of federal employees to promote a partisan political agenda. .

507. GDA-6890 EIA forecasts should be based on current laws and regulations and should not be used to promote favored policies. .

508. GDA-6893 The cost savings to taxpayers should be considered. .

509. GDA-6958 Department of Energy's"�products, facilities and expertise"� and "integrates 'market pull' into its planning to ensure the greatest return on investment from DOE's RDD&D activities to the taxpayer."�81 Needed Reforms OTT should ensure that the best emerging technologies from DOE and the National Labs are properly supported and protected. .

510. GDA-6962 OTT's operations should be based on the recognition that the new technologies generated by American taxpayers' investment in DOE are a significant national security asset rather than some neutral scientific gift to humanity. .

511. GDA-6987 SC should improve private-sector access to the National Labs, through programs like the GAIN voucher program and consistent with national security considerations, while ensuring that the economic benefits of taxpayer-funded technologies flow back to taxpayers through patent- review sharing or a revolving fund. .

512. GDA-6999 To save taxpayers a potential $500 billion over the long run and reduce current risk, a 10-year program to complete all sites by 2035 (except Hanford with a target date of 2060) should be considered. .

513. GDA-7006 l Revisit the Hanford cleanup's regulatory framework. .

514. GDA-7015 Needed Reforms l Work with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as it reviews DOE's permit application for Yucca Mountain. .

515. GDA-7016 According to both the scientific community and global experience, deep geologic storage is critical to any plan for the proper disposal of more than 75 years of defense waste and 80,000 tons of commercial spent nuclear fuel.95 Yucca Mountain remains a viable option for waste management, and DOE should recommit to working with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as it reviews DOE's permit application for a repository. .

516. GDA-7063 FERC: ELECTRIC RELIABILITY AND RESILIENCE Mission/Overview The Federal Power Act tasks FERC, along with the FERC-designated North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), with promoting the reliability of the bulk power system (the transmission and generation needed to power the electric grid).107 NERC develops technical standards, and FERC adopts them as mandatory standards (including cyber security standards) with which transmission providers, generators, and utilities must comply. .

517. GDA-7098 FERC: RTOS/ISOS AND "ELECTRIC POWER MARKETS"� Mission/Overview For more than 20 years, FERC has issued regulations and directed policies for the creation and operation of regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and independent system operators (ISOs) to manage the dispatch of generation and transmission of electricity.115 Under the misnomer "electric power markets,"� these regulatory constructs use marginal price clearing auctions (in some cases both hourly day-ahead auctions and five-minute day-of-need auctions) and locational marginal pricing to procure electric generation and set prices to meet the needs of the grid. .

518. GDA-7103 RTOs are complex regulatory constructs (with rules set by FERC) that obscure government interference and preferences for preferred resources. .

519. GDA-7107 As subsidized renewables (like wind and solar receiving tax credits) and state renewable portfolio standards (RPS) programs have disrupted market functions, price distortions have driven out reliable, dispatchable resources like coal, natural gas, and nuclear generation in various RTOs. .

520. GDA-7109 Because RTOs use marginal price auctions where natural gas usually sets the clearing price paid to all generators, the economic benefits of renewables (no fuel, tax credits, etc.) are flowing mainly to renewables investors and not to customers (although customers do benefit from some decrease in marginal costs). .

521. GDA-7130 l Direct the RTOs to ensure that the economic benefits of renewables (like tax credits and no fuel costs) are passed on to customers. .

522. GDA-7134 FERC: ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION Mission/Overview Under the Federal Power Act, FERC has the authority to regulate the rates, terms, and conditions of interstate electric transmission. .

523. GDA-7148 FERC: NATURAL GAS PIPELINES Mission/Overview FERC permits, sites, and authorizes the construction and operation of interstate natural gas pipelines.121 It also regulates the rates for the shipping of natural gas122 (but not the price of the natural gas commodity, which is market based). .

524. GDA-7174 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Mission/Overview The Energy Reorganization Act of 1974130 created the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). .

525. GDA-7175 Before then, the commercial nuclear industry was regulated by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), which was established by the 1954 Atomic Energy Act.131 Importantly, the AEC was responsible for encouraging and regulating commercial nuclear power. .

526. GDA-7176 Broad criticism of this dual function was a major factor in the establishment of the NRC, which held regulatory authority while the newly established Department of Energy held the advocacy function. .

527. GDA-7177 Today, the NRC is responsible for a broad range of regulatory activities, including reactor safety, oversight of nuclear materials, and protection against radiation as well as permitting new reactors, certifying new reactor designs, and regulating nuclear waste management activities. .

528. GDA-7178 Needed Reforms In 1989, the NRC established alternative licensing processes that were meant to provide a more predictable and efficient regulatory pathway for new Light Water Reactors (LWRs) by combining construction and operating nuclear power plant licenses, allowing for Early Site Permits, and establishing a framework for preapproval of reactor designs. .

529. GDA-7179 More recently, the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act directed the NRC to establish a technology-neutral licensing process for new, advanced reactor technologies.132 Despite these efforts, the NRC remains a significant cost and regulatory barrier to new nuclear power. .

530. GDA-7181 New Policies While refocusing its regulatory efforts on new reactor technologies, the NRC should also continue to ensure the security of radiological sources and mitigate cybersecurity risks across the industry. .

531. GDA-7185 l Set clear radiation exposure and protection standards by eliminating ALARA ("as low as reasonably achievable"�) as a regulatory principle and setting clear standards according to radiological risk and dose rather than arbitrary objectives. .

532. GDA-7186 l Work with Congress to reform its funding approach so that licensee fees are generally required for activities that are specific to a regulated entity, with other agency costs being provided through normal appropriations. .

533. GDA-7295 39. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, "Categorical Exclusions from Environmental Review,"� Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking; Request for Comment, Federal Register, Vol. .

534. GDA-7298 24514-24516, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-05-07/pdf/2021-09675.pdf (accessed February 27, 2023), and Nuclear Regulatory Commission, "Categorical Exclusions from Environmental Review,"� Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking; Reopening of Comment Period, Federal Register, Vol. .

535. GDA-7488 North American Electric Reliability Corporation, "Announcement: Extreme Weather Heightens Reliability Risks This Summer,"� May 18, 2022, https://www.nerc.com/news/Headlines%20DL/May%2018%202022%20SRA%20Announcement.pdf (accessed February 14, 2023). .

536. GDA-7490 Ethan Howland, "ISO-NE, ERCOT, MISO Face Possible Capacity Shortfalls in Extreme Winter Weather: FERC,"� Utility Dive, October 21, 2022, https://www.utilitydive.com/news/FERC-iso-ne-ercot-miso-extreme-winter- weather-report/634682/ (accessed February 14, 2023), and North American Energy Reliability Corporation, "Announcement: NERC Warns Generation Resources Tight in Large Portion of North America This Winter,"� November 17, 2022, https://www.nerc.com/news/Headlines%20DL/2022%20WRA%20Release%20final.pdf (accessed February 14, 2023). .

537. GDA-7502 Department of Energy, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, "Power Sales and Markets: RTOs and ISOs,"� last updated May 3, 2022, https://www.ferc.gov/power-sales-and-markets/rtos-and-isos (accessed February 14, 2023). .

538. GDA-7506 See notes 110 and 111, supra; North American Electric Reliability Corporation, "2022 Summer Reliability Assessment,"� May 2022, https://www.nerc.com/pa/RAPA/ra/Reliability%20Assessments%20DL/NERC_ SRA_2022.pdf (accessed March 13, 2023); and North American Electric Reliability Corporation, "2022-2023 Winter Reliability Assessment,"� November 2022, https://www.nerc.com/pa/RAPA/ra/Reliability%20Assessments%20DL/NERC_WRA_2022.pdf (accessed March 13, 2023). .

539. GDA-7509 Department of Energy, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, "Building for the Future Through Electric Regional Transmission Planning and Cost Allocation and Generator Interconnection,"� Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Federal Register, Vol. .

540. GDA-7513 Department of Energy, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, "Improvements to Generator Interconnection Procedures and Agreements,"� Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Federal Register, Vol. .

541. GDA-7518 During the deregulation-induced 230,000 MW combined cycle plant boom of 1999 to 2003 and beyond, developers were able to move ahead only with projects that were supported by adequate available gas transmission and near existing localized transmission hubs. .

542. GDA-7543 Department of Energy, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, "North American LNG Export Terminals --- Existing, Approved not Yet Built, and Proposed,"� February 8, 2023, https://www.ferc.gov/natural-gas/lng (accessed February 14, 2023). .

543. GDA-7565 Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Congressional Budget Justification Fiscal Year 2022, June 2021, p. .

544. GDA-7572 Creating environmental standards from the ground up is consistent with the concept of cooperative federalism embedded within many of the agency's authorizing statutes and will create earnest relationships among local officials and regulated stakeholders. .

545. GDA-7578 Further, the EPA needs to be realigned away from attempts to make it an all-powerful energy and land use policymaker and returned to its congressionally sanctioned role as environmental regulator. .

546. GDA-7582 This approach is most obvious in the Biden Administration's assault on the energy sector as the Administration uses its regulatory might to make coal, oil, and natural gas operations very expensive and increasingly inaccessible while forcing the economy to build out and rely on unreliable renewables.1 This approach has also been applied to pesticides and chemicals as the Biden Administration pushes the "greening"� of agriculture and manufacturing among other industrial activities. .

547. GDA-7583 As a consequence of this approach, we see the return of costly, job-killing regulations that serve to depress the economy and grow the bureaucracy but do little to address, much less resolve, complex environmental problems. .

548. GDA-7594 experienced two of the worst environmental disasters in decades, including the Flint, Michigan, water crisis in 20144 and the Gold King Mine spill in 2015.5 Beyond creating such immediate and tangible harm in various communities, an EPA led by activism and a disregard for the law has generated uncertainty in the regulated community, vendetta-driven6 enforcement, weighted analytics, increased costs, and diminished trust in final agency actions. .

549. GDA-7597 Mischaracterizing the state of our environment generally and the actual harms reasonably attributable to climate change specifically is a favored tool that the Left uses to scare the American public into accepting their ineffective, liberty-crushing regulations, diminished private property rights, and exorbitant costs. .

550. GDA-7604 Congress followed suit with the landmark Clean Air Act of 1970 (CAA)11 and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972.12 The subsequent Clean Air Act Amendments of 199013 played a significant role in the expansion of EPA's responsibilities and legal authority with the agency then being tasked with the development of new regulatory mechanisms that included, among other things, cap-and-trade programs for the control of sulfur dioxide and technological standards for nitrogen oxide emissions from coal-fired power plants, a vastly expanded hazardous air pollutant program, a federal operating permit program, and new regulations governing phaseout of the production of ozone-depleting substances in conjunction with U.S. .

551. GDA-7614 Regulatory efforts should focus on addressing tangible environmental problems with practical, cost-beneficial, affordable solutions to clean up the air, water, and soil, and the results should be measured and tracked by simple metrics that are available to the public. .

552. GDA-7620 EPA should foster cooperative relationships with the regulated community, especially small businesses, that encourage compliance over enforcement. .

553. GDA-7621 l Transparent Science and Regulatory Analysis. .

554. GDA-7622 EPA should make public and take comment on all scientific studies and analyses that support regulatory decision-making. .

555. GDA-7626 The Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy position within the Administrator's office should be renamed the Deputy Chief of Staff for Regulatory Improvement. .

556. GDA-7634 l Reviewing the grants program to ensure that taxpayer funds go to organizations focused on tangible environmental improvements free from political affiliation. .

557. GDA-7636 l Restoring the guidance portal to ensure that regulatory and subregulatory standards are clear to affected entities. .

558. GDA-7654 Revise guidance documents that control regulations such as the social cost of carbon; discount rates; timing of regulatory review (before options are selected); causality of health effects; low-dose risk estimation (linear no-threshold analysis); and employment loss analysis. .

559. GDA-7661 OFFICE OF AIR AND RADIATION (OAR) OAR develops national programs, policies, and regulations to control air pollution and radiation exposure. .

560. GDA-7670 l Review and revise Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT) cost guidance to ensure that calculations are accurate and reflect the actual regulatory burden, including costs of air rules implementation and compliance. .

561. GDA-7671 l Obey Congress's direction in CAA § 32116 to "conduct continuing evaluations"� of the employment and plant-closure effects of air regulations. .

562. GDA-7674 l To the extent that the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)18 remains in place, ensure to the maximum extent possible that grants and funding are provided to state regulatory entities and not to nonprofits. .

563. GDA-7675 l Remove any regulations or requirements that confer on third parties any authorities that have been provided to EPA, such as the oil and gas supplemental, which created a Super-Emitter Response Program that allows third parties to act as EPA enforcers. .

564. GDA-7676 Policy-Specific Actions National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) l EPA adopted by regulation a goal of restoring natural visibility by 2064. .

565. GDA-7679 l Under the Good Neighbor Program/Interstate pollutant transport program, review Biden-era regulations to ensure that they do not "overcontrol"� upwind states in violation of the statute as construed by the U.S. .

566. GDA-7685 l Ensure that the requirements EPA puts on a state that has achieved attainment status from nonattainment status are limited to those that are statutorily required, and remove any regulatory differences between attainment and maintenance that are not explicitly required by law. .

567. GDA-7688 l Limit EPA's reliance on CAA § 30121 general rulemaking authority to ensure that it is not abused to issue regulations for which EPA lacks substantive authority elsewhere in the statute. .

568. GDA-7690 Climate Change l Remove the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) for any source category that is not currently being regulated. .

569. GDA-7691 The overall reporting program imposes significant burdens on small businesses and companies that are not being regulated. .

570. GDA-7692 This is either a pointless burden or a sword-of- Damocles threat of future regulation, neither of which is appropriate. .

571. GDA-7695 Regulating Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) Under the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act22 l Repeal Biden Administration implementing regulations for the AIM Act that are unnecessarily stringent and costly. .

572. GDA-7698 Mobile Source Regulation by the Office of Transportation and Air Quality l Establish GHG car standards under Department of Transportation (DOT) leadership that properly consider cost, choice, safety, and national security. .

573. GDA-7710 CAA Section 11123 l Restore the position that EPA cannot regulate a new pollutant from an already regulated source category without making predicate findings for that new pollutant. .

574. GDA-7712 l Revise general implementing regulations for existing source regulatory authority under CAA § 111(d)24 to ensure that EPA gives full meaning to Congress's direction, including source-specific application, and that the state planning program is flexible, federalist, and deferential to the states. .

575. GDA-7713 CAA Section 112 (Hazardous Air Pollutants)25 l Unregulated point or non-point source (fugitive emissions) of an already regulated hazardous air pollutant do not require a Maximum Available Control Technology (MACT) standard. .

576. GDA-7714 l Ensure that Section 112 regulations are harmonized with Section 111 regulations that apply to the same sector/sources. .

577. GDA-7715 l Ensure that cost-benefit analysis is focused on a regulation's targeted pollutant and separately identify ancillary or co-benefits. .

578. GDA-7716 Radiation l Assess and update the agency's radiation standards so that they align with those of other agencies, including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Department of Energy, and Department of Transportation, as well as international standards. .

579. GDA-7718 Personnel, Budget, and Office Restructuring l Place a political appointee in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for the Office of Transportation and Air Quality (OTAQ, regulating mobile sources) and a political appointee in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, for the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS, regulating stationary sources) and give those appointees the requisite titles and authority to oversee the OTAQ and OAQPS staff. .

580. GDA-7723 l Require regional air offices to receive approval from OAR before moving forward with enforcement actions in order to ensure that enforcement is meeting the requirements established by regulations and is not going beyond them. .

581. GDA-7725 Its two main statutes include implementing the Clean Water Act (CWA)26 and Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).27 OW has generated a large number of expansive regulations that infringe on private property rights, most notably with the Waters of the U.S. .

582. GDA-7734 Depending on the outcome of regulations from the Biden Administration as well as intervention by the Supreme Court on both waters of the United States (WOTUS) and CWA Section 401,29 the repeal and reissuance of new regulations should be pursued. .

583. GDA-7735 New Policies New regulations should include the following: l A WOTUS rule that makes clear what is and is not a "navigable water"� and respects private property rights. .

584. GDA-7737 United States that "waters of the United States"� can refer only to "relatively permanent, standing or continuously flowing bodies of water"�as opposed to ordinarily dry channels through which water occasionally or intermittently flows."�30 l A rule that provides clarity and regulatory certainty regarding the CWA Section 401 water quality certification process to limit unnecessary delay for needed projects, including by establishing a discharge-only approach with a limited scope (from point sources into navigable waters), assessing only water quality factors that are consistent with specific CWA sections, and excluding speculative analysis regarding future potential harm. .

585. GDA-7754 The main statutes that OLEM executes are the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)34 to regulate waste management; the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)35 to clean up Superfund sites and provide resources for cleaning up brownfields sites; and Section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act36 to reduce the likelihood of accidental chemical releases. .

586. GDA-7766 l Revise groundwater cleanup regulations and policies to reflect the challenges of omnipresent contaminants like PFAS. .

587. GDA-7773 l Modify regulations that impede resource efficiency, recycling, and reuse by providing clearly that these materials are not waste. .

588. GDA-7774 This can be done by promulgating a rule that provides an alternative pathway to hazardous waste regulation to allow the transport of material to legitimate recyclers or back to manufacturers to support the recycling and reuse of material. .

589. GDA-7775 l Change the electronic manifest (e-manifest) regulations to a 100 percent electronic system and eliminate all paper manifests and manual filing and data input. .

590. GDA-7777 l Reassign regulation and enforcement of air emission standards under the authority of RCRA Section 300437 to OAR and revise and modernize the regulations to comport and integrate with CAA rules. .

591. GDA-7787 Budget While the overall goal is certainly to reduce government scope and spending, OLEM's programs present the best opportunity to use taxpayer dollars to execute EPA's core mission of cleaning up contamination. .

592. GDA-7788 OFFICE OF CHEMICAL SAFETY AND POLLUTION PREVENTION (OCSPP) OCSPP primarily oversees the regulation of new and existing chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)38 and the regulation of pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)39 and Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).40 These activities are managed in two separate offices within OCSPP: the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT, chemicals) and Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP, pesticides). .

593. GDA-7795 This includes revising the regulations governing the reviews of new chemicals. .

594. GDA-7815 Budget The Biden Administration has expanded the scope and breadth of regulatory actions with respect to OPPT and OPP, but both programs continue to maintain that resources are insufficient. .

595. GDA-7822 OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (ORD) AND RELATED SCIENCE ACTIVITIES While much of this work has not been authorized by law, EPA conducts a wide variety of intramural and extramural research, development, regulatory science, science advisory, peer review, risk assessment, and risk management activities. .

596. GDA-7827 l The new President's Inauguration Day regulatory review/freeze directives should avoid exceptions for EPA actions. .

597. GDA-7828 This freeze should explicitly include quasi-regulatory actions, including assessments, determinations, standards, and guidance, that have failed to go through the notice-and- comment process and may date back years. .

598. GDA-7829 l Pause for review all contracts above $100,000 with a heavy focus on major external peer reviews and regulatory models. .

599. GDA-7831 l Eliminate the use of unauthorized regulatory inputs like the social cost of carbon, black box and proprietary models, and unrealistic climate scenarios, including those based on Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5. .

600. GDA-7837 l Eliminate the use of Title 42 hiring authority that allows ORD to spend millions in taxpayer dollars for salaries of certain employees above the civil service scale. .

601. GDA-7841 EPA's FY 2023 budget request for the Office of Research and Development seeks funds for more than 1,850 employees --- a dramatic increase for what is already the largest EPA office with well above 10 percent of the agency's workforce.44 ORD conducts a wide-ranging series of science and peer review activities, some in support of regulatory programs established by our environmental laws, but often lacks authority for these specific endeavors. .

602. GDA-7842 Several ORD offices and programs, many of which constitute unaccountable efforts to use scientific determinations to drive regulatory, enforcement, and legal decisions, should be eliminated. .

603. GDA-7847 EPA has failed to implement meaningful reforms, and this unaccountable program threatens key regulatory processes as well as the integrity of Clean Air Act and TSCA implementation. .

604. GDA-7848 Needed EPA Advisory Body Reforms EPA currently operates 21 federal advisory committees.45 These committees often play an outsized role in determining agency scientific and regulatory policy, and their membership has too often been handpicked to achieve certain political positions. .

605. GDA-7849 In the Biden Administration, key EPA advisory committees were purged of balanced perspectives, geographic diversity, important regulatory and private-sector experience, and state, local, and tribal expertise. .

606. GDA-7851 As a result, a variety of EPA regulations lack relevant scientific perspectives, increasing the risks of economic fallout and a failure of cooperative federalism. .

607. GDA-7852 EPA also has repeatedly disregarded legal requirements regarding the role of these advisory committees and the scope of scientific advice on key regulations.46 Needed Science Policy Reforms Instead of allowing these efforts to be misused for scaremongering risk communications and enforcement activities, EPA should embrace so-called citizen science and deputize the public to subject the agency's science to greater scrutiny, especially in areas of data analysis, identification of scientific flaws, and research misconduct. .

608. GDA-7854 l Work (including with Congress) to provide incentives similar to those under the False Claims Act47 for the public to identify scientific flaws and research misconduct, thereby saving taxpayers from having to bear the costs involved in expending unnecessary resources. .

609. GDA-7855 l Avoid proprietary, black box models for key regulations. .

610. GDA-7856 Nearly all major EPA regulations are based on nontransparent models for which the public lacks access or for which significant costs prevent the public from understanding agency analysis. .

611. GDA-7858 In the face of uncertainty around associations between certain pollutants and health or welfare endpoints, EPA's heavy reliance on default assumptions like its low-dose, linear non-threshold model bake orders of magnitude of risk into key regulatory inputs and drive flawed and opaque decisions. .

612. GDA-7859 Given the disproportionate economic impacts of top-down solutions, EPA should implement an approach that defaults to less restrictive regulatory outcomes. .

613. GDA-7860 l Refocus its research activities on accountable real-world examinations of the efficacy of its regulations with a heavy emphasis on characterizing and better understanding natural, background, international, and anthropogenic contributions for key pollutants. .

614. GDA-7862 Legislative Reforms While some reforms can be achieved administratively (especially in areas where EPA clearly lacks congressional authorization for its activities), Congress should prioritize several EPA science activity reforms: l Use of the Congressional Review Act for Congress to disapprove of EPA regulations and other quasi-regulatory actions and prohibit "substantially similar"� actions in the future. .

615. GDA-7866 l Add teeth to long-standing executive orders, memoranda, recommendations, and other policies to require that EPA regulations are based on transparent, reproducible science as well as that the data and publications resulting from taxpayer-funded activities are made immediately available to the public. .

616. GDA-7891 Allocations of agency resources, increased EPA enforcement, and/or agency distribution of grants should be based on neutral constitutional principles. .

617. GDA-7892 In 2023, the Supreme Court is expected to provide guidance on the constitutionality of race-based discrimination as it considers Students for Fair Admissions v. .

618. GDA-7951 It will prevent unnecessary expenditures by the regulated community, allowing for investment in economic development and job creation, which are keys to thriving communities. .

619. GDA-7952 Cutting EPA's size and scope will deliver savings to the American taxpayer. .

620. GDA-7978 (1970),"� last updated September 12, 2022, https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-air-act (accessed January 27, 2023). .

621. GDA-7982 (1972),"� last updated July 6, 2022, https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-water-act (accessed January 25, 2023). .

622. GDA-8013 (1972),"� last updated July 6, 2022, https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-water-act (accessed January 26, 2023). .

623. GDA-8016 §300f et seq, (1974),"� last updated September 12, 2022, https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-safe-drinking- water-acthttps://www.epa.gov/sdwa (accessed January 26, 2023). .

624. GDA-8033 (1976),"� last updated September 12, 2022, https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary- resource-conservation-and-recovery-act (accessed January 27, 2023). .

625. GDA-8037 (1980),"� last updated September 12, 2022, https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-comprehensive-environmental-response- compensation-and-liability-act (accessed January 27, 2023). .

626. GDA-8045 (1976),"� last updated October 4, 2022, https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-toxic-substances- control-act (accessed January 27, 2023). .

627. GDA-8049 (1996),"� last updated September 12, 2022, https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/ summary-federal-insecticide-fungicide-and-rodenticide-act (accessed January 27, 2023). .

628. GDA-8053 (2002),"� last updated September 12, 2022, https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-federal- food-drug-and-cosmetic-act (accessed January 27, 2023). .

629. GDA-8061 (1973),"� last updated September 12, 2022, https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-endangered- species-act (accessed January 27, 2023). .

630. GDA-8081 Alfredo Gómez, Director, Natural Resources and Environment, GAO, before the Subcommittee on Superfund, Waste Management, and Regulatory Oversight, Committee on Environment and Public Works, U.S. .

631. GDA-8111 (1969),"� last updated September 12, 2022, https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-national- environmental-policy-act (accessed January 27, 2023). .

632. GDA-8136 States should be the primary regulators of the medical profession, and the federal government should not restrict providers' ability to discharge their responsibilities or limit their ability to innovate through government pricing controls or irrational Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement schemes. .

633. GDA-8138 The federal government should focus reform on reducing burdens of regulatory compliance, unleashing innovation in health care delivery, ceasing interference in the daily lives of patients and providers, allowing alternative insurance coverage options, and returning control of health care dollars to patients making decisions with their providers about their health care treatments and services. .

634. GDA-8163 The next Administration should guard against the regulatory capture of our public health agencies by pharmaceutical companies, insurers, hospital conglomerates, and related economic interests that these agencies are meant to regulate. .

635. GDA-8165 All National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Food and Drug Administration regulators should be entirely free from private biopharmaceutical funding. .

636. GDA-8166 In this realm, "public-private partnerships"� is a euphemism for agency capture, a thin veneer for corporatism. .

637. GDA-8169 Regulators should have a long "cooling off period"� on their contracts (15 years would not be too long) that prevents them from working for companies they have regulated. .

638. GDA-8170 Similarly, pharmaceutical company executives should be restricted from moving from industry into positions within regulatory agencies. .

639. GDA-8189 For example, how much risk mitigation is worth the price of shutting down churches on the holiest day of the Christian calendar and far beyond as happened in 2020? What is the proper balance of lives saved versus souls saved? The CDC has no business making such inherently political (and often unconstitutional) assessments and should be required by law to stay in its lane. .

640. GDA-8199 By statute or regulation, CDC guidance must be prohibited from taking on a prescriptive character. .

641. GDA-8206 The money started flowing immediately: From 2014 through 2018, the CDC Foundation received $79.6 million from pharmaceutical corporations like Pfizer, Biogen, and Merck.7 This practice presents a stark conflict of interest that should be banned. .

642. GDA-8242 Learning from the failed early COVID-19 testing experience, Congress and the FDA should focus on reforming laws and regulations governing medical tests, especially with respect to laboratory-developed tests. .

643. GDA-8245 To encourage interlaboratory collaboration and discourage duplicative test creation (and associated regulatory and logistical burdens), the FDA should introduce mechanisms through which laboratory-developed tests can easily be shared with other laboratories without the current regulatory burdens.11 The "laboratory-developed tests"� category currently encompasses a range of possible tests, many of which would be characterized more appropriately as "laboratory- modified tests"� because they are not truly novel tests but rather modified versions of existing tests. .

644. GDA-8246 To avoid stifling innovation and access to medical care, the applicable statutes and regulations should be revised to facilitate greater access to such modified tests.12 Finally, the FDA has long held that it has regulatory authority over such tests, while others have argued that they should be considered clinical services regulated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). .

645. GDA-8247 The FDA currently has regulatory authority over in vitro diagnostics, and under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA),13 the CMS ensures that labs meet analytical validity standards for test methods. .

646. GDA-8248 Congress, the FDA, and the CMS need to clarify and disentangle overlapping authorities over tests to eliminate regulatory confusion.14 Drug Shortages. .

647. GDA-8249 The very thin profit margins and the regulatory burdens associated with generic drug manufacturing discourage inventory and capacity investments by manufacturers and contribute to drug shortages. .

648. GDA-8267 FDA should therefore: l Reverse its approval of chemical abortion drugs because the politicized approval process was illegal from the start. .

649. GDA-8271 Now that the Supreme Court has acknowledged that the Constitution contains no right to an abortion, the FDA is ethically and legally obliged to revisit and withdraw its initial approval, which was premised on pregnancy being an "illness"� and abortion being "therapeutically"� effective at treating this "illness."� The FDA is statutorily charged with guaranteeing the safety and efficacy of drugs and therefore should withdraw this drug that is proven to be dangerous to women and by definition fatally unsafe for unborn children. .

650. GDA-8293 A 2018 report in Science found that more than two-thirds of FDA reviewers later ended up at the same companies whose products they had been reviewing while they were working for the government.18 This revolving door is one mechanism by which pharmaceutical companies capture the agencies that regulate them. .

651. GDA-8294 The FDA should impose a lengthy cooling off period for reviewers, preventing them from working for companies they regulated. .

652. GDA-8295 In 1997, the FDA relaxed regulations to permit broadcast drug advertisements, after which Big Pharma began routine direct-to-consumer advertising, making the United States and New Zealand the only countries where such practices are legal. .

653. GDA-8298 The FDA or Congress should regulate where and how paid advertising is used by pharmaceutical companies more stringently, especially on media outlets. .

654. GDA-8303 Research using human embryonic stem cells also involves the destruction of human life and should not be subsidized with taxpayer dollars. .

655. GDA-8322 The NIH monopoly on directing research should be broken. .

656. GDA-8342 l Reduce regulatory burdens on doctors. .

657. GDA-8344 l Ensure sustainability and value for beneficiaries and taxpayers. .

658. GDA-8349 Regulatory Reforms. .

659. GDA-8350 Medicare regulations restrict choice of coverage and care. .

660. GDA-8351 The next Administration should reintroduce and restore regulations and demonstrations from the Trump Administration that were withdrawn, weakened, or never finalized by the Biden Administration, including: l The Medicare Coverage of Innovative Technologies (MCIT) rule; l The Risk Adjustment Data Validation (RADV) rule; l The Medicare Advantage Qualifying Payment Arrangement Incentive (MAQI) demonstration; and l The Global and Professional Direct Contracting (GPDC, rebranded as the Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health or ACO REACH) model. .

661. GDA-8352 Additionally, regulations should advance site neutrality by eliminating the inpatient- only list and expanding the ambulatory surgical center covered procedures list. .

662. GDA-8356 Such a policy would level the playing field among providers and remove the financial disabilities for medical professionals who would compete with hospital systems.23 Finally, HHS needs to restore and enhance conscience protection regulations that allow medical practitioners to participate in federal health care programs without being compelled to provide sex changes or similar services. .

663. GDA-8374 l Codify price transparency regulations. .

664. GDA-8391 Reform of the tax code is also essential to genuine, effective reform of our health care system. .

665. GDA-8407 To protect the taxpayers' investment: 1. .

666. GDA-8421 Medicaid recipients, like the rest of Americans, should be given both the freedom to choose their health plans and the responsibility to contribute to their health care costs at a level that is appropriate to protect the taxpayer. .

667. GDA-8440 DPC has faced many challenges from government policymakers, including overly exuberant attempts at regulation and misclassification. .

668. GDA-8443 This government-mandated dispute resolution process has sown confusion among arbiters and regulators as judges have sought to ascertain its meaning. .

669. GDA-8450 To make health insurance coverage more affordable for those who are without government subsidies, CMS should develop a plan to separate the non-subsidized insurance market from the subsidized market, giving the non-subsidized market regulatory relief from the costly ACA regulatory mandates.39 l Strengthen hospital price transparency. .

670. GDA-8458 During the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing laboratories greater regulatory flexibility regarding CLIA requirements increased access to testing. .

671. GDA-8459 However, the need for regulatory flexibility is not limited to emergency situations. .

672. GDA-8469 The Hyde Amendment44 has long prohibited the use of HHS funds for elective abortions, but an August 2022 Biden executive order45 pressed the HHS Secretary to use his authority under Section 1115 demonstrations to waive certain provisions of the law in order to use taxpayer funds to achieve the Administration's goal of helping women to travel out of state to obtain abortions. .

673. GDA-8473 During the 2020-2021 reporting period, Planned Parenthood performed more than 383,000 abortions.46 The national organization reported more than $133 million in excess revenue47 and more than $2.1 billion in net assets.48 During this same year, Planned Parenthood reports that its affiliates received more than $633 million in government funding and more than $579 million in private contributions.49 Planned Parenthood affiliates face accusations of waste, abuse and potential fraud with taxpayer dollars, failure to report the sexual abuse of minor girls, and allegations of profiting from the sale of organs from aborted babies. .

674. GDA-8474 Policymakers should end taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood and all other abortion providers and redirect funding to health centers that provide real health care for women. .

675. GDA-8479 Congress should pass the Protecting Life and Taxpayers Act,50 which would accomplish the goal of defunding abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood. .

676. GDA-8491 l Rewrite the ACA abortion separate payment regulation. .

677. GDA-8493 Neither the letter nor the spirit of the law was enforced under President Obama, and a Trump- era regulation sought to correct this problem. .

678. GDA-8494 The Biden HHS rescinded this regulation to allow insurance companies once again --- contrary to the law --- to collect combined payments for what are clearly required to be separate payments for elective abortion coverage. .

679. GDA-8495 "Separate"� does not mean "together."� HHS should reinstate a Trump Administration regulation and enforce what the plain text of Section 1303 requires. .

680. GDA-8496 That regulation should be further improved by requiring CMS to ensure that consumers pay truly separate charges for abortion coverage. .

681. GDA-8518 HHS should revive a Trump Administration proposed regulation, "Special Responsibilities of Medicare Hospitals in Emergency Cases and Discrimination on the Basis of Disability in Critical Health and Human Service Programs or Activities,"�54 to achieve this end. .

682. GDA-8521 Congress can accomplish this through legislation such as the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act56 (Hyde) and the Conscience Protection Act57 (Weldon). .

683. GDA-8529 However, while the Biden Administration's Section 1557 regulation should be altered and corrected, the lactation room requirements added in the regulation should either be consistently included in any upcoming Section 1557 rulemaking or be proposed in a new individual rule. .

684. GDA-8535 l Revoke corresponding guidance and regulations. .

685. GDA-8540 States use TANF to fund monthly cash assistance payments to low-income families with children as well as a wide range of services that include work activities, work supports and supportive services, childcare, administration and systems, tax credits, pre-K/Head Start, child welfare, and other services. .

686. GDA-8567 Any lists with "approved curriculum"� or so-called evidence-based lists should be abolished; HHS should not create a monopoly of curriculum, adding to the profit of certain publishers. .

687. GDA-8573 HHS, through ACF and the Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources (ASFR), should repeal the unnecessary 2016 regulation61 that imposes nonstatutory sexual orientation and gender identity nondiscrimination conditions on agency grants and return to the policy of maximizing the options for placing vulnerable children in their forever homes. .

688. GDA-8580 illegally. .

689. GDA-8582 Nearly all of HHS's care, custody, and placement of children is done through cooperative agreements with private agencies, many of which may have broken federal law by inducing or being accomplices in illegal immigration. .

690. GDA-8595 Child Support Tax Credit. .

691. GDA-8596 National or state guidelines and tax law should be updated to ensure that nonresident parents with child support orders can receive a nondependent, child support tax credit. .

692. GDA-8597 Single filers of up to $41,756 and married or joint filers of up to $47,646 would be eligible for a child support tax credit similar to the current earned income tax credit. .

693. GDA-8599 A child support tax credit would use the low-income, nonresident parents' own earned income and history of employment to assist them further in the task of caring for their children. .

694. GDA-8672 However, telehealth across state lines, when permitted, is interstate commerce, which can be regulated by the federal government according to the Constitution. .

695. GDA-8674 HHS should rescind, if finalized, the regulation titled "Coverage of Certain Preventive Services Under the Affordable Care Act,"� proposed jointly by HHS, Treasury, and Labor.70 This rule proposes to amend Trump-era final rules regarding religious and moral exemptions and accommodations for coverage of certain preventive services under the ACA. .

696. GDA-8675 Preventive services include contraception, and it appears the proposed rule would change the existing regulations for religious and moral exemptions to the ACA's contraception mandate. .

697. GDA-8691 HRSA should promulgate regulations consistent with this order. .

698. GDA-8708 2. Ensure that the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) complies with all relevant conscience statutes and regulations and that states have taken the affirmative steps (for example, by issuing regulations) to assure compliance with Coats-Snowe. .

699. GDA-8710 4. Require states that receive HHS funds to issue regulations or enter into arrangements with accrediting bodies to comply with the Coats-Snowe Amendment's prohibition of mandatory abortion training by individuals or institutions. .

700. GDA-8711 The Coats-Snowe Amendment specifically requires such state regulations or arrangements. .

701. GDA-8739 To improve its health care policies that affect rural regions, HHS should: l Reduce the regulatory burden and unleash private innovation that can discover solutions to unique, local needs. .

702. GDA-8747 l Reinstate the HHS SUNSET (Securing Updated and Necessary Statutory Evaluations Timely) rule.75 Congress should codify the now- reversed Trump Administration rule that required all HHS agencies to review regulations retrospectively and publish results; without such a review, regulations expire. .

703. GDA-8785 In 2021, HHS reversed a Trump Administration regulation that required grantees to maintain strict physical and financial separation between Title X activity and abortion-related activity.76 Under the Biden Administration's regulation,77 Title X activity can be conducted alongside abortion activity without strict physical and financial separation. .

704. GDA-8786 The regulation also requires grantees to refer for abortions despite sincere moral or religious objections. .

705. GDA-8788 HHS should rescind the Biden Administration's regulation and reinstate the Trump Administration regulation for the program. .

706. GDA-8789 It should also do this quickly (the Biden Administration completed its regulatory process and issued a final rule in less than nine months) and expand the potential grantee population beyond abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. .

707. GDA-8812 American Hospital Association81 prevents any proposed HHS regulations or enforcement actions concerning the denial of care to newborn infants with disabilities by covered health care entities without or against parental consent. .

708. GDA-8824 At the same time, when it continues to fund governmental and private entities that violate these laws, HHS is spending taxpayer funds unlawfully. .

709. GDA-8833 These regulations would provide a clear process for OCR's enforcement in coordination with other HHS divisions and existing HHS grants regulations. .

710. GDA-8839 l HHS should restore Section 1557, Section 504, and other OCR regulations and fix guidance documents. .

711. GDA-8840 In 2020, the Trump Administration's OCR published regulations under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act that restored the agency's enforcement of that law to the limits of its statutory text, deferred to the ACA's widespread use of a binary biological conception of sex discrimination, and specified that the regulation must comply with the religious exemption and abortion neutrality clauses in Title IX from which it is derived as well as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and other laws. .

712. GDA-8847 Issue a general statement of policy specifying that it will not enforce any prohibition on sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in the Section 1557 regulation and that it will prioritize compliance with the First Amendment, RFRA, and federal conscience laws in any case implicating those claims. .

713. GDA-8850 Issue a proposed rule to restore the Trump regulations under Section 1557, explicitly interpreting the law not to include sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination based on the textual approach to male and female biology taken by Congress in the ACA, the need to recognize biological distinctions as part of the sound practice of health care, and the need to ensure protections of medical judgment and conscience. .

714. GDA-8855 5. Issue and finalize the Trump-era draft disability rights regulations concerning crisis standards of care and use of Quality of Life Adjusted Years (QALYs), and reissue and finalize a disability regulation (withdrawn by the Biden Administration) that prohibited discriminatory application of assisted suicide and denial of life-saving treatments for disabled newborns. .

715. GDA-8881 Haislmaier, "Lessons from COVID-19: How Policymakers Should Reform the Regulation of Clinical Testing,"� Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. .

716. GDA-8883 heritage.org/public-health/report/lessons-covid-19-how-policymakers-should-reform-the-regulation-clinical. .

717. GDA-8899 11. Sluzala and Haislmaier, "Lessons From COVID-19: How Policymakers Should Reform the Regulation of Clinical Testing."� 12. .

718. GDA-8904 14. Sluzala and Haislmaier, "Lessons From COVID-19: How Policymakers Should Reform the Regulation of Clinical Testing."� 15. .

719. GDA-8973 42. Sluzala and Haislmaier, "Lessons from COVID-19: How Policymakers Should Reform the Regulation of Clinical Testing."� 43. .

720. GDA-8995 372, Protecting Life and Taxpayers Act of 2023, 118th Congress, introduced January 17, 2023, https://www. .

721. GDA-9011 7, No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2023, 118th Congress, introduced January 9, 2023, https://www.congress.gov/118/bills/hr7/BILLS-118hr7ih.pdf (accessed March 17, 2023). .

722. GDA-9023 60. The regulation was not finalized before the end of the Administration. .

723. GDA-9029 61. 45 Code of Federal Regulations § 75.300(c) and (d), https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/subtitle-A/ subchapter-A/part-75/subpart-D/subject-group-ECFR911e5e1a30bfbcb/section-75.300 (accessed March 17, 2023). .

724. GDA-9125 This plan should include both the immediate redelegation of authority to a cadre of political appointees and the urgent implementation of administrative regulatory actions with respect to HUD policy and program eligibility. .

725. GDA-9155 OHHLHC was established in the early 1990s to eliminate lead-based paint hazards in America's privately owned and low-income housing, address healthy housing initiatives, and enforce lead-based paint regulations authorized under the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992 (Title X of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992).21 These functions overlap with similar functions of the Environmental Protection Agency (also authorized to enforce lead-based paint regulations under Title X) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Healthy Homes Initiative, Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, and National Asthma Control Program. .

726. GDA-9158 PDR also provides publicly available statistics through the American Housing Survey (AHS), which is sponsored by HUD and conducted by the Census Bureau; the State of the Cities Data Systems; data on the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC); and annual Fair Market Rents and Income Limits data, among other statistical publications and datasets on the characteristics of families assisted under HUD programs. .

727. GDA-9165 HUD REFORM PILLARS Ideally, Congress would redelegate authorities that have been diverted to HUD's administrative bureaucracy and safeguard taxpayers against the mission creep that inevitably occurs when Congress delegates power to an empowered and unelected bureaucracy that is insulated by civil service protections. .

728. GDA-9172 l The Secretary should initiate a HUD task force consisting of politically appointed personnel to identify and reverse all actions taken by the Biden Administration to advance progressive ideology.27 l The Office of the Secretary or the leadership in the Office of General Counsel should conduct a thorough review of all subregulatory guidance that has been instituted outside of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). .

729. GDA-9176 Repeal the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) regulation reinstituted under the Biden Administration30 and any other uses of special-purpose credit authorities to further equity.31 4. .

730. GDA-9177 Eliminate the new Housing Supply Fund.32 l The Office of the Secretary should recommence proposed regulation put forward under the Trump Administration that would prohibit noncitizens, including all mixed-status families, from living in all federally assisted housing.33 HUD's statutory obligations include providing housing for American citizens who are in need. .

731. GDA-9178 HUD reforms must also ensure alignment with reforms implemented by other federal agencies where immigration status impacts public programs, certainly to include any reforms in the Public Charge regulatory framework administered by the U.S. .

732. GDA-9181 l The Office of the Secretary should execute regulatory and subregulatory guidance actions, across HUD programs and applicable to all relevant stakeholders, that would restrict program eligibility when admission would threaten the protection of the life and health of individuals and fail to encourage upward mobility and economic advancement through household self-sufficiency. .

733. GDA-9182 Where admissible in regulatory action, HUD should implement reforms reducing the implicit anti-marriage bias in housing assistance programs,34 strengthen work and work-readiness requirements,35 implement maximum term limits for residents in PBRA and TBRA programs,36 and end Housing First37 policies so that the department prioritizes mental health and substance abuse issues before jumping to permanent interventions in homelessness.38 Notwithstanding administrative reforms, Congress should enact legislation that protects life and eliminates provisions in federal housing and welfare benefits policies that discourage work, marriage, and meaningful paths to upward economic mobility. .

734. GDA-9183 l The AS or PDAS for the Office of Policy Development and Research should suspend all external research and evaluation grants in the Office of Policy Development and Research and end or realign to another office any functions that are not involved in the collection and use of data and survey administration functions and do not facilitate the execution of regulatory impact analysis studies. .

735. GDA-9196 This can be pursued through regulations and legislative reforms that seek to strengthen work requirements, limit the period during which households are eligible for housing benefits, and add flexibility to rent payment terms to facilitate the movement of households toward self-sufficiency. .

736. GDA-9206 Localities rather than the federal government must have the final say in zoning laws and regulations, and a conservative Administration should oppose any efforts to weaken single-family zoning. .

737. GDA-9207 Along the same lines, Congress can propose tax credits for the renovation or repair of housing stock in rural areas so that more Americans are able to access the American Dream of homeownership. .

738. GDA-9210 At best, any new public investments will provide maintenance funds to bring substandard housing units and properties up to livability standards but will still fail to address larger aims of upward mobility and dynamism for local housing markets where land can be sold by PHAs and put to greater economic use, thereby benefiting entire local economies through greater private investment, productivity and employment opportunities, and increased tax revenue. .

739. GDA-9215 Overall, the deterioration of HUD's financial infrastructure led to a lack of accountability with respect to the use of taxpayer funds as well as to pervasive difficulties with operations and program implementation. .

740. GDA-9260 Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD Exchange, "49 CFR Part 24-URA Regulations,"� published February 2005, https://www.hudexchange.info/resource/804/ura-and- real-property-acquisition-policies-act-49-cfr-part-24/ (accessed March 4, 2023). .

741. GDA-9306 To achieve the policy and regulatory reforms outlined in this chapter, political appointees must be carefully placed in positions that reflect not only technical, market/ industry, and operational expertise, but also a shared will and commitment. .

742. GDA-9307 25. Process must prioritize where political leadership can implement administrative reforms through regulatory action and subregulatory guidance reforms. .

743. GDA-9311 29. Revise regulatory and subregulatory guidance, where applicable within statutory authorities, that adds unnecessary delay and costs to the construction and development of new housing and has been estimated to account for about 40 percent of new housing unit costs in multifamily housing. .

744. GDA-9327 Further, and more fundamental to the housing supply challenge in markets across the U.S., localities can consider revising land use, zoning, and building regulations that constrict new housing development, adding time delays and costs that impede construction. .

745. GDA-9338 37. HUD should implement administrative changes in regulation and guidance and seek statutory authority to end all Housing First directives of Continuum of Care (CoC) grantees and contract homelessness providers in addition to establishing restrictions on local Housing First policies where HUD grant funds are used. .

746. GDA-9349 41. The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 fundamentally revised the scope of federal regulation in the nation's housing finance system, placing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under the purview of a newly established Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and establishing a Housing Trust Fund (HTF) that is administered in the HUD Office of Community Planning and Development. .

747. GDA-9389 Worse yet, Biden's DOI not only refuses to adhere to the statutes enacted by Congress as to how the lands under its jurisdiction are managed, but it also insists on implementing a vast regulatory regime (for which Congress has not granted authority) and overturning, by unilateral regulatory action, congressional acts that set forth the productive economic uses permitted on DOI-managed federal land. .

748. GDA-9402 Regulates offshore oil and gas facilities on 1.7 billion acres of the Outer Continental Shelf; oversees oil spill response; supports research on technology for oil spill response. .

749. GDA-9406 Regulates coal mining and site reclamation; provides grants to states and tribes for mining oversight; mitigates the effects of past mining. .

750. GDA-9416 Not only are valuable natural resources owned generally by the American people involved, so too are those owned separately by American Indian tribes and individual American Indians, both of which have been injured by Biden's illegal actions. .

751. GDA-9432 A new Administration must immediately roll back Biden's orders, reinstate the Trump-era Energy Dominance Agenda, rescind Secretarial Order (SO) 3398, and review all regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, and similar agency actions made in compliance with that order.18 Meanwhile, the new Administration must immediately reinstate the following Trump DOI secretarial orders: l SO 3348: Concerning the Federal Coal Moratorium;19 l SO 3349: American Energy Independence;20 l SO 3350: America-First Offshore Energy Strategy;21 l SO 3351: Strengthening the Department of the Interior's Energy Portfolio;22 l SO 3352: National Petroleum Reserve --- Alaska;23 l SO 3354: Supporting and Improving the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Program and Federal Solid Mineral Leasing Program;24 l SO 3355: Streamlining National Environmental Policy Reviews and Implementation of Executive Order 13807, "Establishing Discipline and Accountability in the Environmental Review and Permitting Process for Infrastructure Projects"�;25 l SO 3358: Executive Committee for Expedited Permitting;26 l SO 3360: Rescinding Authorities Inconsistent with Secretary's Order 3349, "American Energy Independence;"�27 l SO 3380: Public Notice of the Costs Associated with Developing Department of the Interior Publications and Similar Documents;28 l SO 3385: Enforcement Priorities;29 and l SO 3389: Coordinating and Clarifying National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 Reviews.30 Actions. .

752. GDA-9436 l Set rents, royalty rates, and bonding requirements to no higher than what is required under the Inflation Reduction Act.36 l Comply with the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to establish a competitive leasing and development program in the Coastal Plain, an area of Alaska that was set aside by Congress specifically for future oil and gas exploration and development. .

753. GDA-9467 Sixty-one positions were retained in Washington, D.C., to address public, congressional, and regulatory affairs, Freedom of Information Act compliance, and budget development. .

754. GDA-9508 Obviously, those managers lack a comprehensive understanding of law enforcement issues --- constitutional, legal, and tactical. .

755. GDA-9528 This number includes the more than 47,000 animals the BLM has already gathered from public lands, at a cost to the American taxpayer of nearly $50 million annually to care for them in off-range corrals. .

756. GDA-9562 Fish and Wildlife Service rules regarding predator control and bear baiting, which are matters for state regulation. .

757. GDA-9583 Specifically, those federal lands are to be "managed"�for permanent forest production"� and its timber "sold, cut, and removed in conformity with the princip[le] of sustained yield."�74 As the district court concluded,75 beginning in 1990, the federal government erected a trifecta of illegal barriers to the accomplishment of the congressional mandate, beginning with a response to the listing of the northern spotted owl,76 continuing a decade later with the designation of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument,77 and concluding in 2017 with an expansion of that monument.78 In order to fulfill the yet-unaltered congressional mandate contained in federal law, to provide for jobs and well-paying employment opportunities in rural Oregon, and to ameliorate the effects of wildfires, the new Administration must immediately fulfill its responsibilities and manage the O&C lands for "permanent forest production"� to ensure that the timber is "sold, cut, and removed."�79 NEPA Reforms. .

758. GDA-9608 l Revise the Applicant Violator System, the nationwide database for the federal and state programs, to permit federal and state regulators to consider extenuating circumstances. .

759. GDA-9609 l Maintain the current "Ten-Day Notice"� rule, which requires OSM to work with state regulators in determining if a SMCRA violation has taken place in recognition of the fact that a coal mining state with primacy has the lead in implementing state and federal law. .

760. GDA-9629 l Despite Indian nations having primary responsibility for their lands and environment and responsibility for the safety of their communities, the Biden Administration is reversing efforts to put Indian nations in charge of environmental regulation on their own lands. .

761. GDA-9631 l By its failure to secure the border, the Biden Administration has robbed Indian nations on or near the Mexican border of safe and secure communities while permitting them to be swamped by a tide of illegal drugs, particularly fentanyl. .

762. GDA-9636 l Restore the right of tribal governments to enforce environmental regulation on their lands. .

763. GDA-9654 2. "The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States."� 3. .

764. GDA-9729 Katie Tubb, "Comment for the 2023-2028 National OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Program,"� BOEM-2022-0031, October 6, 2022, http:// thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/2022/Regulatory_Comments/BOEM%202023-2028%20lease%20plan%20comment%20KTubb.pdf (accessed March 16, 2023). .

765. GDA-9732 37. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Public Law No. .

766. GDA-9764 Fish and Wildlife Service, "Governing the Take of Migratory Birds Under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act."� https://www.fws.gov/regulations/mbta (accessed March 16, 2023). .

767. GDA-9782 33. ANCSA also created 12 Native-owned regional corporations and authorized $962 million in "seed money."� Linxwiler, The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act At 35, § 12.03(2)(e). .

768. GDA-9915 86. 50 Code of Federal Regulations §17, and Sean Paige, "'Rewilding' Will Backfire on Colorado,"� The Gazette, June 19, 2022, https://gazette.com/opinion/guest-column-rewilding-will-backfire-on-colorado/article_ d0016672-ed79-11ec-b027-abe62ba840a1.html (accessed March 18, 2023). .

769. GDA-9944 Properly understood within the framework of a constitutional republic that values ordered liberty, the Department of Justice has two primary functions: protecting public safety and defending the rule of law. .

770. GDA-9949 For example: l The Federal Bureau of Investigation, knowing that claims of collusion with Russia were false,5 collaborated with Democratic operatives to inject the story into the 2016 election through strategic media leaks, falsified Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant applications, and lied to Congress.6 l Personnel within the FBI engaged in a campaign to convince social media companies and the media generally that the story about the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop was the result of a Russian misinformation campaign --- while the FBI had possession of the laptop the entire time and could have clarified the authenticity of the source.7 l The DOJ engaged in conduct to chill the free speech rights of parents across the United States in response to supposed "threats"� against school boards,8 yet it failed to engage in any concerted campaign to protect the rights of Americans who actually were terrorized by acts of violence like those perpetrated against pregnancy care centers.9 l The FBI tasked agents with monitoring social media and flagging content they deemed to be "misinformation"� or "disinformation"� (not associated with any plausible criminal conspiracy to deprive anyone of any rights) for platforms to remove.10 l The FBI engaged in a domestic influence operation to pressure social media companies to report more "foreign influence"� than the FBI was actually seeing and stop the dissemination of and censor true information directly related to the 2020 presidential election.11 l The department has devoted unprecedented resources to prosecuting American citizens for misdemeanor trespassing offenses or violations of the FACE Act12 while dismissing prosecutions against radical agents of the Left like Antifa.13 l The department has consistently threatened that any conduct not aligning with the liberal agenda "could"� violate federal law --- without actually taking a position that the conduct in question is illegal --- using the prospect of protracted litigation and federal sanctions to chill disfavored behavior such as with state efforts to restrict abortion14 or prevent genital mutilation of children.15 l The department has sued multiple states regarding their efforts to enhance election integrity.16 l The department has failed to do its part to stop the flood of fentanyl and other deadly drugs that are flowing across our borders and decimating families and communities across the United States.17 l The department has abdicated its responsibility to assist in the enforcement of our immigration laws and has engaged in wholescale abandonment of its duty to adjudicate cases in the immigration court system. .

771. GDA-9954 Anything other than a top-to-bottom overhaul will only further erode the trust of significant portions of the American people and harm the very fabric that holds together our constitutional republic. .

772. GDA-9962 PRIORITIZING THE PROTECTION OF PUBLIC SAFETY Ordered liberty is at risk when our citizens lack physical safety, when career criminals do not fear the law, when foreign cartels move narcotics and illegal aliens into our nation at will, and when political leaders call citizens "domestic terrorists"� for exercising their constitutional rights. .

773. GDA-9973 citizens exercising their constitutional rights. .

774. GDA-9975 To protect the Constitution, fight crime effectively, and protect the nation from foreign adversaries, the next conservative Administration should begin to restore the FBI's domestic reputation and integrity and enhance its effectiveness in meeting actual foreign threats. .

775. GDA-9996 This is the way of totalitarian dictatorships, not of free constitutional republics. .

776. GDA-10022 As discussed in the next section, the Department of Justice has a special obligation to restore law and order in such districts.37 Juxtaposed against this increase in violent crime are things like Attorney General Merrick Garland's October 4, 2021, memorandum directing the commitment of significant resources and energies to combating imaginary, politically convenient threats of violence toward members of school boards and their staffs during the heat of the Virginia gubernatorial race.38 There was no similar effort to investigate elected officials and other public officers who conspired with outside allies to target and harass parents who were merely exercising their constitutional and statutory rights.39 If we are to continue to have informed and civil dialogue in the United States on issues of public concern, the DOJ must enforce applicable civil rights laws in an even-handed way when citizens' livelihoods are threatened merely because they have exercised their rights. .

777. GDA-10051 Mexico --- which is arguably functioning as a failed state run by drug cartels --- is the main point of transit for illegal drugs produced in Central and South America, fentanyl precursors from the Chinese Communist Party-led People's Republic of China,49 weapons, human smuggling and trafficking, and other contraband. .

778. GDA-10064 CITIZENS EXERCISING THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS The Department of Justice plays a vital role in protecting our national security, and it must not refrain from engaging in public initiatives that identify our adversaries and educate the American people about their activities. .

779. GDA-10095 l Enact policies and regulations that prohibit settlement payments to third parties. .

780. GDA-10096 Engaging in Zealous Advocacy for and Defense of the Constitution and Lawful Administration Regulations and Policies. .

781. GDA-10109 The increasingly aggressive posture of federal courts does not change one constitutionally immutable fact: All three branches of the federal government retain not just the right, but the obligation to assess constitutionality. .

782. GDA-10111 The next conservative Administration should embrace the Constitution and understand the obligation of the executive branch to use its independent resources and authorities to restrain the excesses of both the legislative and judicial branches. .

783. GDA-10117 The next conservative Administration should formally take the position that Humphrey's Executor violates the Constitution's separation of powers. .

784. GDA-10118 Zealously Guarding Other Constitutional Protections. .

785. GDA-10119 The next conservative Administration must ensure that the DOJ zealously guards the constitutional rights of all Americans in all that it does. .

786. GDA-10126 It means that the government gets to decide which viewpoints are protected and which are not --- a frightening and blatantly unconstitutional proposition. .

787. GDA-10129 In fact, it was only a few years ago, in Masterpiece Cakeshop, that the government acknowledged the constitutional problems involved in compelling artists to speak government-favored messages. .

788. GDA-10131 It is black letter law that no official "can prescribe what shall be orthodox"�or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein."�69 Rather, the First Amendment places "the decision as to what views shall be voiced largely into the hands of each of us, in the hope that use of such freedom will ultimately produce a more capable citizenry and more perfect polity."�70 As the Supreme Court has noted, government officials have frequently sought to "coerce uniformity of sentiment in support of some end thought essential to their time and country."�71 In the face of such attempts to coerce orthodoxy, the DOJ should maintain its commitment to upholding the Constitution's neutral principles of free speech, which commit the government "to preserve an uninhibited marketplace of ideas in which truth will ultimately prevail."�72 Pursuing Equal Protection for All Americans by Vigorously Enforcing Applicable Federal Civil Rights Laws in Government, Education, and the Private Sector. .

789. GDA-10135 The department should also lead a whole-of-government recommitment to nondiscrimination and should be working with all other federal agencies, boards, and commissions to ensure that they are both complying with constitutional and legal requirements and using their authorities and funding to prevent discrimination not only internally, but also at the state, local, and private-sector levels. .

790. GDA-10140 The Civil Rights Division should spend its first year under the next Administration using the full force of federal prosecutorial resources to investigate and prosecute all state and local governments, institutions of higher education, corporations, and any other private employers who are engaged in discrimination in violation of constitutional and legal requirements. .

791. GDA-10176 The DOJ should reject demands from third-party groups that ask it to threaten politically motivated investigation or prosecution of those engaging in lawful and, in many cases, constitutionally protected activity. .

792. GDA-10188 In the words of the 14 state Attorneys General who wrote to oppose the department's memorandum, "potential collusion between the White House, the Department, and the NSBA in the actual creation of the September 29 letter --- as a pretext for threats against parents --- raises serious concerns."�91 The DOJ should carefully scrutinize all requests for law enforcement assistance and reject requests by third parties to engage in political grandstanding that ignores the department's traditional jurisdictional limits and that would trample politically controversial but constitutionally protected activity. .

793. GDA-10195 Block grants are given to a state to be awarded pursuant to federal regulations. .

794. GDA-10204 While the Trump Administration suffered a series of setbacks from several hostile courts, it obtained from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals a decision upholding the department's authority to impose these conditions.92 To ensure that taxpayer-funded grants are prioritized and distributed properly, the next conservative Administration should: l Conduct an immediate, comprehensive review of all federal grant disbursals to ensure not only that the programs are being properly administered by the department, but also that the grant funding is being received and used properly by recipients. .

795. GDA-10206 This long-overdue enhancement of the grant application and issuance process will ensure that hard-earned taxpayer dollars are going only to lawful actors who support federal law enforcement and demonstrate the ability and willingness to engage in lawful activities. .

796. GDA-10222 However, the DOJ should not stop there: It should continually evaluate its authorities and operational reality within the immigration court system and promulgate regulations accordingly. .

797. GDA-10244 All hiring committees associated with hiring for career positions across the department should be assessed for impartiality to ensure that individuals are hired based on merit, aptitude, and legal skill and not based on association with or membership in certain ideologically aligned groups or based on illegal considerations such as race, religion, or sex. .

798. GDA-10308 14. Press release, "Justice Department Sues Texas Over Senate Bill 8: Complaint Alleges Senate Bill 8 Violates the Constitution by Effectively Banning Most Abortions,"� U.S. .

799. GDA-10330 Code § 1328 (Importation of alien for immoral purpose), https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1328 (accessed February 5, 2023; press release, "In Brief Filed with Supreme Court, AFL Hammers Biden Administration's Termination of MPP --- Cites Alarming Statistic That Biden Administration Has Already Released More Than 750,000 Illegal Aliens into the United States from the Border,"� America First Legal Foundation, April 14, 2022, https://aflegal.org/ in-brief-filed-with-supreme-court-afl-hammers-biden-administrations-termination-of-mpp-citing-alarming- statistic-that-biden-administration-has-already-released-more-than-750000-ille/ (accessed February 5, 2023). .

800. GDA-10448 15, 24 (1971), https://constitutionallawreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/ Cohen-v_-California.pdf (accessed February 4, 2023). .

801. GDA-10533 Workers and Potential Regulatory Recruitment Violations,"� U.S. .

802. GDA-10548 OVERVIEW The labor agencies covered in this chapter include the Department of Labor (DOL), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the National Mediation Board (NMB), the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). .

803. GDA-10549 Congress has provided these agencies with the authority to enforce a wide range of federal statutes regulating workplace conduct, workforce development, employee benefits, labor organization and bargaining, and international labor conditions. .

804. GDA-10556 And under the Biden Administration, that administrative state has imposed the most assertive left-wing social-engineering agenda in the agencies' history and ratcheted up regulatory costs on small businesses and other productive industry. .

805. GDA-10566 The President should: l Issue an executive order banning, and Congress should pass a law prohibiting the federal government from using taxpayer dollars to fund, all critical race theory training (CRT). .

806. GDA-10584 The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has since grown, often making OFCCP's authority redundant and imposing a second regulatory agency under whose rules businesses must operate. .

807. GDA-10585 In addition, under EO 11246, the President and DOL can force a huge swath of American employers to comply with rules and regulations based on novel anti- discrimination theories (such as sexual orientation and gender identity theories) that Congress had never imposed by statute. .

808. GDA-10598 l Rescind regulations prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status, and sex characteristics. .

809. GDA-10599 The President should direct agencies to rescind regulations interpreting sex discrimination provisions as prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status, sex characteristics, etc. .

810. GDA-10626 EEOC should disclaim its regulatory pretensions and abide by the guidance reforms discussed below. .

811. GDA-10627 l EEOC should disclaim its regulatory pretensions. .

812. GDA-10634 Refocusing Labor Regulation on the Good of the Family. .

813. GDA-10636 Owing to the combination of regulatory pressure and eager human resources offices in the private sector, much of American labor and employment policy has become institutionally oriented toward "woke"� goals. .

814. GDA-10637 Retracting regulations that support this revolution is a good first step, but more is needed. .

815. GDA-10654 l To equalize access to tax-free retirement savings for married couples, the limit for married couples on 401(k) and similar work- based retirement savings accounts should be double the limit for individuals, regardless of the allocation of work between the couple. .

816. GDA-10667 God ordained the Sabbath as a day of rest, and until very recently the Judeo-Christian tradition sought to honor that mandate by moral and legal regulation of work on that day. .

817. GDA-10678 COVID made telework ubiquitous, but the law and regulations are still stuck in an era when telework was unique. .

818. GDA-10681 l DOL should clarify that a home office is not subject to OSHA regulations and that time to set up a home office is not compensable time or eligible for overtime calculations. .

819. GDA-10689 An economic analysis of data from one million Uber drivers found that they valued the flexibility of the platform at 40 percent of their earnings, and the average Uber driver would not work at all if he or she had to submit to a taxi-cab schedule. .

820. GDA-10694 Businesses and workers currently must navigate many different definitions of who is and who is not an employee (or an independent contractor) based on federal and state employment, compensation, tort, tax, and pension laws. .

821. GDA-10708 An Obama-era regulation changed the definition of a joint employer to make corporate franchisors jointly liable for employees of individual franchisee owners, even without the franchisor exercising any direct control over those employees. .

822. GDA-10716 And because some of these fringe benefits may be more valuable (and often come with tax preferences that benefit the worker), the goal should be to set a threshold to ensure lower-income workers have the protections of overtime pay without discouraging employers from offering these benefits. .

823. GDA-10727 Labor agencies are often tempted to encourage "over compliance"� by companies subject to regulation by pursuing "regulation through enforcement"� strategies. .

824. GDA-10728 Rather than giving regulated entities clear boundaries for what they can and cannot do under the law, the agencies rely on the vagueness of the law to bring enforcement activity against businesses that fail to meet an inspector or agency head's personal standard. .

825. GDA-10729 This is not fair to regulated parties and results in disfavored companies bearing the brunt of the agencies' enforcement efforts even though their behavior may be within the mainstream of employer behavior. .

826. GDA-10733 Federal agencies not only issue regulations to fill in gaps left by legislation, but also supplement those regulations with "guidance"� documents that occupy a unique and often confusing area between law and "helpful advice."� Unfortunately, wielded by overzealous enforcement agents, such guidance, some of it even hidden from public view, morphs into binding law used against unsuspecting employers. .

827. GDA-10735 It should be used to make complicated regulations easier to understand, so that businesses can do their actual jobs and focus on providing jobs to American workers and value to consumers (really, compliance assistance). .

828. GDA-10744 Exemptions from Regulations for Small Business. .

829. GDA-10745 Burdensome regulations have anti-competitive effects. .

830. GDA-10746 In general, larger, higher-margin businesses are better able to absorb the costs of regulatory compliance than are small businesses, and under the Biden Administration, big-business lobbies have affirmatively embraced certain regulations (such as the COVID vaccine mandate for private employers) to reduce competition from smaller businesses. .

831. GDA-10747 Research suggests that labor regulations may pose the highest aggregate regulatory cost for small businesses. .

832. GDA-10748 l The labor agencies should exercise their available discretion and duties under the Regulatory Flexibility Act12 to exempt small entities from regulations where possible. .

833. GDA-10753 For roughly 80 years, the RAP --- which requires conforming to government standards and includes federal funding, tax credits, and other federal resources --- has dominated apprenticeship programs in the U.S. .

834. GDA-10757 The Biden Administration rescinded the IRAP regulations. .

835. GDA-10761 Today, the role of religion in helping workers has diminished, but a country committed to strengthening civil society must ask more from religious organizations and make sure that their important role is not impeded by regulatory roadblocks or the bureaucratic status quo. .

836. GDA-10764 Hazard-Order Regulations. .

837. GDA-10770 l DOL should amend its hazard-order regulations to permit teenage workers access to work in regulated jobs with proper training and parental consent. .

838. GDA-10796 Existing federally funded workforce development and training programs should be reassessed to ensure they are outcome-based and truly deliver value to taxpayers and job seekers. .

839. GDA-10813 l Congress should also develop a framework (through commission of a congressional report to serve as a blueprint) of technical standards on broader tech topics like usability, state agency cybersecurity postures, data taxonomy standardization, and/or identity verification standards. .

840. GDA-10815 Currently, DOL can either send a strongly worded letter or revoke the entire Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA)16 tax credit, which would place an immediate 6 percent to 7 percent tax on all covered employers. .

841. GDA-10825 The next Administration should make new options available to workers and push Congress to pass labor reforms that create non-union "employee involvement organizations"� as well as a mechanism for worker representation on corporate boards. .

842. GDA-10829 3. Amends labor law to allow EIOs at large, publicly traded corporations to elect a non-voting, supervisory member of their company's board of directors. .

843. GDA-10874 During the Obama Administration, DOL created significant regulatory burdens for employers with respect to the advice that employers receive about union activity. .

844. GDA-10897 National employment laws like the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)21 and the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act22 set out one-size-fits-all "floors"� regulating the employment relationship. .

845. GDA-10900 l Congress should amend the NLRA to authorize collective bargaining to treat national employment laws and regulations as negotiable defaults. .

846. GDA-10904 And while some conservatives have chosen not to address massive federal subsidies for unionized labor, others believe that current laws and regulations that pick winners and losers to the detriment of the majority of construction workers and to all taxpayers should not be ignored. .

847. GDA-10911 Repealing the Davis-Bacon Act would increase worker freedom and end a longstanding effective tax on American families. .

848. GDA-10938 Excessive Occupational Regulation. .

849. GDA-10939 Excessive occupational regulation --- most typically encountered as occupational licensing --- creates underemployment and wasted resources, and artificially increases consumer prices. .

850. GDA-10958 However, this approach should not preclude the consideration of legitimate non-ESG factors, such as corporate governance, supply chain investment in America, or family-supporting jobs. .

851. GDA-10959 l DOL should consider taking enforcement and/or regulatory action to subject investment in China to greater scrutiny under ERISA. .

852. GDA-10997 The Biden Administration has provided a massive taxpayer bailout to some of these plans, but without any needed reforms. .

853. GDA-11004 Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. .

854. GDA-11005 The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) insures benefits for private sector pension plans, with separate single-employer and multiemployer insurance programs. .

855. GDA-11010 The PBGC should use existing statutory authority to protect workers, retirees, employers, and taxpayers by closely monitoring and taking appropriate remedial action with regard to badly run and underfunded multiemployer union pension plans, including termination where appropriate. .

856. GDA-11021 l Provide clear regulations for ESOP valuation and fiduciary conduct. .

857. GDA-11022 DOL should make it easier for employers to offer ESOPs by providing clear regulations for ESOP valuation and fiduciary conduct that encourages the participation of employee beneficiaries in corporate governance, while recognizing the importance of financial diversification for retirement security. .

858. GDA-11037 Some conservatives believe that temporary worker programs help to fill jobs that Americans will not fill, prevent illegal immigration by giving farmers and others who hire low-skilled labor access to workers, and keep down the prices of food and other products and services produced by the temporary workers. .

859. GDA-11054 Despite the significant advantages that preferring citizens over (work-authorized) aliens in hiring would provide to American workers, businesses, and the country at large, such a practice has been illegal since 1986.25 This makes no sense. .

860. GDA-11060 American businesses that commit visa fraud and hire illegal immigrants should not be the beneficiaries of federal spending. .

861. GDA-11079 While negotiating stronger trade agreements with robust labor provisions should be the primary tool with which to regulate international labor competition, the federal government can also take steps to identify the worst labor abuses and rule breakers. .

862. GDA-11101 OCI educates employers and workers on their rights, responsibilities, and available recourse under the many statutes, rules, and regulations administered by DOL. .

863. GDA-11134 10. Department of Labor, Promoting Regulatory Openness Through Good Guidance, Federal Register, Vol. .

864. GDA-11139 12. Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. .

865. GDA-11149 16. Federal Unemployment Tax Act, I.R.C., Ch. .

866. GDA-11173 Department of Transportation (DOT), with a requested fiscal year (FY) 2023 budget of $142 billion,1 was originally intended simply to provide a policy framework for transportation safety, rulemaking, and regulation. .

867. GDA-11174 However, it has evolved to believe that its role is "to deliver the world's leading transportation system"�2 --- that is, to select individual projects and allocate taxpayer funds in the actual planning, developing, and building of transportation assets. .

868. GDA-11176 In addition to providing a safety and regulatory framework through its 11 subcomponents, known as modes, the department has become a de facto grantmaking and lending organization. .

869. GDA-11186 Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (GLS); l Maritime Administration (MARAD); l Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA); and l Pipeline Safety and Hazardous Material Administration (PHMSA). .

870. GDA-11190 Airport landing fees for aircraft, toll charges on roads and bridges, and per-gallon taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel are all examples of user charges that affect the decisions of transportation system users. .

871. GDA-11202 DOT would also reduce unnecessary burdens by returning to the Trump Administration's "rule on rules"� approach to regulations, implemented in late 2019 as RIN 2105-AE84.4 This rule strengthened the Administration's effort to remove outdated regulations, find cost-saving reforms, and clarify that guidance documents are in fact guidance rather than mandatory impositions. .

872. GDA-11209 l Project sponsors should be required to show that projects have positive economic value to taxpayers, and sponsors should guarantee that all federal financing will be repaid through properly structured loan terms, including a minimum equity commitment from all project sponsors. .

873. GDA-11225 Some mistakenly think that using a P3 would allow a road or bridge to be delivered without increases in tolls or taxes. .

874. GDA-11226 It is important to remember that all funding for governmental infrastructure comes from either taxes or user fees. .

875. GDA-11227 P3 financing can be used to make those funding sources more efficient, but it cannot replace the need for taxes or user fees to provide the funding for the project. .

876. GDA-11235 P3s are an excellent tool for transferring risk from the public sector to the private sector and can create considerable value for the taxpaying public. .

877. GDA-11244 NHTSA's and FMCSA's current regulations were written before the advent of automated vehicles and driving systems. .

878. GDA-11245 Both operating administrations have issued Advance Notices of Proposed Rulemakings (ANPRMs) that begin the process of updating their regulations to reflect this new technology. .

879. GDA-11246 However, these regulations have stalled under the Biden Administration, which has chosen to use the department's tools to get people to take transit and drive electric vehicles instead of helping people to choose the transportation options that suit them best. .

880. GDA-11247 l NHTSA should work to remove regulatory barriers by focusing on updating vehicle standards as well as publishing performance-based rules for the operations of automated vehicles (AVs). .

881. GDA-11248 l FMCSA should work to clarify the regulations to align with DOT's AV 3.0 guidance, which would allow the drivers to be safely removed from the operations of a commercial motor vehicle. .

882. GDA-11249 From a nonregulatory point of view, DOT has pivoted from a successful focus on the voluntary sharing of data to improve safety outcomes to adoption of a more compulsory and antagonistic approach to mandating data collection and publication through a Standing General Order related to automated vehicles. .

883. GDA-11259 CORPORATE AVERAGE FUEL ECONOMY (CAFE) STANDARDS One reason for the high numbers of injuries on American roadways is that national fuel economy standards raise the price of cars, disincentivizing people from purchasing newer, safer vehicles. .

884. GDA-11274 This was not only because DOT understands the technologies and economics of the auto industry, but also because NHTSA is the nation's leading motor vehicle safety regulator, and Congress sought to ensure that fuel economy requirements would not adversely affect highway safety. .

885. GDA-11279 In further support of this agenda, federal regulators administer a scheme of generous fuel economy credits that subsidize EV producers such as Tesla at the expense of legacy automakers. .

886. GDA-11280 l Moreover, and contrary to Congress's design, the Biden EPA has been given preeminence in the regulation of fuel economy through the setting of carbon dioxide emissions limits for new motor vehicles under the Clean Air Act. .

887. GDA-11285 As a result of these regulatory actions, automobiles will be significantly more expensive to produce, there will be fewer affordable new vehicle options for American families, and fewer new vehicles will be sold in the U.S. .

888. GDA-11291 In addition, the Biden Administration's efforts to accelerate EV sales by regulatory fiat work against the national security interests of the United States in contravention of Congress's goals under EPCA. .

889. GDA-11296 national security --- the Biden fuel economy regulations are predicted to have no meaningful effect on global temperature trends over the long term.8 The next Administration must return the federal fuel economy program to the limits established by Congress. .

890. GDA-11302 Any EPA limits on carbon dioxide emissions, even if authorized under the Clean Air Act, must support and work in harmony with DOT standards and must not override them or usurp DOT's regulatory role under EPCA. .

891. GDA-11303 For example, EPA could regulate air conditioning systems and leave engine standards to DOT. .

892. GDA-11305 California has no valid basis under the Clean Air Act to claim an extraordinary or unique air quality impact from carbon dioxide emissions, and EPCA is clear that under no circumstances may a state agency regulate fuel economy in place of DOT. .

893. GDA-11318 l Remove or reform rules and regulations that hamper state governments. .

894. GDA-11322 Current policies threaten to undo that legacy and to strangle the development of new technologies such as drones and "advanced air mobility,"� including small aircraft to serve as air taxis or to conduct quiet vertical flights. .

895. GDA-11323 Starting in the 1970s, deregulation and increased competition turned air travel from a luxury to an affordable travel option enjoyed by most Americans. .

896. GDA-11332 Beginning with the Obama Administration, this authority has been used to justify broad new regulations --- in the name of achieving "fair"� competition --- that would impose burdensome disclosure mandates and other costly requirements without a sufficient process for gathering supporting evidence. .

897. GDA-11343 In a perfect world, the market would dictate these options, but in the highly regulated international aviation sector, the current incentives are to keep out competitors. .

898. GDA-11344 Slot regulations have not been updated since the 1990s. .

899. GDA-11351 The program was established in the 1970s as a temporary measure to cushion deregulation. .

900. GDA-11354 A new Administration could reform regulations to encourage airports in lower-served areas of the nation. .

901. GDA-11355 International air travel is regulated and restricted by individual treaties between the United States and other countries. .

902. GDA-11365 FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION With a budget of $18.6 billion requested for FY 202311 and an international regulatory footprint, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is DOT's most visible mode. .

903. GDA-11368 The FAA's primary mission is ATC; its two smaller functions are distributing federal airport grants and regulating all aspects of aviation safety. .

904. GDA-11374 It provides two separate and functionally different services: the world's largest and most complex Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP) and, at the same time, the world's largest civil aviation regulatory and certificatory agency. .

905. GDA-11376 The second is an inherently governmental organization responsible for ensuring that aerospace operators, vehicles, airports, and ANSPs are properly certified and follow all FAA regulations. .

906. GDA-11389 The FAA's overly bureaucratic, legalistic, byzantine, and more recently hyperpoliticized way of processing regulations, adopting innovation, publishing rules, and procuring new technologies has been eclipsed by foreign CAAs and ANSPs that are eagerly certifying drones and creating environments in which new technologies and new entrants, such as air taxis, can thrive. .

907. GDA-11401 The FAA as regulator and the ATO as traffic manager have no plans in place to handle millions of drones and other emerging technologies such as electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. .

908. GDA-11406 The ATO's overly cautious culture appears to stem from its being embedded in a safety regulatory agency rather than being regulated at arm's length (as are airlines and airports). .

909. GDA-11410 l Shift from aviation user taxes to fees for air traffic services paid directly to the ATO. .

910. GDA-11444 Instead of basing regulatory decisions on the costs and benefits of the available alternatives, FRA is promoting actions that favor the status quo and inhibit the use of technology to improve railroad safety. .

911. GDA-11467 MARAD is the only DOT modal administration that does not regulate the industry that it represents: The maritime industry is regulated by the U.S. .

912. GDA-11475 In this way, the two agencies charged with oversight and regulation of the Maritime sector --- MARAD and the United States Coast Guard --- would be aligned under the same department where operational efficiencies could be realized more easily. .

913. GDA-11514 71714-71734, https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/regulations/361831/fed-reg-published-final-admin- rule.pdf (accessed March 3, 2023). .

914. GDA-11523 Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, "Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards for Model Years 2024-2026 Passenger Cars and Light Trucks,"� Final Rule, Federal Register, Vol. .

915. GDA-11533 Department of Transportation, Office of the Secretary, "Procedures in Regulating Unfair or Deceptive Practices,"� Final Rule, Federal Register, Vol. .

916. GDA-11669 Attempting to change laws and regulations simply to adjudicate claims would be a herculean effort given their complexity. .

917. GDA-11764 Section Four THE ECONOMY The next Administration must prioritize the economic prosperity of ordinary Americans. .

918. GDA-11765 For several decades, establishment "elites"� have failed the citizenry by refusing to secure the border, outsourcing manufacturing to China and elsewhere, spending recklessly, regulating constantly, and generally controlling the country from the top down rather than letting it flourish from the bottom up. .

919. GDA-11793 The Census Bureau, unlike much of the federal government, has a constitutionally required mission. .

920. GDA-11804 The authors add that "Treasury should make balancing the federal budget a mission- critical objective."� The authors propose legislation to reform the tax code, writing, Tax policy has a powerful impact on the economy. .

921. GDA-11805 The Treasury Department should develop and promote tax reform legislation that will promote prosperity. .

922. GDA-11806 To accomplish this, tax reform should improve incentives to work, save, and invest. .

923. GDA-11807 This, in turn, is accomplished primarily by reducing marginal tax rates, reducing the cost of capital, and broadening the tax base to eliminate tax-induced economic distortions by eliminating special-interest tax credits, deductions, and exclusions. .

924. GDA-11808 Tax compliance costs will decline precipitously if the tax system is substantially simplified. .

925. GDA-11809 The Treasury Department should also promote tax competition rather than supporting an international tax cartel. .

926. GDA-11813 In Chapter 25, Karen Kerrigan describes the Small Business Administration (SBA) as a "sprawling, unaccountable agency"� replete with "waste, fraud, and mismanagement"� and guilty of "mission creep."� Moreover, its "initiatives aimed at 'inclusivity' are in fact creating exclusivity and stringent selectivity in deciding what types of small businesses and entities can use SBA programs."� According to Kerrigan, the Office of Advocacy "is one of the bright spots within the SBA that a conservative Administration could supercharge to dismantle extreme regulatory policies and advance limited-government reforms that promote economic freedom and opportunity."� She recommends that it receive a big increase in funding and staffing and then undertake "a research agenda that includes measuring the total cost that federal regulation imposes on small businesses."� This would be one important step in making sure that "the SBA under a conservative Administration would meet the needs of America's small-business owners and entrepreneurs, not special interests."� Former White House director of the domestic policy council Paul Winfree writes in Chapter 24 that the Federal Reserve actually causes "inflationary and recessionary cycles."� He says, "A core problem with government control of monetary policy is its exposure to two unavoidable political pressures: pressure to print money to subsidize government deficits and pressure to print money to boost the economy artificially until the next election."� The Fed has also added a "moral hazard"� due to its "history of bailing out private firms when they engage in excess speculation."� At a "minimum,"� Winfree writes, "full employment"� should be eliminated from the Federal Reserve's mandate, "requiring it to focus on price stability alone."� The Fed should not be allowed to incorporate "environmental, social, and governance factors into its mandate."� It should be compelled "to specify its target range for inflation."� Its last-resort lending practices, "which are directly responsible for 'too big to fail,'"� should be curbed. .

927. GDA-11818 Intended to serve with clarity of purpose as the voice of business in any President's Cabinet, the Department of Commerce has suffered from decades of regulatory capture, ideological drift, and lack of focus. .

928. GDA-11823 Many programs at the Department of Commerce overlap in whole or part with other governmental programs, and consolidating and streamlining these could increase both accountability and return on taxpayer investment. .

929. GDA-11826 Trade Representative (USTR), along with the Development Finance Corporation; the U.S. .

930. GDA-11851 Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) compliance and awareness of any ways the committees have been written into regulations should be considered. .

931. GDA-11856 As discussed elsewhere, historically, conservatives have argued that many federal government trade and investment-oriented functions amount to corporate welfare or protectionism. .

932. GDA-11871 Free and fair trade is impossible without energetic enforcement of existing agreements and without strong defense against dumping and illegal subsidies. .

933. GDA-11893 l Conduct a regulatory capture audit and put guardrails in place to address improper exercise of bureaucratic prerogative. .

934. GDA-11949 government has either ignored the problem or, worse, from 2008 through 2016 instituted a government-wide "Export Control Reform"� process to loosen the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) governing exports of dual-use items to facilitate technology transfer to adversaries, either directly or indirectly through third-country transfers. .

935. GDA-11953 export control regulations should be utilized to prevent theft of personally identifiable information and to encourage U.S. .

936. GDA-11959 The Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (ECRA) gave BIS permanent statutory authority to regulate exports of dual-use items (goods, software, and technology). .

937. GDA-11960 ECRA also mandated that BIS regulate exports of emerging and foundational technologies. .

938. GDA-11994 university system by authoritarian governments through funding, students and researchers, and recruitment; l Eliminating license exceptions for sharing technology with controlled entities/countries through standards-setting "activities"� and bodies; and l Improving regulations regarding published information for technology transfers. .

939. GDA-11999 There are currently just over 500 Chinese and over 500 Russian companies on the Department of Commerce's Entity List, which regulates exports of controlled and uncontrolled items to designated entities. .

940. GDA-12004 In particular, they should draft and implement an executive order (EO) based on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which expands export control authority beyond ECRA's scope (goods, software, technology) to regulate and restrict exports of U.S. .

941. GDA-12006 The EO should establish a framework for the types of personal data subject to export controls and licensing policy by country, and the BIS should implement the EO through regulations. .

942. GDA-12026 Commercialization of weather technologies should be prioritized to ensure that taxpayer dollars are invested in the most cost-efficient technologies for high quality research and weather data. .

943. GDA-12049 Modify Regulations Implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. .

944. GDA-12052 All the requirements for robust analysis of the biological, economic, and social impacts of proposed regulatory action in fisheries are contained with the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the guiding Act for fisheries. .

945. GDA-12080 government policy on commercial space operations, with the Federal Communications Commission largely responsible for establishing space policy by default through its regulation of radio spectrum licenses. .

946. GDA-12097 CENSUS BUREAU The Census Bureau's core mission is to execute the executive branch's constitutional mandate to conduct a census every 10 years, but its activities have steadily grown and shifted to include the economic census, American Communities Survey, and further functions outside of its core mission. .

947. GDA-12179 l Building on the initial success of Opportunity Zones, which incentivized over $75 billion in private sector investment in distressed communities by the end of 2020 with little up-front cost to the taxpayer. .

948. GDA-12194 Conservative leadership at MBDA should focus the organization on: l Conducting policy analysis on the benefit of free markets, the evils of socialism and Communism, and the destructive effect of taxes and regulations on minority businesses; l Ensuring MBDA business centers operate efficiently with strict oversight of funding, clear metrics for success, and consequences for poor performance; l Creating policy-level operational priorities geared toward private sector action over government action with public-private partnerships serving as a necessary middle ground; l Establishing MBDA as a data and research clearinghouse for minority business enterprises and policymakers; l Coordinating amongst Cabinet agencies, state and local government, and trade associations to best leverage resources and encourage growth and innovation; and l Evaluating the harmful effects of unfair trade practices on minority-owned businesses and their employees. .

949. GDA-12209 An incoming Administration should evaluate the federal government's civilian research footprint and consolidate those functions while ensuring that any research conducted with taxpayer dollars serves the national interest in a concrete way in line with conservative principles. .

950. GDA-12218 This program operates at a cost to taxpayers, despite thousands of dollars in fees charged to each participating company or entity and long-term plans to make the program self-sufficient. .

951. GDA-12220 l Increase value to taxpayers. .

952. GDA-12289 Treasury Department has a broad regulatory and policy reach. .

953. GDA-12290 The next Administration should make major policy changes to: (1) reduce regulatory impediments to economic growth that reduce living standards and endanger prosperity; (2) reduce regulatory compliance costs that increase prices and cost jobs; (3) promote fiscal responsibility; (4) promote the international competitiveness of U.S. .

954. GDA-12293 The primary subject matter focus of the incoming Administration's Treasury Department should be: l Tax policy and tax administration; l Fiscal responsibility; l Improved financial regulation; l Addressing the economic and financial aspects of the geopolitical threat posed by China and other hostile countries; l Reform of the anti-money laundering and beneficial ownership reporting systems; l Reversal of the racist "equity"� agenda of the Biden Administration; and l Reversal of the economically destructive and ineffective climate-related financial-risk agenda of the Biden Administration. .

955. GDA-12299 American families have been made poorer by Biden's economic strategy of taxing, spending, borrowing, regulating, and printing money. .

956. GDA-12306 Constitution. .

957. GDA-12328 Tax Policy formulates and develops tax policies and programs and works with Congress to get them passed into law. .

958. GDA-12329 It reviews and issues regulations drafted by attorneys from the IRS's Office of Chief Counsel to administer the Internal Revenue Code, negotiates tax information exchange agreements with the tax authorities of foreign governments, participates in international tax organizations, and provides economic and legal policy analysis for domestic and international tax policy decisions. .

959. GDA-12331 It is led by the Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy. .

960. GDA-12337 Four Inspectors General provide independent audits, investigations, and oversight of Treasury and its programs: The Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Treasury; Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration; Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program; and the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery. .

961. GDA-12340 The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau collects federal excise taxes on alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and ammunition, and is responsible for enforcing and administering laws covering the production, use, and distribution of alcohol products. .

962. GDA-12343 tax laws. .

963. GDA-12347 It also administers the beneficial ownership reporting regime mandated by the Corporate Transparency Act.12 The Bureau of the Fiscal Service provides central payment services to federal program agencies, operates the U.S. .

964. GDA-12353 The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) charters, regulates, and supervises national banks and federal savings associations (thrifts) to ensure that they operate in a safe and sound manner, provide fair access to financial services, and comply with applicable laws and regulations. .

965. GDA-12355 TAX POLICY Tax policy has a powerful impact on the economy. .

966. GDA-12356 The Treasury Department should develop and promote tax reform legislation that will promote prosperity. .

967. GDA-12357 To accomplish this, tax reform should improve incentives to work, save, and invest. .

968. GDA-12358 This, in turn, is accomplished primarily by reducing marginal tax rates,13 reducing the cost of capital14 and broadening the tax base to eliminate tax-induced economic distortions by eliminating special-interest tax credits, deductions, and exclusions. .

969. GDA-12359 Tax compliance costs will decline precipitously if the tax system is substantially simplified.15 The Treasury Department should also promote tax competition rather than supporting an international tax cartel. .

970. GDA-12360 Principles of Good Tax Policy. .

971. GDA-12361 These are the principles governing good tax policy. .

972. GDA-12362 l First, the tax system should raise the revenue necessary to fund a limited government for constitutionally appropriate activities. .

973. GDA-12363 It should raise this revenue such that it: (a) applies the least economically destructive forms of taxation;16 (b) has low tax rates on a broad, neutral tax base; (c) minimizes interference with the operation of the free market and free enterprise; and (d) minimizes the cost to taxpayers of compliance with and administration of the tax system. .

974. GDA-12364 l Second, the tax system should minimize its adverse impact on the family and the core institutions of civil society. .

975. GDA-12365 l Third, the tax system should be applied consistently --- with special privileges for none --- and respect taxpayer due process and privacy rights. .

976. GDA-12366 The current tax system is inconsistent with these principles and needs to be reformed to promote prosperity, reduce compliance costs, and improve fairness. .

977. GDA-12368 It should then pursue fundamental tax reform. .

978. GDA-12369 Intermediate Tax Reform. .

979. GDA-12370 The Treasury should work with Congress to simplify the tax code by enacting a simple two-rate individual tax system of 15 percent and 30 percent that eliminates most deductions, credits and exclusions. .

980. GDA-12371 The 30 percent bracket should begin at or near the Social Security wage base to ensure the combined income and payroll tax structure acts as a nearly flat tax on wage income beyond the standard deduction. .

981. GDA-12372 The corporate income tax rate should be reduced to 18 percent. .

982. GDA-12373 The corporate income tax is the most damaging tax in the U.S. .

983. GDA-12374 tax system, and its primary economic burden falls on workers because capital is more mobile than labor.17 Capital gains and qualified dividends should be taxed at 15 percent. .

984. GDA-12375 Thus, the combined corporate income tax combined with the capital gains or qualified dividends tax rate would be roughly equal to the top individual income tax rate.18 The system should allow immediate expensing for capital expenditures and index capital gains taxes for inflation. .

985. GDA-12376 In addition, intermediate tax reform should repeal all tax increases that were passed as part of the Inflation Reduction Act,19 including the book minimum tax, the stock buyback excise tax, the coal excise tax, the reinstated Superfund tax, and excise taxes on drug manufacturers to compel them to comply with Medicare price controls. .

986. GDA-12377 The next Administration should also push for legislation to fully repeal recently passed subsidies in the tax code, including the dozens of credits and tax breaks for green energy companies in Subtitle D of the Inflation Reduction Act.20 Universal Savings Accounts. .

987. GDA-12378 All taxpayers should be allowed to contribute up to $15,000 (adjusted for inflation) of post-tax earnings into Universal Savings Accounts (USAs). .

988. GDA-12379 The tax treatment of these accounts would be comparable to Roth IRAs. .

989. GDA-12381 Gains from investments in USAs would be non-taxable and could be withdrawn at any time for any purpose. .

990. GDA-12382 This would allow the vast majority of American families to save and invest without facing a punitive double layer of taxation. .

991. GDA-12386 Extra layers of taxes on investment and capital should also be eliminated or reduced. .

992. GDA-12387 The net investment income surtax and the base erosion anti-abuse tax should be eliminated. .

993. GDA-12388 The estate and gift tax should be reduced to no higher than 20 percent, and the 2017 tax bill's temporary increase in the exemption amount from $5.5 million to $12.9 million (adjusted for inflation) should be made permanent.21 The tax on global intangible low-taxed income should be reduced to no higher than 12.5 percent, with the 20 percent haircut on related foreign tax credits reduced or eliminated.22 All non-business tax deductions and exemptions that were temporarily suspended by the 2017 tax bill should be permanently repealed, including the bicycle commuting expense exclusion, non-military moving expense deductions, and the miscellaneous itemized deductions.23 The individual state and local tax deduction, which was temporarily capped at $10,000, should be fully repealed. .

994. GDA-12390 Special business tax preferences, such as a special deduction for energy-efficient commercial building properties, should be eliminated.24 Wages vs. .

995. GDA-12392 The current tax code has a strong bias that incentivizes businesses to offer employees more generous benefits and lower wages. .

996. GDA-12394 Wage income is taxed under the individual income tax and under the payroll tax. .

997. GDA-12395 However, most forms of non-wage benefits are wholly exempt from both of these taxes. .

998. GDA-12396 To reduce this tax bias against wages (as opposed to employee benefits), the next Administration should set a meaningful cap (no higher than $12,000 per year per full-time equivalent employee --- and preferably lower) on untaxed benefits that employers can claim as deductions. .

999. GDA-12397 Employee benefit expenses other than tax-deferred retirement account contributions should count toward the limitation, whether offered to specific employees or whether the costs relate to a shared benefit like building gym facilities for employees.25 Tax-deferred retirement contributions by employers should not count toward this limitation insofar as they are fully taxable upon distribution. .

1000. GDA-12398 Only a percentage of Health Savings Accounts (HSA) contributions (which are not taxed upon withdrawal) should count toward the limitation.26 The limitation on benefit deductions should not be indexed to increase with inflation.27 Employers should also be denied deductions for health insurance and other benefits provided to employee dependents if the dependents are aged 23 or older. .

1001. GDA-12399 Fundamental Tax Reform. .

1002. GDA-12400 Achieving fundamental tax reform offers the prospect of a dramatic improvement in American living standards and an equally dramatic reduction in tax compliance costs. .

1003. GDA-12401 Lobbyists, lawyers, benefit consultants, accountants, and tax preparers would see their incomes decline, however. .

1004. GDA-12402 The federal income tax system heavily taxes capital and corporate income and discourages work, savings, and investment. .

1005. GDA-12403 The public finance literature is clear that a consumption tax would minimize government's distortion of private economic decisions and thus be the least economically harmful way to raise federal tax revenues.28 There are several forms that a consumption tax could take, including a national sales tax, a business transfer tax, a Hall-Rabushka flat tax,29 or a cash flow tax.30 Supermajority to Raise Taxes. .

1006. GDA-12405 House and the Senate to raise income or corporate tax rates to create a wall of protection for the new rate structure. .

1007. GDA-12407 Tax Competition. .

1008. GDA-12408 Tax competition between states and countries is a positive force for liberty and limited government.31 The Biden Administration, under the direction of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, has pushed for a global minimum corporate tax that would increase taxation and the size of government in the U.S. .

1009. GDA-12410 This attempt to "harmonize"� global tax rates is an attempt to create a global tax cartel to quash tax competition and to increase the tax burden globally. .

1010. GDA-12412 should not outsource its tax policy to international organizations. .

1011. GDA-12414 The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in conjunction with the European Union, has long tried to end financial privacy and impose regulations on countries with low (or no) income taxes. .

1012. GDA-12415 In fact, on tax, environmental, corporate governance and employment issues, the OECD has become little more than a taxpayer-funded left-wing think tank and lobbying organization.32 The United States provides about one-fifth of OECD's funding.33 The U.S. .

1013. GDA-12417 TAX ADMINISTRATION The Internal Revenue Service is a poorly managed, utterly unresponsive and increasingly politicized agency, and has been for at least two decades. .

1014. GDA-12418 It is time for meaningful reform to improve the efficiency and fairness of tax administration, better protect taxpayer rights, and achieve greater transparency and accountability. .

1015. GDA-12419 A substantial number of the problems attributed to the IRS are actually a function of congressional action that has made the Internal Revenue Code ridiculously complex, imposed tremendous administrative burdens on both the public and the IRS, and given massive non-tax missions to the IRS. .

1016. GDA-12422 The Biden Administration has also sought to make the tax system's administrative burden much worse in other ways. .

1017. GDA-12424 Banks would be required to collect the taxpayer identification numbers of and file a revised Form 1099-K for all affected payees, as well as provide additional information.35 This massive increase in the scope and breadth of information reporting should be unequivocally opposed. .

1018. GDA-12429 At the very least, Congress should ensure that the Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement, the Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support, the National Taxpayer Advocate, the Commissioner of the Wage and Investment Division, the Commissioner of the Large Business and International Division, the Commissioner of the Small Business Self-Employed Division, and the Commissioner of the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division are presidential appointees.38 Information Technology. .

1019. GDA-12430 Despite the investment of billions of dollars for at least two decades, IRS information technology (IT) systems remain deficient.39 The IRS inadequately protects taxpayer information, its IT systems do not adequately support operations or taxpayer services, and its matching and detection algorithms are antiquated. .

1020. GDA-12439 TAXPAYER RIGHTS AND PRIVACY Legal protections for taxpayer rights and privacy have improved during the past three decades, but they remain inadequate.42 Congress should do more. .

1021. GDA-12440 For example, interest on overpayments should be the same as interest on underpayments rather than the government receiving a higher rate, the time limit for taxpayers to sue for damages for improper collection actions should be extended, the jurisdiction of the Tax Court should be expanded, and the tax penalty system should be reformed by rationalizing the penalty structure and reducing some of the most punitive penalties.43 The Office of the Taxpayer Advocate was created by Congress to assist taxpayers when the IRS bureaucracy is unresponsive or negligent. .

1022. GDA-12441 About 1.7 percent of the IRS budget goes to this function.44 Each year, the Office handles more than 250,000 cases, helping taxpayers to deal with the IRS. .

1023. GDA-12442 Each year, it issues nearly 2000 taxpayer assistance orders, a form of administrative injunction, forcing the rest of the IRS to stop taking unwarranted actions.45 Congress should provide the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate with greater resources so that it may better assist taxpayers suffering from wrongful IRS actions. .

1024. GDA-12443 The office should also be strengthened by, among other things: l Ensuring that the National Taxpayer Advocate can make his or her own personnel decisions to protect its independence; l Ensuring NTA access to files, meetings, and other information needed to assist taxpayers or investigate IRS administrative practices; l Requiring the IRS to address the NTA's comments in final rules and including the NTA in deliberations prior to the release of a proposed rule; and l Authorizing the NTA to file amicus briefs independently. .

1025. GDA-12445 In 2021, Americans filed 261 million tax returns and an astounding 4.7 billion information returns (such as Form W-2s, Form 1098s and Form 1099s).46 Complying with tax law costs Americans more than $400 billion annually, or about 2 percent of gross domestic product.47 Although the IRS administers these reporting programs, most of this expense is mandated by Congress, not the IRS. .

1026. GDA-12446 One of the primary reasons that Congress mandates ever-increasing information reporting is that the Treasury Department and the Joint Committee on Taxation staff almost always overestimate how much revenue will be gained from still more burdensome information reporting, and they do not estimate or report private compliance costs. .

1027. GDA-12452 The resources allocated to the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate should be increased by at least 20 percent (about $44 million). .

1028. GDA-12455 INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS The Treasury Department should withdraw from Senate consideration the Protocol Amending the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.48 The protocol will lead to substantially more transnational identity theft, crime, industrial espionage, financial fraud, and suppression of political opponents and religious or ethnic minorities by authoritarian and corrupt governments, including China, Colombia, Nigeria, and Russia. .

1029. GDA-12458 The global elites who operate the IMF regularly advance higher taxes and big centralized government. .

1030. GDA-12460 raise taxes. .

1031. GDA-12471 The federal budget absorbs enormous resources from the economy, both in money taken from taxpayers and in money borrowed. .

1032. GDA-12472 The budget should be balanced by driving down federal spending while maintaining a strong national defense and not raising taxes. .

1033. GDA-12476 Treasury would thus save taxpayers money during the next several decades by issuing fewer short-term notes that will probably have to be rolled over at higher rates in the future. .

1034. GDA-12495 In addition, Treasury --- as chair of the committee --- runs an opaque process that biases committee procedure toward corporate interests and away from national security interests. .

1035. GDA-12507 The committee is currently imbalanced toward the interests of corporate America because Treasury is the sole chair of CFIUS and, in practice, runs a process that is not fully transparent and which biases it from the national security interests represented by DOD and the Intelligence Community (IC). .

1036. GDA-12521 Firms fully owned by China's Communist regime are increasingly buying land, building factories, and taking advantage of state and local tax breaks on American soil. .

1037. GDA-12533 IMPROVED FINANCIAL REGULATION One of the priorities of the incoming Administration should be to restructure the outdated and cumbersome financial regulatory system in order to promote financial innovation, improve regulator efficiency, reduce regulatory costs, close regulatory gaps, eliminate regulatory arbitrage, provide clear statutory authority, consolidate regulatory agencies or reduce the size of government, and increase transparency. .

1038. GDA-12535 The new Administration should establish a more streamlined bank and supervision by supporting legislation to merge the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Federal Reserve's non-monetary supervisory and regulatory functions. .

1039. GDA-12543 Policymakers should create new charters for financial firms that eliminate activity restrictions and reduce regulations in return for straightforward higher equity or risk-retention standards. .

1040. GDA-12544 Ultimately, these charters would replace government regulation with competition and market discipline, thereby lowering the risk of future financial crises and improving the ability of individuals to create wealth. .

1041. GDA-12546 Congress should repeal Title I, Title II, and Title VIII of the Dodd-Frank Act.52 Title I of Dodd-Frank created the Financial Stability Oversight Council, a kind of super-regulator tasked with identifying so-called systemically important financial institutions and singling them out for especially stringent regulation. .

1042. GDA-12547 The problem, of course, is that this process effectively identifies those firms regulators believe are "too big to fail."�53 Title VIII of Dodd-Frank gives the FSOC similarly broad special-designation authority for specialized financial companies known as financial market utilities.54 Title II of Dodd-Frank established the controversial provision known as orderly liquidation authority (OLA), the law's alternative to bankruptcy for large financial firms. .

1043. GDA-12551 This would restore a sustainable housing finance market with a robust private mortgage market that does not rely on explicit or implicit taxpayer guarantees. .

1044. GDA-12557 ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING AND BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP REPORTING REFORM The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is a relatively small bureau within the Treasury Department with approximately 285 employees and a FY 2022 budget of $173 million.58 Although FinCEN makes a significant contribution to law enforcement efforts, it also does demonstrable, substantial and widespread economic harm because it: (1) is largely oblivious to those adverse economic effects; (2) conducts almost no meaningful cost-benefit analysis or retrospective review of regulations; (3) has been subject to extraordinarily lax oversight by both Congress and the Treasury Department; and (4) demands total transparency by those it regulates but is itself disturbingly and purposefully opaque. .

1045. GDA-12563 FinCEN should be required to undertake a thorough retrospective review of its regulations and various statutory requirements and report to Congress on its findings in a publicly available report. .

1046. GDA-12565 Congress should repeal the Corporate Transparency Act, and FinCEN should withdraw its poorly written and overbroad beneficial ownership reporting rule. .

1047. GDA-12576 l Treat the participation in any critical race theory or DEI initiative, without objecting on constitutional or moral grounds, as per se grounds for termination of employment. .

1048. GDA-12600 Coast Guard, to increase border security via a vigilance with respect to economic crimes (for example, drug smuggling and tax evasion). .

1049. GDA-12617 Other issues of concern include China, cybersecurity, digital assets, digital services taxes, international debt defaults, Iran, Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds and private sector pensions, sanctions policy, and treasury auction and debt issuance. .

1050. GDA-12632 Constitution, art. .

1051. GDA-12647 13. See, for example, Timothy Vermeer, "The Impact of Individual Income Tax Changes on Economic Growth,"� Tax Foundation Fiscal Fact No. .

1052. GDA-12648 793, June 2022, https://files.taxfoundation.org/20220610142519/The-Impact-of- Individual-Income-Tax-Changes-on-Economic-Growth-2.pdf (accessed March 18, 2023), and Karel Mertens and José Luis Montiel Olea, "Marginal Tax Rates and Income: New Time Series Evidence,"� Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. .

1053. GDA-12652 14. The current tax system is not neutral toward investment. .

1054. GDA-12653 This neutrality criterion is sometimes expressed as ensuring that the private rate of return equals the social rate of return, that the tax system does not raise the user cost of capital, that all factor incomes are taxed once and equally, that the tax system defines income properly, or that the tax is a consumption tax. .

1055. GDA-12654 For the basic user cost of capital analysis with taxes, see Robert E. .

1056. GDA-12656 Jorgenson, "Tax Policy and Investment Behavior,"� American Economic Review, Vol. .

1057. GDA-12659 391-414, https://web.stanford.edu/~rehall/Tax-Policy-AER-June-1967.pdf (accessed March 19, 2023). .

1058. GDA-12661 Hassett and Kathryn Newmark, "Taxation and Business Behavior: A Review of the Recent Literature,"� in John W. .

1059. GDA-12663 Zodrow, eds., Fundamental Tax Reform: Issues, Choices, and Implications (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008), and Alan J. .

1060. GDA-12664 Auerbach, "Taxation and Capital Spending,"� University of California, Berkeley, September 2005, http://eml.berkeley.edu//~auerbach/capitalspending.pdf (accessed March 19, 2023). .

1061. GDA-12666 Hodge, "The Compliance Costs of IRS Regulations,"� Tax Foundation Fiscal Fact No. .

1062. GDA-12667 512, June 2016, https://files.taxfoundation.org/legacy/docs/TaxFoundation_FF512.pdf (accessed March 19, 2023), and Jason J. .

1063. GDA-12669 Feldman, "The Hidden Costs of Tax Compliance,"� Mercatus Center, May 20, 2013, https:// papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2267971 (accessed March 19, 2023). .

1064. GDA-12670 16. In formal terms, tax policy should seek to minimize the excess burden or deadweight loss of the tax system. .

1065. GDA-12671 See John Creedy, "The Excess Burden of Taxation and Why it (Approximately) Quadruples When the Tax Rate Doubles,"� New Zealand Treasury Working Paper No. .

1066. GDA-12678 Burton, "Tax Reform: Eliminating the Double Taxation of Corporate Income,"� Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. .

1067. GDA-12680 18. One hundred dollars in corporate income less an 18 percent tax leaves $82. .

1068. GDA-12681 A 15 percent capital gains tax or qualified dividends tax is $12.30, which leaves $69.70, for an effective marginal tax rate of 30 percent. .

1069. GDA-12685 21. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Public Law 115-97, § 11061, amending Internal Revenue Code § 2010(c). .

1070. GDA-12687 See also Internal Revenue Service, "What's New: Estate and Gift Tax, Basic Exclusion Amount for Year of Death,"� https://www.irs.gov/businesses/ small-businesses-self-employed/whats-new-estate-and-gift-tax (accessed March 22, 2023). .

1071. GDA-12688 22. The effective tax rate on foreign-derived intangible income should remain equal to the tax rate on global intangible low-taxed income. .

1072. GDA-12691 Business deductions that were suspended by the 2017 tax bill (other than those related to depreciation) should also be extended. .

1073. GDA-12693 The 2017 tax bill's modifications to the deduction for personal casualty and theft losses should be made permanent. .

1074. GDA-12698 27. For additional revenue to fund pro-growth tax cuts, lawmakers could gradually phase down the limitation on benefit deductions. .

1075. GDA-12699 28. Early versions of the 2017 tax bill envisioned reforming the corporate income tax into a destination-based cash flow tax, a form of consumption tax. .

1076. GDA-12700 A tax system that taxes labor and capital-factor incomes equally --- and only once --- results in higher output and higher incomes. .

1077. GDA-12701 Usually, in the modern public finance literature, this is called a consumption tax. .

1078. GDA-12702 On the economic superiority of consumptions taxes, see N. .

1079. GDA-12703 Gregory Mankiw et al., "Optimal Taxation in Theory and Practice,"� Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. .

1080. GDA-12707 Auerbach, "The Choice Between Income and Consumption Taxes: A Primer,"� NBER Working Paper No. .

1081. GDA-12710 Bloom eld, eds., The Consumption Tax: A Better Alternative? (Cambridge, MA: Harper and Row, Ballinger, 1987). .

1082. GDA-12711 29. Hoover Institution, "Simplifying the Tax System: The History of the Flat Tax,"� March 1, 2019, https://www. .

1083. GDA-12712 hoover.org/research/simplifying-tax-system-history-flat-tax (accessed March 20, 2023). .

1084. GDA-12714 Burton, "Four Conservative Tax Plans with Equivalent Economic Results,"� Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. .

1085. GDA-12715 2978, December 7, 2022, https://www.heritage.org/taxes/report/four-conservative-tax- plans-equivalent-economic-results. .

1086. GDA-12716 Consumption tax plans generally include carveouts that exempt very low-income Americans from federal tax liability. .

1087. GDA-12718 Mitchell and Chris Edwards, Global Tax Revolution: The Rise of Tax Competition and the Battle to Defend It (Washington, DC: Cato Institute, 2008); Preston Brashers, "Like Constitutional Checks and Balances, Tax Competition Is a Bulwark Against Growth of Government,"� March 17, 2022, https://www.heritage.org/ taxes/commentary/constitutional-checks-and-balances-tax-competition-bulwark-against-growth (accessed March 19, 2023). .

1088. GDA-12722 "The OECD Crusade To Raise Taxes,"� Heritage Foundation Commentary, February 4, 2022, https://www.heritage.org/taxes/commentary/the-oecd-crusade- raise-taxes; David Burton, "How the OECD is Promoting More Identity Theft, Crime, Industrial Espionage, and Suppression of Political Dissidents,"� July 15, 2016, Heritage Foundation Commentary, https://www.heritage. .

1089. GDA-12723 org/taxes/commentary/how-the-oecd-promoting-more-identity-theft-crime-industrial-espionage-and; David R. .

1090. GDA-12724 Burton "Towards a Global Tax Cartel?"� Policy, Vol. .

1091. GDA-12753 42. See, for example, the Omnibus Taxpayers' Bill of Rights, Public Law 100-647, Subtitle J of Title VI of the Technical and Miscellaneous Revenue Act of 1988; Taxpayer Bill of Rights 2, Public Law 104-168; IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, Public Law 105-206, Title III; Consolidated Appropriations Act, Public Law 114-113, Title IV, Subtitle A (adding Internal Revenue Code § 7803(a)(3) and other changes); and Taxpayer First Act, Public Law 116-25, Title I. .

1092. GDA-12754 43. For a list of 68 proposed reforms, see National Taxpayer Advocate, 2022 Purple Book: Compilation of Legislative Recommendations to Strengthen Taxpayer Rights and Improve Tax Administration, December 31, 2021, https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ARC21_PurpleBook.pdf (accessed March 19, 2023). .

1093. GDA-12756 Regarding penalty reform, see Jeremiah Coder, "Achieving Meaningful Civil Tax Penalty Reform and Making It Stick,"� Akron Tax Journal, Vol. .

1094. GDA-12757 27 (2012), https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1153&context=akrontaxjournal (accessed March 19, 2023). .

1095. GDA-12765 Hodge, "The Compliance Costs of IRS Regulations, Tax Foundation Fiscal Fact No. .

1096. GDA-12766 512, June 2016 https://files.taxfoundation.org/legacy/docs/TaxFoundation_FF512.pdf (accessed March 19, 2023). .

1097. GDA-12767 48. Organization for Economic Cooperation, The Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters: Amended by the 2010 Protocol, https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/taxation/the-multilateral- convention-on-mutual-administrative-assistance-in-tax-matters_9789264115606-en#page1 (accessed March 20, 2023). .

1098. GDA-12768 49. David Burton, "Two Little Known Tax Treaties Will Lead to Substantially More Identity Theft, Crime, Industrial Espionage, and Suppression of Political Dissidents,"� Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. .

1099. GDA-12778 Wallison, "Title I and the Financial Stability Oversight Council,"� in Norbert Michel, ed., The Case Against Dodd-Frank: How the "Consumer Protection"� Law Endangers Americans, https://www.heritage.org/ government-regulation/report/the-case-against-dodd-frank-how-the-consumer-protection-law-endangers. .

1100. GDA-12780 Michel, "Fixing the Dodd-Frank Derivatives Mess: Repealing Titles VII and VIII,"� in Norbert Michel, ed., The Case Against Dodd-Frank: How the "Consumer Protection"� Law Endangers Americans, Heritage Foundation, https://www.heritage.org/government-regulation/report/the-case-against-dodd-frank-how-the- consumer-protection-law-endangers. .

1101. GDA-12783 Michel, "Money and Banking Provisions in the Financial CHOICE Act: A Major Step in the Right Direction,"� in Prosperity Unleashed: Smarter Financial Regulation (Washington, DC: The Heritage Foundation, 2017), https://www.heritage.org/prosperity-unleashed#:~:text=Smarter%20financial%20regulations%3A%20solutions%20to,and%20accountable%20than%20ever%20before. .

1102. GDA-12816 Burton, "The Corporate Transparency Act and the ILLICIT CASH Act,"� Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. .

1103. GDA-12819 Burton to AnnaLou Tirol, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, "Re: Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting Requirements,"� Comment, May 5, 2021 http://thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/2022/ Regulatory_Comments/FINCEN-2021-0005-0132_attachment_1.pdf (accessed March 19, 2023). .

1104. GDA-12836 23 EXPORT-IMPORT BANK THE EXPORT-IMPORT BANK SHOULD BE ABOLISHED Veronique de Rugy The Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM or the Bank) is a federal agency that was established in 1934 to provide export subsidies through taxpayer- backed financing to private exporting corporations, as well as to foreign companies buying U.S. .

1105. GDA-12839 taxpayers. .

1106. GDA-12843 By doing so, it risks taxpayer funds as it stymies economic growth. .

1107. GDA-12853 Total Bank authorizations in recent years have gone from $12.6 billion in fiscal year (FY) 20073 to $21.5 billion in FY 20144 to $5.2 billion in FY 2022.5 A better way to understand these numbers is to look at the amount of financial exposure the Bank has --- that is, the risk the Bank takes for which taxpayers are ultimately responsible. .

1108. GDA-12893 In other words, EXIM thus compels American taxpayers to subsidize foreigners' standards of living at no appreciable benefit to the U.S. .

1109. GDA-12896 Because capital will tend to shift from unsubsidized companies to subsidized companies (taxpayers foot the bill if companies backed by the Bank default), unsubsidized export companies face higher borrowing costs, which could translate into fewer jobs in unsubsidized companies or lower pay for their workers. .

1110. GDA-12905 exporters."� During that time, foreign ECAs "fundamentally evolved their philosophy and substantively expanded their roles,"� and "the United States must work hard to keep pace."� The Bank goes on to promise that it will "re-emerge from the years of being out of the long-term export finance business and restore its standing as one of the world's most competitive ECAs."�20 In other words, EXIM bureaucrats appear to believe that economic growth and jobs result not from a favorable tax and regulatory environment, but from a victory in hand-to-hand subsidy combat between government banks. .

1111. GDA-12928 Most of the Bank's funding goes to large corporations such as Boeing --- a recipient of 68 percent of EXIM's loan guarantees and 30 percent of EXIM's overall activities.22 Over the years, 10 large domestic corporations have received roughly 65 percent of the Bank's total assistance (it is closer to 70 percent today). .

1112. GDA-12932 The Bank is not a good deal for taxpayers. .

1113. GDA-12934 While it claims that its operations will save taxpayers $14 billion over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office has found that EXIM programs will actually cost taxpayers $2 billion.26 Numerous audits done by the Bank's internal inspector general also show that the Bank's risk analyses, default assumptions, internal reporting procedures, and financial reporting practices are not reliable enough to ensure the safe stewardship of taxpayer funds and responsible management of EXIM's vast portfolio.27 FAILING TO MEET THE CHINA CHALLENGE These days, to get whatever expansion of government one wants or to justify a new government activity, one has only to declare that more government intervention is needed to help fight China. .

1114. GDA-12939 For instance, how can EXIM help us to fight China while state-owned Chinese companies like China Air have been some of the companies most subsidized by EXIM?28 Furthermore, it has now been four years since Congress instructed EXIM to focus on China, but there has been no fundamental change in the way EXIM operates or the companies to which it extends taxpayer-backed financing: Deals related to the aircraft industry still dominate the Bank's portfolio. .

1115. GDA-12953 CONCLUSION The Export-Import Bank should be abolished because it wastes taxpayer money, adversely affects American businesses, and does not promote economic growth effectively. .

1116. GDA-12999 l When EXIM enters a deal, the American taxpayer is always protected first. .

1117. GDA-13001 taxpayer is paid back before any other lender. .

1118. GDA-13003 This ability to manage risk successfully is why EXIM actually makes a profit for American taxpayers, described in government parlance as "negative subsidy,"� sending more than $9 billion to the U.S. .

1119. GDA-13089 The impetus was a series of financial crises caused both by irresponsible banks and other financial institutions that overextended credit and by poor regulations. .

1120. GDA-13100 First, like any other public institution, the Federal Reserve responds to the potential for political oversight when faced with challenges.2 Consequently, its independence in conducting monetary policy is more assured when the economy is experiencing sustained growth and when there is low unemployment and price stability --- but less so in a crisis.3 Additionally, political pressure has led the Federal Reserve to use its power to regulate banks as a way to promote politically favorable initiatives including those aligned with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) objectives.4 Even formal grants of power by Congress have not markedly improved Federal Reserve actions. .

1121. GDA-13101 Congress gave the Federal Reserve greater regulatory authority over banks after the stock market crash of 1929. .

1122. GDA-13102 During the Great Depression, the Federal Reserve was given the power to set reserve requirements on banks and to regulate loans for the purchase of securities. .

1123. GDA-13103 During the stagflation of the 1970s, Congress expanded the Federal Reserve's mandate to include "maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates."�5 In the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, the Federal Reserve's banking and financial regulatory authorities were broadened even further. .

1124. GDA-13106 In essence, because of its vastly expanded discretionary powers with respect to monetary and regulatory policy, the Fed lacks both operational effectiveness and political independence. .

1125. GDA-13123 This function should be limited so that banks and other financial institutions behave more prudently, returning to their traditional role as conservative lenders rather than taking risks that are too large and lead to still another taxpayer bailout. .

1126. GDA-13127 These purchases have two main effects: They encourage federal deficits and support politically favored markets, which include housing and even corporate debt. .

1127. GDA-13129 Together, this policy subsidizes government debt, starving business borrowing, while rewarding those who buy homes and certain corporations at the expense of the wider public. .

1128. GDA-13134 It also means eliminating Fed interventions in corporate and municipal debt markets. .

1129. GDA-13137 However, Fed intervention in longer-term government debt, mortgage- backed securities, and corporate and municipal debt can distort the pricing process. .

1130. GDA-13178 Because free banking implies that financial services and banking would be governed by general business laws against, for example, fraud or misrepresentation, crony regulatory burdens that hurt customers would be dramatically eased, and innovation would be encouraged. .

1131. GDA-13192 Both the 2012 and 2016 GOP platforms urged the establishment of a commission to consider the feasibility of a return to the gold standard,27 and in October 2022, Representative Alexander Mooney (R-WV) introduced a bill to restore the gold standard.28 In economic effect, commodity-backing the dollar differs from free banking in that the government (via the Fed) maintains both regulatory and bailout functions. .

1132. GDA-13255 While their economic benefits are significant, public opinion expressed through the lawmaking process in the Constitution should ultimately determine the monetary-institutional order in a free society. .

1133. GDA-13259 l Focus any regulatory activities on maintaining bank capital adequacy. .

1134. GDA-13263 l Appoint a commission to explore the mission of the Federal Reserve, alternatives to the Federal Reserve system, and the nation's financial regulatory apparatus. .

1135. GDA-13270 Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution (accessed January 23, 2023). .

1136. GDA-13328 Young, "A Theory of Self- Enforcing Monetary Constitutions with Reference to the Suffolk System, 1825-1858,"� Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Vol. .

1137. GDA-13369 As a result, hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars have been funneled through the agency to businesses and individuals over the years. .

1138. GDA-13372 At the same time, however, various SBA programs have generated waste, fraud, and mismanagement of taxpayer dollars. .

1139. GDA-13376 Although PPP worked through private lenders and as a result experienced relatively less fraud than EIDL experienced, it is estimated "that at least 70,000 [PPP] loans were potentially fraudulent."�6 ORIGIN, HISTORY, AND CORE FUNCTIONS In 1954, the agency began to execute such core functions as "making and guaranteeing loans for small businesses,"� "ensuring that small businesses earn a 'fair proportion' of government contracts and sales of surplus property,"� and "provid[ing] business owners with management and business training."�7 In 1970, President Richard Nixon's Executive Order 11518 enhanced the agency's advocacy role by providing for the "increased representation of the interests of small business concerns before departments and agencies of the United States Government."�8 This advocacy role was strengthened with the adoption of the Small Business Amendments of 1974,9 which established the Chief Counsel for Advocacy, and was then reinforced and expanded in 1976 with the creation of the Office of Advocacy, providing additional resources to ensure that small businesses had a voice in the regulatory process. .

1140. GDA-13377 In 1980, the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA)10 further strengthened the Office of Advocacy's role, providing accountability across federal agencies to ensure that they considered the impact of their rulemakings on small businesses. .

1141. GDA-13378 The RFA requires federal agencies "to consider the effects of their regulations on small businesses and other small entities,"�11 and the Office of Advocacy is charged with ensuring that federal agencies abide by the law and is required to provide an annual report to the President and the Senate and House Committees on Small Business.12 In addition, the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (TFTEA) of 201613 established a new role for the Office of Advocacy: "to facilitate greater consideration of small business economic issues during international trade negotiations."�14 This small office has been relatively effective over the years --- and more productive during periods when a strong Chief Counsel for Advocacy has been installed to utilize the Office of Advocacy's authority aggressively to provide a check on regulatory overreach. .

1142. GDA-13379 The office is one of the bright spots within the SBA that a conservative Administration could supercharge to dismantle extreme regulatory policies and advance limited-government reforms that promote economic freedom and opportunity. .

1143. GDA-13402 A future Administration can leverage and strengthen core SBA functions that have been fairly effective at reining in and calling attention to costly regulations and policies that are harmful to small businesses. .

1144. GDA-13403 This core advocacy function is aided both by statutory authority and by a network of small-business organizations and allies that support limited-government policies.28 Moreover, an effective SBA Administrator and leadership team can work and advocate across the federal government to ensure that extreme regulatory policies --- or anticompetitive rules and actions that may favor big businesses over small businesses or international competitors over American small businesses --- are dismantled or do not progress when proposed. .

1145. GDA-13408 For example, even though the SBA under President Donald Trump proposed a rule to remove all of the unconstitutional religious exclusions from its regulations29 to conform with Supreme Court decisions that have made their unconstitutionality clear, the SBA has not acted on the proposed rule and still uses religious exclusions in determining eligibility for business loans. .

1146. GDA-13423 l An Office of Advocacy that is strengthened by a renewed mandate and additional resources to protect against overregulation along with a research agenda that includes measuring the total cost that federal regulation imposes on small businesses. .

1147. GDA-13427 Specifically: l Require performance metrics and internal procedures to safeguard taxpayer dollars and program integrity. .

1148. GDA-13432 Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, both under its current authority and with suggested reforms, the Office of Advocacy could be a powerful weapon against the administrative state's regulatory extremism. .

1149. GDA-13433 l Amend the RFA so that all agencies are required to provide a copy of any proposed rule (other than bona fide emergency rules) along with initial regulatory flexibility analysis to the Office of Advocacy at least 60 days before a notice of proposed rulemaking is submitted for publication in the Federal Register. .

1150. GDA-13434 The Office of Advocacy would submit comments to agencies within 30 days, and each agency would have to consider these comments, make changes in the proposed rule based on those comments, or explain in a revised regulatory flexibility analysis why it chose not to change the proposed rule. .

1151. GDA-13438 Currently, other agencies deny Advocacy the ability to enforce their duty to consider the effect of regulations on small entities by construing their regulations as not having significant economic impact, which would otherwise serve as a trigger for Advocacy's input. .

1152. GDA-13441 This would allow Advocacy to hire approximately 25 attorneys, economists, and scientists and enhance its role in the regulatory process. .

1153. GDA-13443 This would be similar to the approach adopted by President Trump in his January and February 2017 executive orders directing agencies to relieve the cost and burden of regulation on business.37 Advocacy should organize regional roundtables, onsite small-business visits, and an online platform to hear directly from small businesses and entities as it did from June 2017 through September 2018.38 This activity produced 26 letters to federal agencies and highlighted specific regulations that need reform and how Congress had addressed the most burdensome rules through the Congressional Review Act.39 COVID-19 Lending Program Accountability and Cleanup. .

1154. GDA-13462 Current SBA regulations46 and SBA Form 197147 make certain religious entities ineligible to participate in several SBA loan programs. .

1155. GDA-13463 The Trump Administration proposed a rule that would remove the provisions on the ground that they violate the First Amendment.48 Subsequent Supreme Court decisions have made their unconstitutionality clearer.49 In an April 3, 2020, letter to Congress pursuant to 28 U.S. .

1156. GDA-13465 On January 19, 2021, the Trump Administration SBA proposed a rule to remove all of the unconstitutional religious exclusions from its regulations.51 The SBA has not acted on the proposed rule. .

1157. GDA-13466 A similar religious exclusion once appeared in the regulation governing eligibility for SBA Business Loan Programs,52 but it was removed in a June 2022 final rule that noted tension with the First Amendment and Supreme Court precedent.53 That final rule announced that the SBA would nonetheless continue to make religious eligibility determinations for business loan applicants to comply with putative Establishment Clause requirements,54 but Supreme Court precedent and Office of Legal Counsel memoranda refute the notion that large government-backed loan programs raise any Establishment Clause concerns.55 The SBA uses the same "Religious Eligibility Worksheet,"� SBA Form 1971, to make eligibility determinations for all affected programs, including the Business Loan Programs. .

1158. GDA-13467 Thus, the SBA continues to act as though the unconstitutional regulation were still in place, and there is no Establishment Clause basis for doing so. .

1159. GDA-13469 Code § 530D that it will not enforce these unconstitutional regulations. .

1160. GDA-13471 l Finalize the Trump Administration's proposed rule or publish its own updated proposed rule to remove the unconstitutional regulations. .

1161. GDA-13484 Other agencies and programs invest immense taxpayer resources in basic science and research. .

1162. GDA-13487 In this way, foreign companies and foreign productive sites buy and implement taxpayer-funded American technologies. .

1163. GDA-13504 It also can support legislative initiatives that would help SBA to focus on its core statutory activities such as capital access, federal contracting opportunities, and regulatory advocacy. .

1164. GDA-13506 l The Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act69 would require federal agencies to perform more thorough RFA economic analysis and provide a rationale for proposed regulations. .

1165. GDA-13508 l The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act70 (SBREFA) panel process allows small businesses to provide input on agency rulemakings, gives participating small businesses greater procedural rights, and allows for judicial review of agency violations of the SBREFA panel process. .

1166. GDA-13511 l The JOBS Act 4.073 would advance regulatory improvements and modernization of various Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules to enhance capital formation and access. .

1167. GDA-13515 Because much of the SBA's statutory authority relates to financing and regulatory policy, and in order to make the SBA a more effective agency within the Administration, the Administrator and his or her key staff should have experience in small-business finance and investment and/or administrative law. .

1168. GDA-13553 299, Regulatory Flexibility Act, Public Law No. .

1169. GDA-13557 Carey, "The Regulatory Flex Act: An Overview,"� Congressional Research Service In Focus No. .

1170. GDA-13560 Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, "The Regulatory Flexibility Act,"� https://advocacy.sba. .

1171. GDA-13561 gov/resources/the-regulatory-flexibility-act/ (accessed February 18, 2023). .

1172. GDA-13600 During periods of hyper-regulatory activity fueled by an activist Administration, the small- business community engages more frequently with the Office of Advocacy through its roundtables and other mechanisms in the hope of warding off costly and intrusive rulemakings. .

1173. GDA-13603 Additionally, the small-business community is diverse and broad, and several key groups strongly support SBA lending but vigorously oppose tax, regulatory, and spending policies that are intrusiveness or costly to business. .

1174. GDA-13604 Conservative think tanks and taxpayer organizations like The Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, the National Taxpayers Union, Citizens Against Government Waste, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, and Americans for Tax Reform (among others) also have a stake in an improved and cost-effective SBA. .

1175. GDA-13633 Trump, Executive Order 13771, "Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs,"� January 30, 2017, in Federal Register, Vol. .

1176. GDA-13638 Trump, Executive Order 13777, "Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda,"� February 24, 2017, in Federal Register, Vol. .

1177. GDA-13643 Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, What Small Businesses Are Saying and What Advocacy Is Doing About It: Progress Report on the Office of Advocacy's Regional Regulatory Reform Roundtables, June 2017-September 2018, December 2018, https://cdn.advocacy.sba.gov/wp-content/ uploads/2018/12/20091536/What-Small-Businesses-Are-Saying-What-Advocacy-Is-Doing.pdf April 2020, https://advocacy.sba.gov/regulatory-reform/ (accessed February 18, 2023December 10, 2022). .

1178. GDA-13645 Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, Reforming Regulations and Listening to Small Business: Second Progress Report on the Office of Advocacy's Regional Regulatory Roundtables, June 2017-December 2019, https://cdn.advocacy.sba.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/20141200/2nd-Progress-Report-on-Reg- Reform-Roundtables.pdf (accessed February 18, 2023). .

1179. GDA-13647 Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, What Small Businesses Are Saying and What Advocacy Is Doing About It: Progress Report on the Office of Advocacy's Regional Regulatory Reform Roundtables, June 2017-September 2018, pp. .

1180. GDA-13658 44. Press release, "Lankford, HSGAC Republicans Demand Details on Illegal PPP Loans to Planned Parenthood Affiliates,"� Office of U.S. .

1181. GDA-13659 Senator James Lankford, April 28, 2022, https://www.lankford.senate.gov/news/press- releases/lankford-hsgac-republicans-demand-details-on-illegal-ppp-loans-to-planned-parenthood-affiliates (accessed February 18, 2023). .

1182. GDA-13660 45. Press release, "Romney, Colleagues Request Information from SBA Administrator Guzman on Illegal PPP Loans Given to Planned Parenthood Affiliates,"� Office of U.S. .

1183. GDA-13661 Senator Mitt Romney, April 28, 2022, https:// www.romney.senate.gov/romney-colleagues-request-information-from-sba-administrator-guzman-on- illegal-ppp-loans-given-to-planned-parenthood-affiliates/ (accessed February 18, 2023). .

1184. GDA-13678 Small Business Administration, "Regulatory Reform Initiative: Streamlining and Modernizing the 7(a), Microloan, and 504 Loan Programs to Reduce Regulatory Burden,"� Final Rule, Federal Register, Vol. .

1185. GDA-13681 38900-38910, https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/06/30/2022-13483/ regulatory-reform-initiative-streamlining-and-modernizing-the-7a-microloan-and-504-loan-programs-to (accessed February 18, 2023). .

1186. GDA-13722 1120, Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act, 116th Congress, introduced April 10, 2019, https://www.congress.gov/116/bills/s1120/BILLS-116s1120is.pdf (accessed February 19, 2023). .

1187. GDA-13745 That will necessarily require the onshoring of a significant portion of production currently offshored by American multinational corporations. .

1188. GDA-13815 Under current United States laws and regulations, an American President has limited ability to fight back against the higher MFN tariffs now being levied against American workers, farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers. .

1189. GDA-13880 TABLE 4Trade Defi cit Reductions for Target CountriesA heritage.org Chinas Acts Policies and Practices of Economic AggressionProtect Chinas Home Market from Competition and ImportsExpand China's Share of Global MarketsSecure and Control Core Natural Resources GloballyDominate Traditional Manufacturing IndustriesAcquire Key Technologies and IP from Other Countries and the US Capture Emerging High-Tech Industries that Drive Future Growth and Advancements in Defense IndustryAdverse Administrative Approvals and Licensing Processes%%% Anti-monopoly Law Extortion%%%% Bid-Rig Foreign Government Procurement Contracts%%% "Brand Forcing"� --- Forced Use of Chinese Brands% Burdensome and Intrusive Testing%%% Chinese Communist Party Co- opts Corporate Governance%%% Chinese Nationals as Non-Traditional Information Collectors%%%% TABLE 5Communist China's Categories of Economic Aggression (Page 1 of 8) Chinas Acts Policies and Practices of Economic AggressionProtect Chinas Home Market from Competition and ImportsExpand China's Share of Global MarketsSecure and Control Core Natural Resources GloballyDominate Traditional Manufacturing IndustriesAcquire Key Technologies and IP from Other Countries and the US Capture Emerging High-Tech Industries that Drive Future Growth and Advancements in Defense IndustryClaim Sovereign Immunity on US Soil to Prevent Litigation% Consolidate State- Owned Enterprises into National Champions%%%%%% Counterfeiting and Piracy Steals Intellectual Property%%% Currency Manipulation and Undervaluation%%% Cyber-Enabled Espionage and Theft%%%% Data Localization Mandates%%% "Debt-Trap"� Financing to Developing Countries%% TABLE 5Communist China's Categories of Economic Aggression (Page 2 of 8) Chinas Acts Policies and Practices of Economic AggressionProtect Chinas Home Market from Competition and ImportsExpand China's Share of Global MarketsSecure and Control Core Natural Resources GloballyDominate Traditional Manufacturing IndustriesAcquire Key Technologies and IP from Other Countries and the US Capture Emerging High-Tech Industries that Drive Future Growth and Advancements in Defense IndustryDelays in Regulatory Approvals%%% Discriminatory Catalogues and Lists%%% Discriminatory Patent and Other IP Rights Restrictions%%%% Dumping Below Cost Into Foreign Markets%%% Evasion of US Export Control Laws%% Expert Review Panels Force Disclosure of Proprietary Information%%% Export Restraints Restrict Access to Raw Materials%%%%% TABLE 5Communist China's Categories of Economic Aggression (Page 3 of 8) Chinas Acts Policies and Practices of Economic AggressionProtect Chinas Home Market from Competition and ImportsExpand China's Share of Global MarketsSecure and Control Core Natural Resources GloballyDominate Traditional Manufacturing IndustriesAcquire Key Technologies and IP from Other Countries and the US Capture Emerging High-Tech Industries that Drive Future Growth and Advancements in Defense IndustryFinancial Support to Boost Exports and Promote Import Substitution%%%% Forced Research and Development ("R&D Localization"�) %% Foreign Ownership Restrictions Force Technology and IP Transfer%%% Government Procurement Restrictions% Indigenous Technology Standards%%% "Junk Patent"� Lawsuits% Lack of Transparency% TABLE 5Communist China's Categories of Economic Aggression (Page 4 of 8) Chinas Acts Policies and Practices of Economic AggressionProtect Chinas Home Market from Competition and ImportsExpand China's Share of Global MarketsSecure and Control Core Natural Resources GloballyDominate Traditional Manufacturing IndustriesAcquire Key Technologies and IP from Other Countries and the US Capture Emerging High-Tech Industries that Drive Future Growth and Advancements in Defense IndustryLax and Inconsistent Labor Laws%%% Monopsony Purchasing Power%% Move the Regulatory Goalposts%%% Open Source Collection of Science and Technology Information%% Overcapacity Drives Out Foreign Rivals%%% Physical Theft of Technologies and IP Through Economic Espionage%%%% Placement of Chinese Employees with Foreign Joint Ventures% Price Controls to Restrict Imports% TABLE 5Communist China's Categories of Economic Aggression (Page 5 of 8) Chinas Acts Policies and Practices of Economic AggressionProtect Chinas Home Market from Competition and ImportsExpand China's Share of Global MarketsSecure and Control Core Natural Resources GloballyDominate Traditional Manufacturing IndustriesAcquire Key Technologies and IP from Other Countries and the US Capture Emerging High-Tech Industries that Drive Future Growth and Advancements in Defense Industry"Product Hop"� and "Country Hop"� to Evade Antidumping and Countervailing Duties%% Promise Cooperation on Regional Security Issues as Bargaining Chip%%% Quotas and Tari -Rate Quotas% Recruitment of Science Technology Business and Finance Talent%%% Retaliation and Retaliatory Threats%%%% Reverse Engineering%% TABLE 5Communist China's Categories of Economic Aggression (Page 6 of 8) Chinas Acts Policies and Practices of Economic AggressionProtect Chinas Home Market from Competition and ImportsExpand China's Share of Global MarketsSecure and Control Core Natural Resources GloballyDominate Traditional Manufacturing IndustriesAcquire Key Technologies and IP from Other Countries and the US Capture Emerging High-Tech Industries that Drive Future Growth and Advancements in Defense IndustrySanitary and Phytosanitary Standards Raise Non- Tari Barriers%%% Secure and Controllable Technology Standards%%% Security Reviews Force Technology and IP Transfer%% Structuring Transactions to Avoid CFIUS Review of Chinese Investment in the US %% Subsidized Factor Inputs --- Capital Energy Utilities and Land%% Tari s% TABLE 5Communist China's Categories of Economic Aggression (Page 7 of 8) Chinas Acts Policies and Practices of Economic AggressionProtect Chinas Home Market from Competition and ImportsExpand China's Share of Global MarketsSecure and Control Core Natural Resources GloballyDominate Traditional Manufacturing IndustriesAcquire Key Technologies and IP from Other Countries and the US Capture Emerging High-Tech Industries that Drive Future Growth and Advancements in Defense IndustryTechnology-Seeking State-Directed Foreign Direct Investment%%% Traditional Spycraft%%% Transship to Evade Antidumping and Countervailing Duties% Value-Added Tax Adjustments and Rebates Subsidize Chinese Exports%% Weak and Laxly Enforced Environmental Laws%% TABLE 5Communist China's Categories of Economic Aggression (Page 8 of 8) SOURCE: White House O ce of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, How China's Economic Aggression Threatens the Technologies and Intellectual Property of the United States and the World, June 2018, https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/ uploads/2018/06/FINAL-China-Technology-Report-6.18.18-PDF.pdf (accessed March 21, 2023).A heritage.org reduction in the U.S. .

1190. GDA-13901 In 2017, then-House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and then-House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) proposed a "border adjustment tax."� The proposed border adjustment would have eliminated the ability of corporations to deduct the cost of imports while eliminating the tax on income attributable to exports. .

1191. GDA-13902 This border adjustment tax would have shifted the U.S. .

1192. GDA-13903 corporate income tax from an origin-based tax applying to the production of goods and services in the United States to a destination-based tax applying to the consumption of goods and services in the U.S. .

1193. GDA-13904 This tax --- strongly opposed by American multinational corporations and big- box retailers --- not only would have leveled the playing field with respect to WTO rules, but also would have provided an innovative alternative to the application of tariffs.17 A conservative Administration might do well to look at such a tax as part of its trade agenda. .

1194. GDA-13929 Formally, Communist Chinese industrial policy seeks to promote the "digestion, absorption, and re-innovation"� of technologies and intellectual property (IP) from around the world.22 As noted in Table 6, this policy is carried out, for example, through state-sponsored IP theft --- coercive and intrusive regulatory gambits to force technology transfer, typically in exchange for limited access to the Chinese market. .

1195. GDA-13939 As an example of Communist China's coercive and intrusive regulatory gambits to force the transfer of foreign technologies and IP to Chinese competitors, foreign companies often must enter into joint ventures or partnerships with minority stakes in exchange for access to the Chinese market. .

1196. GDA-13983 TABLE 6Vectors of Communist China's Economic Aggression in the Technology and IP SpaceA heritage.org  Physical Theft and Cyber-Enabled Theft of Technologies and IP "� Physical Theft of Technologies and IP Through Economic Espionage "� Cyber-Enabled Espionage and Theft "� Evasion of US Export Control Laws "� Counterfeiting and Piracy "� Reverse Engineering  Coercive and Intrusive Regulatory Gambits "� Foreign Ownership Restrictions "� Adverse Administrative Approvals and Licensing Requirements "� Discriminatory Patent and Other IP Rights Restrictions "� Security Reviews Force Technology and IP Transfers "� Secure and Controllable Technology Standards "� Data Localization Mandates "� Burdensome and Intrusive Testing "� Discriminatory Catalogues and Lists "� Government Procurement Restrictions "� Indigenous Technology Standards that Deviate from International Norms "� Forced Research and Development "� Antimonopoly Law Extortion "� Expert Review Panels Force Disclosure of Proprietary Information "� Chinese Communist Party Co-opts Corporate Governance "� Placement of Chinese Employees with Foreign Joint Ventures  Economic Coercion "� Export Restraints Restrict Access to Raw Materials "� Monopsony Purchasing Power  Information Harvesting "� Open-Source Collection of Science and Technology Information "� Chinese Nationals in US as Non-Traditional Information Collectors "� Recruitment of Science Technology Business and Finance Talent  State-Sponsored Technology-Seeking Investment "� Chinese State Actors Involved in Technology-Seeking FDI "� Chinese Investment Vehicles Used to Acquire and Transfer US Technologies and IP - Mergers and Acquisitions - Greenfi eld Investments - Seed and Venture Funding The following policy options were on the drawing board or in discussion as preparations for a potential Trump second term were being made. .

1197. GDA-13987 l Provide significant financial and tax incentives to American companies that are seeking to onshore production from Communist China to U.S. .

1198. GDA-14024 This great divide is certainly not about a partisan desire for low taxes and a reduced regulatory burden. .

1199. GDA-14028 Yet it is equally true that open borders and offshoring also help American multinational corporations to maximize their profits by minimizing their labor and environmental protection costs. .

1200. GDA-14029 In particular, an open border policy, which allows for the unlimited migration of cheap labor, depresses American wage rates and thereby boosts corporate profits. .

1201. GDA-14030 At the same time, offshoring gives American corporations readier access to the sweatshops and pollution havens of Asia and Latin America. .

1202. GDA-14047 companies offshore their production to chase cheap labor or manufacture in a "pollution haven"� country like Communist China or India with lax environmental regulations, the result is reduced nonresidential fixed investment --- and a GDP growth rate that is lower than it would be otherwise. .

1203. GDA-14099 They also reflect a realistic understanding of the fact that trade policy has limited capabilities and is vulnerable to mission creep and regulatory capture. .

1204. GDA-14115 Trade agreements since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have been increasingly burdened by trade-unrelated provisions involving labor, environmental, intellectual property, and other regulations. .

1205. GDA-14140 Constitution created what was then the world's largest free trade area, and it did so on purpose.43 The combination of the American self-improvement ethos and the large, free internal market guaranteed by the Constitution yielded intensive growth on a scale never before seen. .

1206. GDA-14155 While the Constitution banned internal tariffs in the U.S., international tariffs reached their highest levels in U.S. .

1207. GDA-14189 The recent shortage of baby formula, for example, was caused largely by heavily protectionist regulations. .

1208. GDA-14193 This can reduce regulatory costs and open new markets. .

1209. GDA-14216 Constitution places all taxing authority with Congress53 and none with the President. .

1210. GDA-14217 Congress used those provisions of law to delegate some of its taxing authority to the President because it was having trouble passing "clean"� tariff legislation in the 1960s and 1970s. .

1211. GDA-14218 Unless and until this constitutional question about delegation is addressed, important reforms are available to the next Congress and the next President. .

1212. GDA-14223 Delegating tariff-making might have worked in the short run, but in the long run, it was both constitutionally dubious and ripe for abuse. .

1213. GDA-14278 The Biden Administration quickly undid the Trump Administration's conservative regulatory reforms but left its progressive, self-defeating trade policies in place --- in many cases even strengthening them. .