Policy Document Analysis

General Document Analysis

Policy Document Analysis

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1. GDA-71 For conservatives to have a fighting chance to take on the Administrative State and reform our federal government, the work must start now. .

2. GDA-92 l Pillar I --- this volume --- puts in one place a consensus view of how major federal agencies must be governed and where disagreement exists brackets out these differences for the next President to choose a path. .

3. GDA-367 Conservatives should be confident that we can rescue our kids, reclaim our culture, revive our economy, and defeat the anti-American Left --- at home and abroad. .

4. GDA-370 It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation[.]1 This is the duty history has put before us and the standard by which our generation of conservatives will be judged. .

5. GDA-371 And we should not want it any other way. .

6. GDA-387 This was one of the secrets of conservatives' success in the Reagan Era, one our generation should emulate. .

7. GDA-395 The next conservative President must get to work pursuing the true priority of politics --- the well-being of the American family. .

8. GDA-416 Furthermore, the next conservative President must understand that using government alone to respond to symptoms of the family crisis is a dead end. .

9. GDA-417 Federal power must instead be wielded to reverse the crisis and rescue America's kids from familial breakdown. .

10. GDA-420 But we must go further. .

11. GDA-424 The next conservative President must make the institutions of American civil society hard targets for woke culture warriors. .

12. GDA-430 Pornography should be outlawed. .

13. GDA-431 The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned. .

14. GDA-432 Educators and public librarians who purvey it should be classed as registered sex offenders. .

15. GDA-433 And telecommunications and technology firms that facilitate its spread should be shuttered. .

16. GDA-435 That is, of course, the best argument for universal school choice --- a goal all conservatives and conservative Presidents must pursue. .

17. GDA-436 But even before we achieve that long-term goal, parents' rights as their children's primary educators should be non-negotiable in American schools. .

18. GDA-437 States, cities and counties, school boards, union bosses, principals, and teachers who disagree should be immediately cut off from federal funds. .

19. GDA-438 The noxious tenets of "critical race theory"� and "gender ideology"� should be excised from curricula in every public school in the country. .

20. GDA-440 Allowing parents or physicians to "reassign"� the sex of a minor is child abuse and must end. .

21. GDA-442 But the pro-family promises expressed in this book, and central to the next conservative President's agenda, must go much further than the traditional, narrow definition of "family issues."� Every threat to family stability must be confronted. .

22. GDA-443 This resolve should color each of our policies. .

23. GDA-449 Finally, conservatives should gratefully celebrate the greatest pro-family win in a generation: overturning Roe v. .

24. GDA-452 Conservatives in the states and in Washington, including in the next conservative Administration, should push as hard as possible to protect the unborn in every jurisdiction in America. .

25. GDA-453 In particular, the next conservative President should work with Congress to enact the most robust protections for the unborn that Congress will support while deploying existing federal powers to protect innocent life and vigorously complying with statutory bans on the federal funding of abortion. .

26. GDA-454 Conservatives should ardently pursue these pro-life and pro-family policies while recognizing the many women who find themselves in immensely difficult and often tragic situations and the heroism of every choice to become a mother. .

27. GDA-455 Alternative options to abortion, especially adoption, should receive federal and state support. .

28. GDA-475 That distinction belongs to the "Administrative State,"� the dismantling of which must a top priority for the next conservative President. .

29. 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. .

30. GDA-496 A conservative President must move swiftly to do away with these vast abuses of presidential power and remove the career and political bureaucrats who fuel it. .

31. GDA-502 A conservative President must look to the legislative branch for decisive action. .

32. GDA-508 The next conservative President must end the Left's social experimentation with the military, restore warfighting as its sole mission, and set defeating the threat of the Chinese Communist Party as its highest priority. .

33. GDA-509 The next conservative President must possess the courage to relentlessly put the interests of the everyday American over the desires of the ruling elite. .

34. GDA-510 Their outrage cannot be prevented; it must simply be ignored. .

35. GDA-518 The buck stops with each of us, so each of us must have the freedom to pursue the good for ourselves and those entrusted to our care. .

36. GDA-532 This is as it should and must be. .

37. GDA-536 One of the great premises of American political life is that everyone who can read in that book must have a voice in deciding the course and fate of our Republic. .

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

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

40. GDA-592 Economic engagement with China should be ended, not rethought. .

41. GDA-593 Our manufacturing and industrial base should be restored, not allowed to deteriorate further. .

42. GDA-594 Confucius Institutes, TikTok, and any other arm of Chinese propaganda and espionage should be outlawed, not merely monitored. .

43. GDA-595 Universities taking money from the CCP should lose their accreditation, charters, and eligibility for federal funds. .

44. GDA-596 The next conservative President should go beyond merely defending America's energy interests but go on offense, asserting them around the world. .

45. GDA-607 When the Founders spoke of "pursuit of Happiness,"� what they meant might be understood today as in essence "pursuit of Blessedness."� That is, an individual must be free to live as his Creator ordained --- to flourish. .

46. GDA-619 So must the next conservative President look to these documents when the elites mount their next assault on liberty. .

47. GDA-622 But the next conservative President should be proud, not ashamed of Americans' unique culture of social equality and ordered liberty. .

48. GDA-625 Government should stop trying to substitute its own preferences for those of the people. .

49. GDA-626 And the next conservative President should champion the dynamic genius of free enterprise against the grim miseries of elite-directed socialism. .

50. GDA-636 Or when COVID-19 shutdown politicians like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and California Governor Gavin Newsom were caught at the hair salon or dining at fancy restaurants after moralizing about how everyone else must stay home and forgo such luxuries during the pandemic. .

51. GDA-649 It's not because grocery store clerks and PTA moms are "good"� and federal bureaucrats are "bad."� It's because private enterprises --- for-profit or nonprofit --- must cooperate, to give, to succeed. .

52. 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. .

53. GDA-651 The next President should promote pro-growth economic policies that spur new jobs and investment, higher wages, and productivity. .

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

55. GDA-653 It should promote educational opportunities outside the woke-dominated system of public schools and universities, including trade schools, apprenticeship programs, and student-loan alternatives that fund students' dreams instead of Marxist academics. .

56. 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. .

57. GDA-660 The next conservative President must defend our First Amendment rights. .

58. GDA-664 They don't think any citizen, state, business, church, or charity should be allowed any freedom until they first bend the knee. .

59. GDA-673 But we should take this small window of opportunity we have left to act with courage and confidence, not despair. .

60. GDA-691 The former believe that America is --- and always has been --- "systemically racist"� and that it is not worth celebrating and must be fundamentally transformed, largely through a centralized administrative state. .

61. GDA-694 Conservatives --- the Americanists in this battle --- must fight for the soul of America, which is very much at stake. .

62. GDA-697 The next Administration must stand up for American ideals, American families, and American culture --- all things in which, thankfully, most Americans still believe. .

63. GDA-700 Our Founders wrote, "The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America."� Accordingly, Vought writes, "it is the President's agenda that should matter to the departments and agencies,"� not their own. .

64. 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. .

65. GDA-708 In order to carry out the President's desires, political appointees must be given the tools, knowledge, and support to overcome the federal government's obstructionist Human Resources departments. .

66. GDA-709 More fundamentally, the new Administration must fill its ranks with political appointees. .

67. GDA-713 Vought writes that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) should establish a "reputation as the keeper of 'commander's intent,'"� yet OMB is dominated by career employees who often try to overrule political appointees serving in the various executive departments. .

68. 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. .

69. 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. .

70. GDA-719 Presidents should not issue mask or vaccine mandates, arbitrarily transfer student loan debt, or issue monarchical mandates of any sort. .

71. GDA-725 The next Administration must not cede such authority to non-partisan "experts,"� who pursue their own ends while engaging in groupthink, insulated from American voters. .

72. GDA-734 The President must rely on the men and women appointed to the WHO. .

73. GDA-737 Their agenda must therefore be the President's agenda. .

74. GDA-744 It should be simple and contain clear lines of authority and responsibility to avoid conflicts. .

75. GDA-745 It should also identify specific points of contact for each element of the government outside of the White House. .

76. GDA-746 These contacts should include the White House Liaisons who are selected by the Office of Presidential Personnel (PPO). .

77. GDA-759 His use of his deputies, meetings with senior staff, and direction provided to the WHO must all balance with the daily needs of the President. .

78. GDA-775 If their roles are separated from that of the policy deputy, this deputy should have a strong grasp of international affairs and robust foreign policy credentials. .

79. GDA-777 This individual therefore needs to be meticulous and ideally should possess a great deal of command-and-control experience. .

80. GDA-782 This deputy chief should therefore have impressive policy credentials in the realms of economic, domestic, and social affairs. .

81. GDA-789 Even so, senior advisers should be provided the staff and resources that their portfolios require. .

82. GDA-790 To ensure that senior advisers are effective, their portfolios must be clearly delineated and clearly communicated across the White House. .

83. GDA-794 The office is not designed to create or advance policies on its own initiative --- nor should it do so. .

84. GDA-802 Its staff 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. .

85. GDA-806 Here again, subordinates should be deeply committed to the President's agenda and see their role as helping to accomplish the agenda through problem solving and advocacy. .

86. GDA-807 They should not erect roadblocks out of an abundance of caution; rather, they should offer practical legal advice on how to promote the President's agenda within the bounds of the law. .

87. 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. .

88. GDA-812 The next Administration should reexamine this policy and determine whether it might be more efficient or more appropriate for communication to occur through additional channels. .

89. GDA-815 To offer guidance, the White House Counsel must get up to speed as quickly as possible on all significant ongoing legal challenges across the executive branch that might affect the new Administration's policy agenda and must be prepared at the outset of the Administration to present recommendations to the President, including recommendations for reconsidering or reversing positions of the previous Administration in any significant litigation. .

90. GDA-818 Therefore, to handle the pace and volatility of affairs, the Office of White House Counsel must offer measured legal guidance in a timely manner. .

91. GDA-821 Attorneys in the Office of White House Counsel must therefore work collaboratively within the White House and the Department of Justice, relying on each other as a team, to ensure that proper legal guidance is delivered to the President. .

92. 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. .

93. GDA-823 Instead of choosing a specialist, the President should hire a counsel with extensive experience with a wide range of complex legal subjects. .

94. GDA-828 Because of its gatekeeping function, the position of Staff Secretary is one of extreme trust, and the individual who possesses it should be vetted to work as an "honest broker"� in the President's service. .

95. GDA-841 Depending on how a President chooses to structure his White House, the Office of Communications may include the Office of the Press Secretary (Press Office), but no matter how it is structured, the office must work closely with the Press Office as well as the President's speechwriters and digital strategists. .

96. GDA-843 The Office of Communications must maintain robust relationships with the White House Press Corps, the White House Correspondents' Association, regional stakeholders, and key interest groups. .

97. GDA-844 No legal entitlement exists for the provision of permanent space for media on the White House campus, and the next Administration should reexamine the balance between media demands and space constraints on the White House premises. .

98. GDA-845 Leadership within the Office of Communications should include a Communications Director (who is a direct report to the Chief of Staff), a Deputy Communications Director, a Deputy Director for Strategic Communications, and a Press Secretary. .

99. GDA-846 This leadership team must work together closely to drive the national narrative about the White House. .

100. GDA-849 The office must also ensure that the various White House offices disseminate a unified message to the public. .

101. GDA-850 The Communications Director and Press Secretary in particular should be careful to avoid contradicting the President or delivering conflicting information. .

102. GDA-852 Speechwriting is a unique talent: The writers selected must understand policy, should have a firm grasp of history and other liberal-arts disciplines, and should be able to learn and adopt the President's style of rhetoric and mode of delivery. .

103. GDA-855 Individuals who serve in this role must be quick on their feet, which means, when appropriate, deftly refuting and rebutting correspondents' questions and comments. .

104. GDA-856 The Communications Director must convey the President's mission to the American people. .

105. GDA-858 The Communications Director must be politically savvy and very aware of the ongoing activities of the other White House offices. .

106. GDA-859 The new Administration should examine the nature of the relationship between itself and the White House Correspondents Association and consider whether an alternative coordinating body might be more suitable. .

107. GDA-861 The White House must work with congressional leaders to ensure presidential nominees, for roles such as Cabinet secretaries and ambassadors, are confirmed by the Senate. .

108. GDA-863 Because Congress holds the power of the purse, White House staffers must ensure that there is enough support on the Hill to secure the necessary funding through the appropriations process to fulfill the President's agenda. .

109. GDA-866 The OLA often must function as the mediator among the parties and find common ground to facilitate the successful enactment of the President's agenda. .

110. GDA-867 As is the case with many White House offices (but especially the Office of Communications), the OLA must ensure that congressional leaders receive one unified message. .

111. GDA-871 They must also provide advice to policy staffers regarding whether certain ideas are politically feasible. .

112. GDA-874 Although a policy proposal from within the White House may be a great idea, OLA staffers must ensure that it is politically feasible. .

113. GDA-875 OLA staffers must therefore be skilled in both politics and policy. .

114. GDA-876 Furthermore, the President should seek out individuals who can advance his agenda and at the same time forge pathways with members of the opposing political party on other priorities. .

115. GDA-877 Most important, the OLA must function as a well-oiled machine: precisely synced. .

116. GDA-884 Although its focus should be identifying and recruiting leaders to fill the approximately 1,000 appointments that require Senate confirmation, PPO must also fill approximately 3,000 political jobs that require dedicated conservatives to support the Administration's political leadership. .

117. GDA-909 The OPA should have one director of political affairs who reports either to the Chief of Staff or to a Deputy Chief of Staff. .

118. GDA-910 The OPA should also include various deputy directors, each of whom is responsible for a certain geographical region of the country. .

119. GDA-912 The OPA must therefore have a designated staffer who communicates not only with other White House offices, but also with the Cabinet and executive branch agencies. .

120. GDA-915 It should also organize and administer regular meetings of the Deputy Secretaries because they also typically serve vital roles in the departments and agencies and, further, often become acting secretaries when Cabinet members resign. .

121. GDA-916 There should be one Cabinet Secretary who reports to the Chief of Staff's office, either directly or through a deputy chief, according to the chief's preference and focus. .

122. GDA-928 Because many Cabinet officials have been former presidential candidates, governors, ambassadors, and Members of Congress, the ideal candidate should also possess the ability to interact with and persuade accomplished individuals. .

123. GDA-932 It should have one Director who reports to the Chief of Staff's office, either directly or through a deputy, according to the chief's preference and focus. .

124. GDA-933 The Director must maintain relationships not only with other WHO heads, but also with the senior staff of every Cabinet department and agency. .

125. GDA-935 The OPL should also have a sufficient number of deputies and special assistants to cover the vast number of disparate interest groups that are engaged daily. .

126. GDA-940 The OPL Director should come from the President's election campaign or Capitol Hill --- but should not have deeply entrenched connections to a K Street entity or any other potential stakeholder. .

127. GDA-942 The Director should be amiable, gregarious, highly organized, and willing to shoulder criticism and pushback from interest groups and other elements of the Administration. .

128. GDA-944 They should have extensive experience in private industry, the labor sector, the conservative movement, and among the specific interest groups with which they will be asked to engage on behalf of the White House. .

129. GDA-946 In turn, they must be effective communicators and initiative-takers. .

130. GDA-947 They must also be able to influence, persuade, and --- most important --- listen to various stakeholders and ensure that they feel heard. .

131. GDA-948 All OPL staffers must understand from the outset that their jobs might be modified or even phased out entirely as the Administration's priorities change. .

132. GDA-951 The IGA should have a Director to whom one or two Deputy Directors report. .

133. GDA-952 The Director must ensure that the White House remains connected to all non- federal government entities. .

134. GDA-957 The IGA must work with all other White House offices, especially the OPA and the OPL, and manage its staff throughout the departments and agencies. .

135. GDA-958 IGA staffers must therefore have communication skills, understand political nuance, and be willing to engage in complex policy discussions. .

136. GDA-959 They should also be not just generally responsive, but also proactive in seeking out the interests and perspectives of non-federal government entities. .

137. GDA-967 This process must ensure that all relevant offices are included; that competing or conflicting opinions are thoroughly discussed and evaluated; and, when there is disagreement among White House senior staff or among Cabinet members, a well-structured question is presented to the President for an intermediate or final decision. .

138. GDA-997 Unlike the other policy councils, the NSC was established by statute.8 Statutory members and advisers who are currently part of the NSC include the President and Vice President; the Secretaries of State, Defense, and Energy; the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and the Director of National Intelligence.9 The NSC staff, and particularly the National Security Adviser, should be vetted for foreign and security policy experience and insight. .

139. GDA-999 Special attention should be given to the use of detailees to staff the NSC. .

140. GDA-1001 The next Administration should try to limit the number of detailees to ensure more direct presidential control. .

141. 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. .

142. GDA-1021 To this end, the Director should chair a standing meeting with the principals from each of the other EOP offices to enhance coordination from within the White House. .

143. GDA-1024 The President should establish an economic opportunity working group, chaired by the DPC Director, to coordinate the development of policies that promote economic opportunity. .

144. GDA-1026 Finally, DPC should coordinate with the NSC on a policy agenda to enhance border security. .

145. GDA-1049 The author alone assumes responsibility for the content of this chapter, and no views expressed herein should be attributed to any other individual. .

146. 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. .

147. GDA-1089 The President must set and enforce a plan for the executive branch. .

148. 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. .

149. GDA-1110 The Director must view his job as the best, most comprehensive approximation of the President's mind as it pertains to the policy agenda while always being ready with actual options to effect that agenda within existing legal authorities and resources. .

150. GDA-1113 Externally, the Director must ensure that OMB has sufficient visibility into the deep caverns of agency decision-making. .

151. GDA-1121 No Director should be chosen who is unwilling to restore apportionment decision-making to the PADs' personal review, who is not aggressive in wielding the tool on behalf of the President's agenda, or who is unable to defend the power against attacks from Congress. .

152. GDA-1122 It should be noted that each of OMB's primary functions, along with other executive and statutory roles, is carried out with the help of many essential OMB support offices. .

153. GDA-1124 The Director should have a direct and effective relationship with the head of the BRD (considered the top career official within OMB) and transmit most instructions through that office because the rest of the agency is institutionally inclined toward its direction and responds accordingly. .

154. GDA-1127 The Director must ensure the appointment of a General Counsel who is respected yet creative and fearless in his or her ability to challenge legal precedents that serve to protect the status quo. .

155. 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. .

156. GDA-1130 OMB should work toward a "One OMB"� position on behalf of the President and represent that view during the various policymaking processes. .

157. GDA-1133 The OMB Director should present a fiscal goal to the President early in the budget development process to address the federal government's fiscal irresponsibility. .

158. GDA-1145 To enhance the OMB Director's ability to help the President drive policy at the agencies, the existing six RMOs should be divided into smaller subject-matter areas, allowing for more PADs, and each of these PADs should have a Deputy PAD. .

159. GDA-1147 Regardless of whether Congress adopts the President's full set of budget recommendations, the President should reintroduce the concept of administrative pay-as-you-go, or administrative PAYGO. .

160. GDA-1151 The President should use every possible tool to propose and impose fiscal discipline on the federal government. .

161. 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. .

162. GDA-1171 The Director should instruct OPPM to establish annual performance goals and review processes for agencies that reflect the President's agenda. .

163. GDA-1172 OPPM should also be part of the President's strategy to set and enforce sensible policies and practices for the federal workforce. .

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

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

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

167. 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. .

168. GDA-1188 The next President should also revive the directive in Executive Order 138918 that significant guidance documents also must pass through OIRA review. .

169. GDA-1191 This trend should be reversed. .

170. 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. .

171. GDA-1194 To preserve the integrity of OIRA review, the staff who consult at the beginning of a rulemaking should not handle its eventual review. .

172. 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. .

173. GDA-1196 Executive Orders 13771,9 13777,10 13891,11 13892,12 13893,13 13924 Section 6,14 13979,15 and 1398016 should be revived (with modifications as needed). .

174. 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. .

175. GDA-1198 Additionally, the President should revise and sign an updated version of President Ronald Reagan's Executive Order 1263018 on federal takings. .

176. GDA-1199 The next President should strengthen implementation of the Information Quality Act,19 robustly use the authority of the Paperwork Reduction Act,20 carefully enforce the Privacy Act,21 and ensure the sound execution of OIRA's statistical and other information policy functions. .

177. GDA-1201 OIRA should also work with other components of OMB to revise and apply OMB's uniform Guidance for Grants and Agreements22 and ensure that federal contract and grant guidelines satisfy EO 12866 and other centralized standards as appropriate. .

178. GDA-1202 But executive reforms and actions, while vital, are not enough: Congress also must act. .

179. 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. .

180. 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. .

181. 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. .

182. GDA-1209 The Director should use these authorities to enforce policy and message consistency aggressively and promote the effective engagement of the executive branch in legislative processes. .

183. GDA-1212 The NSC must then chart a course that articulates and achieves the President's national security goals and objectives. .

184. GDA-1213 The President should empower a strong NSC that not only has the power to convene the policy process, but also is entrusted with the full power of the presidency to drive the bureaucracy. .

185. GDA-1214 In organizing (by means of Presidential Directive31) an NSC staff that is more responsive and aligned with the President's goals and empowered to implement them, the NSA should immediately evaluate and eliminate directorates that are not aligned with the President's agenda and replace them with new directorates as appropriate that can drive implementation of the President's signature national security priorities. .

186. GDA-1215 In addition to realigning the staff organization to the President's priorities, the NSA should assign responsibility for implementation of specific policy initiatives to senior NSC officials from across the NSC staff structure. .

187. GDA-1216 These officials should develop, direct, and execute tangible action plans in coordination with multiple agencies to achieve measurable, time-defined milestones. .

188. GDA-1218 Accountable senior officials, themselves either political appointees or a minimum number of career detailees, who are selected and vetted politically and report directly to political staff should be the main day-to-day managers for interagency coordination and implementation of their assigned national security policy objectives. .

189. GDA-1219 They should provide policy analysis for consideration by the broader NSC and relevant agencies and ensure timely responses to decisions made by the President. .

190. GDA-1220 The accountable senior officials should be established at the direction of the NSA and draw on personnel and expertise from beyond the NSC, including OMB, the National Economic Council, and relevant federal agencies. .

191. GDA-1221 The NSC staff and principals should work in tandem with the National Economic Council and OMB at all levels, presenting a united effort to achieve the President's goals and drawing on the latter's statutory authorities to guide the bureaucracy. .

192. GDA-1222 To accomplish national objectives effectively, foreign policy should fully incorporate the economic instruments of national power. .

193. GDA-1223 National security policy must also include the prioritized allocation of resources. .

194. GDA-1225 The accountable senior officials should be empowered to identify, recruit, clear, and hire staff who are aligned with and willing to shepherd the President's national security priorities. .

195. GDA-1226 NSC staff leads, under the direction of the NSA, should have the discretion to reduce the number of positions that need high-level clearances, and the NSC should be adequately resourced and authorized to adjudicate and hold security clearances internally with investigators who work directly for the NSC and whose sole task is to clear NSC officials. .

196. GDA-1227 If certain staff are determined not to need high-level clearances, the question becomes whether they should be part of the NSC at all. .

197. GDA-1228 The NSC should take a leading role in directing the drafting and thorough review of all formal strategies: the National Security Strategy, the National Defense Strategy, the Nuclear Posture Review, the Missile Defense Strategy, etc. .

198. GDA-1229 In particular, the National Defense Strategy, which by tradition has evaded significant review, should be prioritized for White House review by the NSC and OMB. .

199. GDA-1230 Both should also conduct reviews of operational war plans and global force planning and allocations with the Secretary of Defense to align them with presidential priorities and review all key policy and guidance intended for implementation by the heads of the Department of Defense, the Department of State, and the Intelligence Community before they are authorized for distribution. .

200. GDA-1231 The NSC should rigorously review all general and flag officer promotions to prioritize the core roles and responsibilities of the military over social engineering and non-defense matters, including climate change, critical race theory, manufactured extremism, and other polarizing policies that weaken our armed forces and discourage our nation's finest men and women from enlisting to serve in defense of our liberty. .

201. GDA-1233 Given the aforementioned prerequisites, the NSC should be properly resourced with sufficient policy professionals, and the NSA should prioritize staffing the vast majority of NSC directorates with aligned political appointees and trusted career officials. .

202. GDA-1234 For instance, the NSA should return all nonessential detailees to their home agencies on their first day in office so that the new Administration can proceed efficiently without the personnel land mines left by the previous stewards and as soon as possible should replace all essential detailees with staff aligned to the new President's priorities. .

203. GDA-1236 In the end, change requires intervention, and the NSC staff should be appropriately recruited, manned, and empowered to achieve the President's national security and foreign policy objectives and maintain robust policy analysis and discussion while minimizing resistance from those who have an agenda or who jealously guard their resources and autonomy at the expense of national security and sound policy development. .

204. GDA-1238 Additionally, the White House Chief of Staff and NSA must ensure that the NSC is functioning in tandem with the rest of the White House staff to benefit from the best strategic thinking of the President's top advisers. .

205. GDA-1240 Moreover, while the NSC should be fully incorporated into the White House, it should also be allowed to do its job without the impediment of dually hatted staff that report to other offices. .

206. GDA-1242 The White House Counsel should be part of that policy process as the President's top legal adviser. .

207. GDA-1249 The NEC's policy process is also used to determine whether the President should support or oppose legislation passed by Congress. .

208. 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. .

209. GDA-1257 To this end, the NEC Director should chair a standing meeting with the principals from each of the other EOP offices to enhance coordination from within the White House. .

210. GDA-1261 To avoid such problems, international economic policy should be entirely coordinated from NEC. .

211. GDA-1276 The President should ensure that the USTR is empowered to serve in that leadership role, much as other EOP components organize and drive a coordinated policy agenda on behalf of the President. .

212. GDA-1279 The United States, through an empowered USTR, must act to rebalance and refocus international trading relationships in favor of democratic nations that embrace free, fair, and open trade principles built on market-driven economies. .

213. GDA-1282 To address these and other challenges, protect the American worker, and secure free and open markets for our communities and businesses, the next President must leverage the institutional resources and strength of the USTR and neither allow institutional interests to drive a fragmented trade policy that is developed from the ground up nor cater to parochial interests across government and Washington's broader industry of influence. .

214. GDA-1284 In order to achieve the President's policy goals, a strong USTR must be empowered to set trade policy from the White House with the authority and resources to represent the interests of the President's trade agenda with adequate budget, staff, analysis, and expertise to engage meaningfully in internal and interagency policy deliberations. .

215. GDA-1285 The USTR should organize and harness existing interagency trade committees to serve the President's trade agenda and drive a consensus among federal stakeholders, dispose of legacy advisory committees with members who serve special interests, direct action to implement policy priorities, measure progress toward implementing the President's agenda, and hold agencies and officials accountable for delivering the President's agenda. .

216. GDA-1286 The USTR's leadership should not only coordinate and enforce the President's agenda across the federal community, but also set and enforce the President's trade agenda internally. .

217. GDA-1287 Trade policy and priorities should be set by the President and implemented by the U.S. .

218. GDA-1298 A future conservative Administration should utilize the CEA as the senior internal White House economists much as the White House Counsel's office functions as the senior internal White House lawyers. .

219. GDA-1301 In practice, this means that CEA staff do not "coordinate"� the policy process in the way that the DPC or NEC would, but they should be integral to the EOP's policy development processes. .

220. GDA-1302 CEA staff should support sound policy development and execution by actively contributing to running policy dialogues, proactively raising issues that need to be addressed, consulting on questions that arise, and guiding EOP and agency officials on the analytical foundations of policy. .

221. GDA-1303 Structurally, the White House Chief of Staff should ensure that the CEA has a seat at the policymaking table on all relevant policy. .

222. GDA-1307 A future Administration should consider hiring that reflects the White House calendar (mid-January) and involves the Office of Presidential Personnel. .

223. GDA-1312 Nevertheless, while fiscal discipline should not be ignored, long-term policy stability is crucial to investors, innovators, industry, and agencies. .

224. GDA-1318 The Vice President should have a clear understanding with the National Security Advisor and the White House Counsel that they and their respective staffs will work within the White House to determine the scope and leadership of policy reviews that can overlap multiple areas of responsibility. .

225. GDA-1337 If science is being manipulated at the agencies to support separate political and institutional agendas, the President should increase the prominence of the OSTP's Director either formally or informally. .

226. GDA-1340 The OSTP should continue to play a lead role in coordinating federal R&D programs. .

227. GDA-1342 As befitting its location in the White House, the OSTP must be concerned with advancing national interests and not merely the parochial concerns of departments, agencies, or parts of the scientific community. .

228. GDA-1346 These priorities should be evaluated and narrowed to ensure consistency with the next Administration's priorities. .

229. GDA-1349 The President should also issue an executive order to reshape the U.S. .

230. GDA-1352 Also, since much environmental policymaking must run the gauntlet of judicial review, USGCRP actions can frustrate successful litigation defense in ways that the career bureaucracy should not be permitted to control. .

231. GDA-1353 The process for producing assessments should include diverse viewpoints. .

232. GDA-1354 The OSTP and OMB should jointly assess the independence of the contractors used to conduct much of this outsourced government research that serves as the basis for policymaking. .

233. GDA-1355 The next President should critically analyze and, if required, refuse to accept any USGCRP assessment prepared under the Biden Administration. .

234. GDA-1356 The President should also restore related EOP research components to their purely informational and advisory roles. .

235. GDA-1357 Consistent with the Global Change Research Act of 1990,35 USGCRP-related EOP components should be confined to a more limited advisory role. .

236. GDA-1358 These components should include but not necessarily be limited to the OSTP; the NSTC's Committee on Environment; the USGCRP's Interagency Groups (for example, the Carbon Cycle Interagency Working Group); and the Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering, and Technology. .

237. GDA-1359 As a general matter, the new Administration should separate the scientific risk assessment function from the risk management function, which is the exclusive domain of elected policymakers and the public. .

238. GDA-1362 As with other federal departments and agencies, the Biden Administration's leveraging of the federal government's resources to further the woke agenda should be reversed and scrubbed from all policy manuals, guidance documents, and agendas, and scientific excellence and innovation should be restored as the OSTP's top priority. .

239. 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. .

240. 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. .

241. GDA-1367 The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (FPISC), of which the CEQ is a part, has been empowered by Congress through significant new funding and amendments to FAST-41.38 The President should build on this foundation to further empower the FPISC by making its Executive Director an EOP appointee with delegated presidential directive authority over executive branch permitting agencies. .

242. 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. .

243. GDA-1370 The President should issue an executive order establishing a Senior Advisor to coordinate the policy development and implementation of relevant energy and environment policy by officials across the EOP (for example, the policy staff of the NSC, NEC, DPC, CEQ, and OSTP) and abolishing the existing Office of Domestic Climate Policy. .

244. GDA-1374 The President should eliminate the Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC), which is cochaired by the OSTP, OMB, and CEA, and by executive order should end the use of SCC analysis. .

245. GDA-1375 Finally, the President should work with Congress to establish a sweeping modernization of the entire permitting system across all departments and agencies that is aimed at reducing litigation risk and giving agencies the authority to establish programmatic, general, and provisional permits. .

246. GDA-1377 The next President's top drug policy priority must be to address the current fentanyl crisis and reduce the number of overdoses and fatalities. .

247. GDA-1379 The next Administration must reaffirm a commitment to preventing drug use before it starts, providing treatment that leads to long-term recovery, and reducing the availability of illicit drugs in the United States. .

248. GDA-1383 For these reasons, the Director of ONDCP should make it a point to consult with federal border enforcement officials. .

249. GDA-1389 Thus, the President must insure that the ONDCP is managed by political appointees who are committed to the Administration's agenda and not acquiesce to management by political or career military personnel who oversaw the prior Administration's ONDCP. .

250. 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. .

251. GDA-1394 Specifically, the President should appoint a position/point of contact with the rank of Special Assistant to the President or higher to coordinate and lead the President's domestic priorities on issues related to life and family in cooperation with the Domestic Policy Council. .

252. GDA-1399 The OVP is another one of the levers that the President should use to execute his agenda. .

253. GDA-1402 The Vice President should fill his or her office with strong and sound policy minds to effectively assist the President in fulfilling his agenda. .

254. GDA-1404 All of the component councils and offices discussed in this chapter include real policy development and implementation authority, and a robust OVP should be fully integrated into all policy-formation procedures. .

255. GDA-1410 However, OVP officials should be fully integrated into each and every process from the start of a new Administration and not have to wait to be invited to join various meetings or working groups on an ad hoc basis. .

256. 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. .

257. GDA-1583 The President must recognize that whoever holds a government position sets its policy. .

258. GDA-1584 To fulfill an electoral mandate, he must therefore give personnel management his highest priority, including Cabinet-level precedence. .

259. GDA-1597 The GSA must therefore be a part of any personnel management discussion. .

260. GDA-1619 An "outstanding"� rating should be required for Senior Executive Service (SES) chiefs to win big bonuses, but a few years ago, when it was disclosed that the Veterans Administration executives who encouraged false reporting of waiting lists for hospital admission were rated outstanding, the Senior Executive Association justified it, telling Congress that only outstanding performers would be promoted to the SES in the first place and that precise ratings were unnecessary. .

261. GDA-1621 It should not be impossible even for a large national government to hire good people through merit selection. .

262. GDA-1638 A government that is unable to select employees based on KSA-like test qualifications cannot work, and the OPM must move forward on this very basic personnel management obligation. .

263. GDA-1640 In the meantime, the OPM must manage the workforce it has. .

264. GDA-1641 Before they can reward or discipline federal employees, managers must first identify who their top performers are and who is performing less than adequately. .

265. GDA-1657 Political executives should take an active role in supervising performance appraisals of career staff, not unduly delegate this responsibility to senior career managers, and be willing to reward and support good performers. .

266. GDA-1669 A reform-friendly President and Congress might just provide the opportunity to create a more comprehensive performance plan; in the meantime, however, political executives should use existing pay and especially fiscal awards strategically to reward good performance to the degree allowed by law. .

267. GDA-1686 While federal employees win appeals relatively infrequently --- MSPB administrative judges have upheld agency decisions as much as 80 percent of the time --- the real problem is the time and paperwork involved in the elaborate process that managers must undergo during appeals. .

268. GDA-1691 With the proper limitation of labor union actions, the FLRA should have limited reason for appeals. .

269. GDA-1692 The EEOC's federal employee section should be transferred to the MSPB, and many of the OCS's investigatory functions should be returned to the OPM. .

270. GDA-1712 Ideally, the OPM should establish an initial pay schedule for every occupation and region, monitor turnover rates and applicant-to-position ratios, and adjust pay and recruitment on that basis. .

271. GDA-1713 Most of this requires legislation, but the OPM should be an advocate for a true equality of benefits between the public and private sectors. .

272. GDA-1749 A determined President should insist that performance be first and be wary of costly types of reductions-in-force. .

273. GDA-1763 Therefore, career civil servants by themselves should not lead major policy changes and reforms. .

274. GDA-1772 But this requires that career SES employees should respect political rights too. .

275. GDA-1779 It should be reinstated, but SES responsibility should come first. .

276. GDA-1791 But the management rights are still in statute, have been enforced by some Administrations, and should be enforced again by any future OPM and agency managements, which should not be intimidated by union power. .

277. GDA-1792 Rather than being daunted, President Trump issued three executive orders: l Executive Order 13836, encouraging agencies to renegotiate all union collective bargaining agreements to ensure consistency with the law and respect for management rights;26 l Executive Order 13837, encouraging agencies to prevent union representatives from using official time preparing or pursuing grievances or from engaging in other union activity on government time;27 and l Executive Order 13839, encouraging agencies both to limit labor grievances on removals from service or on challenging performance appraisals and to prioritize performance over seniority when deciding who should be retained following reductions-in-force.28 All were revoked by the Biden Administration29 and should be reinstated by the next Administration, to include the immediate appointment of the FLRA General Counsel and reactivation of the Impasses Panel. .

278. GDA-1793 Congress should also consider whether public-sector unions are appropriate in the first place. .

279. GDA-1796 The President must rely legally on his top department and agency officials to run the government and on top White House staff employees to coordinate operations through regular Cabinet and other meetings and communications. .

280. GDA-1815 The specific deficiencies of the federal bureaucracy --- size, levels of organization, inefficiency, expense, and lack of responsiveness to political leadership --- are rooted in the progressive ideology that unelected experts can and should be trusted to promote the general welfare in just about every area of social life. .

281. GDA-1820 The authors alone assume responsibility for the content of this chapter, and no views expressed herein should be attributed to any other individual. .

282. GDA-1911 That is why Russ Vought argues in Chapter 2 that the National Security Council "should rigorously review all general and flag officer promotions to prioritize the core roles and responsibilities of the military over social engineering and non-defense related matters, including climate change, critical race theory, manufactured extremism, and other polarizing policies that weaken our armed forces and discourage our nation's finest men and women from enlisting."� Ensuring that many of America's best and brightest continue to choose military service is essential. .

283. GDA-1913 allies in Asia prohibitively difficult."� However, Miller adds that "[c]ritically, the United States must be able to do this at a level of cost and risk that Americans are willing to bear."� The best gauge of such willingness is congressional approval. .

284. GDA-1914 Accordingly, we must rediscover and adhere to the Founders' wise division of war powers, whereby Congress, the most representative and deliberative branch, decides whether to go to war; and the executive, the most energetic and decisive branch, decides how to carry it out once begun. .

285. GDA-1916 Miller writes that we "must treat missile defense as a top priority,"� ensure that more of our weapons are made in America, reform the budgeting process, and sustain "an efficient and effective counterterrorism enterprise."� Across all of our efforts, we must keep in mind that part of peace through strength is knowing when to fight. .

286. GDA-1917 As George Washington warned nearly two centuries ago, we must continue to be on guard against being drawn into conflicts that do not justify great loss of American treasure or significant shedding of American blood. .

287. GDA-1918 At the same time, we must be prepared to defend our interests and meet challenges where and when they arise. .

288. 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. .

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

290. GDA-1925 It should encourage more trade with allies, particularly with Great Britain, and less with adversaries. .

291. GDA-1926 And it should implement a "sovereign Mexico"� policy, as our neighbor "has functionally lost its sovereignty to muscular criminal cartels that effectively run the country."� In Africa, Skinner writes, the U.S. .

292. GDA-1927 "should focus on core security, economic, and human rights"� rather than impose radical abortion and pro-LGBT initiatives. .

293. GDA-1929 When it comes to China, Skinner writes that "a policy of 'compete where we must, but cooperate where we can'"�has demonstrably failed."� The People's Republic of China's (PRC) "aggressive behavior,"� she writes, "can only be curbed through external pressure."� Efforts to protect or excuse China must stop. .

294. GDA-1933 Bush era, should be closed, as it has added needless additional bureaucracy and expense without corresponding benefit. .

295. GDA-1938 Agency for International Development Max Primorac asserts that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) must be reformed, writing, "The Biden Administration has deformed the agency by treating it as a global platform to pursue overseas a divisive political and cultural agenda that promotes abortion, climate extremism, gender radicalism, and interventions against perceived systematic racism."� If the recommendations in the following chapters are adopted, what Skinner says about the State Department could be true for other parts of the federal government's national security and foreign policy apparatus: The next conservative President has the opportunity to restructure the making and execution of U.S. .

296. GDA-1940 The recommendations outlined in this section provide guidance on how the next President should use the federal government's vast resources to do just that. .

297. 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. .

298. GDA-1951 Technology is critical to maintaining our warfighting primacy, but we must be leery of the siren song that technology alone can protect us. .

299. GDA-1955 We owe them everything, and we must do better. .

300. GDA-1971 Preventing this from happening must be the top priority for American foreign and defense policy. .

301. GDA-1977 Accordingly, the United States must ensure that China does not succeed. .

302. GDA-1980 Critically, the United States must be able to do this at a level of cost and risk that Americans are willing to bear given the relative importance of Taiwan to China and to the U.S. .

303. GDA-1986 Rather, it must confront them with a clear-eyed recognition of the need for choice, discipline, and adequate resources for defense. .

304. GDA-1988 defense strategy must identify China unequivocally as the top priority for U.S. .

305. GDA-1992 allies must also step up, with some joining the United States in taking on China in Asia while others take more of a lead in dealing with threats from Russia in Europe, Iran, the Middle East, and North Korea. .

306. GDA-1996 defense planning should focus on China and, in particular, the effective denial defense of Taiwan. .

307. GDA-2005 allies must take far greater responsibility for their conventional defense. .

308. GDA-2007 allies must play their part not only in dealing with China, but also in dealing with threats from Russia, Iran, and North Korea. .

309. GDA-2027 To succeed in this endeavor, we must optimize the systems and personnel that the department uses, but the inflexible bureaucratic structure and risk-adverse culture that have developed over the decades make it difficult to provide the tools that warfighters need at the speed of relevance. .

310. GDA-2034 2. The President should examine the recommendations of the congressionally mandated Commission on Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution Reform4 and develop a strategy for implementing those that the Administration considers to be in the best interests of the American people. .

311. 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. .

312. GDA-2064 2. The Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, Under Secretary for Research and Engineering, and all service secretaries should assess their acquisition workforces; determine what additional personnel, resources, and training they need; and develop implementation plans. .

313. GDA-2067 The critical shortage of trained and certified acquisition personnel must be addressed with urgency in order to support DOD mission objectives and goals. .

314. GDA-2073 To maintain leadership in the era of great-power competition and succeed against our adversaries, a key DOD effort must be the creation of mechanisms and processes to embrace America's most significant competitive advantage: innovation. .

315. GDA-2094 DOD FOREIGN MILITARY SALES The United States must regain its role as the "Arsenal of Democracy."� In fiscal year (FY) 2021, U.S. .

316. GDA-2100 defense systems, thereby expanding our "defense ecosystem."� We must reverse the recent dip in FMS to ensure both that our partners remain interoperable with the United States and that our defense industrial base regains much-needed capacity in preparation for future challenges. .

317. GDA-2126 We must restore our military to a place of honor and respect and recruit and retain the individuals who will meet the rigorous standards of excellence that are required for membership in the world's greatest fighting force. .

318. GDA-2137 Entrance criteria for military service and specific occupational career fields should be based on the needs of those positions. .

319. GDA-2138 Exceptions for individuals who are already predisposed to require medical treatment (for example, HIV positive or suffering from gender dysphoria) should be removed, and those with gender dysphoria should be expelled from military service. .

320. GDA-2139 Physical fitness requirements should be based on the occupational field without consideration of gender, race, ethnicity, or orientation. .

321. GDA-2144 This direction should be reinforced during the Senate confirmation process. .

322. GDA-2145 Orders and direction motivated by purely partisan motives should be identified as threats to readiness. .

323. GDA-2151 Gender dysphoria is incompatible with the demands of military service, and the use of public monies for transgender surgeries or to facilitate abortion for servicemembers should be ended. .

324. GDA-2155 No uniformed personnel should ever have to rely on social benefits like as food stamps or public housing assistance. .

325. GDA-2162 The next President should limit the continued advancement of many of the existing cadre, many of whom have been advanced by prior Administrations for reasons other than their warfighting prowess. .

326. GDA-2163 DOD INTELLIGENCE Our national defense establishment must evolve to meet the rapid, profound, and dynamic change in the global landscape, but absent significant effort to evaluate and retool in critical areas --- including our intelligence and security portfolios --- America's competitive advantage against rivals and adversaries is at serious risk. .

327. GDA-2164 However, for any structural changes to succeed, the crisis in our Intelligence Community (IC)/Defense Intelligence Enterprise (DIE) leadership must be addressed.16 The DIE accounts for the bulk of the Intelligence Community's personnel and a significant portion of its budget. .

328. GDA-2165 Of the IC's 17 elements, eight are within DOD,17 two are independent,18 and seven belong to various other departments and agencies.19 Overall, "[t]he DoD provides 86 percent of the personnel who conduct intelligence activities, both military and civilian."�20 The Defense Intelligence Enterprise must deliver accurate, unbiased, and timely insights consistently and with clarity, objectivity, and independence. .

329. GDA-2171 As the leader of the DIE, the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security should provide a top-line, dissenting, or clarifying view of DIE and IC assessments as needed. .

330. GDA-2175 4. Establish and sustain feedback loops to provide insight and direction for continuous improvement and accountability.22 We must revisit our assessments and understand where we got it right and where we got it wrong. .

331. GDA-2177 We must end the practice of multiple DIE organizations paying to acquire the same PAI data and invest more in machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to exploit open-source and classified intelligence data. .

332. GDA-2184 We must reevaluate the dual-hat structure between the National Security Agency (NSA) and U.S. .

333. GDA-2193 For trust to be restored and sustained, officials must be held accountable. .

334. GDA-2196 The next Administration should eliminate the conflict of interest in the current customer-based model (in which the customer is always right) by enforcing time-tested procedures that guarantee independent analysis, even if it means challenging policymakers' assumptions. .

335. GDA-2197 The Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security's leadership role should be expanded to include providing analytic top-line views and improve DIE transparency by highlighting diverging views. .

336. GDA-2205 This function should be returned to OPM except for military security clearance investigations. .

337. GDA-2232 A rebuilt Army that is focused again on its core warfighting mission and empowered it with the tools, resources, and authorities it needs to accomplish that mission must be the next Administration's highest defense priority. .

338. GDA-2251 In the production, employment, and control of maritime forces, the USN must consider the scope and rate of technological change and, where appropriate, adapt its processes and workforce development. .

339. GDA-2252 In balancing the necessary long-term industrial model of naval platforms against emerging short-term opportunities, the USN must take account of advances that may present vulnerabilities and risks as well as what is assured and secure. .

340. GDA-2256 Investments must be closely coordinated with these other elements of military power. .

341. GDA-2262 The interwar General Board should serve as a model, empowered with final decision authority over all requirements documents concerning ships and the major defense systems fielded on ships. .

342. GDA-2264 The USN must transition technology into warfighting capability more rapidly. .

343. GDA-2265 It must foster a culture of innovation that includes connecting theoretical and intangible ideas with real production environments that produce tangible and practical outcomes and adapting proven processes to advance material solutions. .

344. GDA-2271 The USN must be prepared to expend large quantities of air-launched and sea-launched stealthy, precision, cruise missiles against targets both at sea and ashore. .

345. GDA-2281 4. Highlight in training and leader development that USN forces can and must maintain the ability to operate from and/or defend sovereign territory to include our allies and partners. .

346. GDA-2369 space assets, and to prevail in space should deterrence fail. .

347. GDA-2381 The USSF must move beyond the Cold War- era culture of secrecy and overclassification that surrounded military space to facilitate greater coordination and synchronization of efforts across the government and commercial sectors. .

348. GDA-2398 Accordingly, a conservative Administration should be especially sensitive to and prepared to meet the challenges presented by bureaucratic silos, inappropriately rigid tactical doctrine, and strategic thinking's historic tendency to lag behind technological capability. .

349. GDA-2423 Irregular warfare should be used proactively to prevent state and nonstate actors from negatively affecting U.S. .

350. GDA-2437 DOD, in conjunction with the Interagency, allies, and partner nations, must work proactively to counter China's BRI around the globe. .

351. GDA-2442 A whole-of-government approach and willingness to employ cyber, information, economic, and counterterrorist irregular warfare capabilities should be utilized to protect the homeland. .

352. GDA-2475 nonstrategic capabilities and improve deterrence against limited nuclear attack.39 The Biden Administration canceled this program in its 2022 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR).40 The next President should support and accelerate funding for development of the SLCM-N with the goal of deployment by the end of the decade. .

353. GDA-2485 The United States must restore its necessary nuclear infrastructure so that it is capable of producing and maintaining nuclear weapons. .

354. GDA-2492 should agree to arms control agreements only if they help to advance the interests of the U.S. .

355. GDA-2498 interests should arms control efforts continue to fail. .

356. GDA-2509 In light of these growing threats, the incoming Administration should treat missile defense as a top priority. .

357. GDA-2524 should prioritize procurement of more regional defense systems such as Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), Standard Missile-3, and Patriot missiles. .

358. GDA-2540 The author alone assumes responsibility for the content of this chapter, and no views expressed herein should be attributed to any other individual. .

359. GDA-2569 Spoehr, "The Administration and Congress Must Act Now to Counter the Worsening Military Recruiting Crisis, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief No. .

360. GDA-2604 25. "[T]he Army's internal assessment must be balanced against its own statements that unit training is focused on company-level operations [reflective of counterintelligence requirements] rather than battalion or brigade operations [much less division or corps to meet large-scale ground combat operations against a peer competitor such as Russia or China]. .

361. GDA-2681 Alternatively, USCG should be moved to DOD for all purposes. .

362. GDA-2701 The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is a DHS component that the Left has weaponized to censor speech and affect elections at the expense of securing the cyber domain and critical infrastructure, which are threatened daily.2 A conservative Administration should return CISA to its statutory and important but narrow mission. .

363. GDA-2705 OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY (SEC) In the next Administration, the Office of the Secretary should take on the following key issues and challenges to ensure the effective operation of DHS. .

364. GDA-2711 For example, the next Administration arguably should place its nominees for key positions into similar positions as "actings"� (for example, putting in a person to serve as the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Commissioner of CBP while that person is going through the confirmation process to direct ICE or become the Secretary). .

365. GDA-2713 The department should also look to remove lower-level but nevertheless important positions that currently require Senate confirmation from the confirmation requirement, although this effort would require legislation (and might also be mooted in the event of legislation that closes portions of the department that currently have Senate-confirmed leadership). .

366. GDA-2716 The ideal sequence for line of succession is certainly debatable, except that in circumstances where a career employee holds a leadership position in the department, that position should be deemed vacant for line-of-succession purposes and the next eligible political appointee in the sequence should assume acting authority. .

367. 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. .

368. GDA-2720 The Secretary therefore can and should use his or her inherent, discretionary leadership authority to "soft close"� ineffective and problematic corners of the department. .

369. 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. .

370. GDA-2726 All personnel with law enforcement capacity should be removed immediately from office billets and deployed to field billets to maximize law enforcement capacity. .

371. GDA-2728 The next Administration should take steps to restore lawfulness and integrity to the department's massive regimen of federal grant programs, most of which are managed and distributed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. .

372. GDA-2729 The Secretary should direct FEMA to ensure that all FEMA-issued grant funding for states, localities, and private organizations is going to recipients who are lawful actors, can demonstrate that they are in compliance with federal law, and can show that their mission and actions support the broader homeland security mission. .

373. GDA-2730 All applicants and potential recipients of such grant funding should be required to meet certain preconditions for eligibility (except for receipt of post-disaster or nonhumanitarian funding) or should simply be considered ineligible for funding. .

374. GDA-2731 Such preconditions should include at least the following: l Certification by applicants that they comply with all aspects of federal immigration laws, including the honoring of all immigration detainers. .

375. GDA-2737 To stop facilitating the availability of cheap foreign labor in order to support American workers (particularly poor and middle-class American workers) and follow congressional intent, the Secretary should explicitly cease using at least two discretionary authorities as part of his or her broader effort to support American workers. .

376. GDA-2738 l The Secretary should make it clear that he or she will not use the Secretary's existing discretionary authority to increase the number of H-2B (seasonal non-agricultural) visas above the statutorily set cap. .

377. 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. .

378. GDA-2741 The Secretary should use his or her inherent authority as leader of the department to follow up with congressional and other partners to disclose information and provide the transparency that has been obstructed during the Biden Administration. .

379. GDA-2742 The Secretary should proceed from the assumption that congressional inquiries and public information requests were unfulfilled and then seek to fulfill them. .

380. GDA-2744 The Secretary should plan to quickly remove all current members of the Homeland Security Advisory Committee and replace them as quickly as is feasible. .

381. GDA-2749 The BSIA should establish clear mission requirements, responsibilities, and mandates under existing law regarding the persistent need for and utilization of U.S. .

382. GDA-2751 In addition, appropriate elements within the newly created BSIA should be designated as part of the U.S. .

383. GDA-2753 A conservative Administration should eliminate any prohibitive guidance, direction, or mandate from DHS or the Administration that curtails or limits CBP from publishing detailed border security and enforcement data not impacting intelligence, interdiction, and investigative operations, methods, or sources. .

384. 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. .

385. GDA-2755 The White House should grant the authority for CBP and DHS executives to utilize component aviation assets under the Office of Air and Marine (OAM). .

386. GDA-2761 Border Patrol (BP) and OAM should be combined within CBP. .

387. GDA-2764 CBP should restart and expand use of the horseback-mounted Border Patrol. .

388. GDA-2765 As part of this announcement, the Secretary should clear the records and personnel files of those who were falsely accused by Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas of whipping migrants and issue a formal apology on behalf of DHS and CBP. .

389. GDA-2766 The Secretary should combine the Office of Trade (OT) and Trade Relations with the Office of Field Operations (OFO). .

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

391. GDA-2772 CBP should issue NTAs only in limited situations for humanitarian reasons, such as medical emergencies. .

392. GDA-2773 In addition, CBP should eliminate use of Notices to Report (NTR) altogether. .

393. GDA-2777 A single nationwide detention standard should be codified that prevents individual states from mandating that federal government agencies adhere to widely expansive and ever-changing sets of standards. .

394. GDA-2778 Such standards should allow the flexibility to use large numbers of temporary facilities such as tents. .

395. GDA-2783 The next President should request a realistic budget that fully pays for these costs. .

396. GDA-2785 Congress should increase funding for facility upgrades at strategic land Ports of Entry (POEs), including expanding state-of-the-art technology such as Non-Intrusive Inspection equipment. .

397. GDA-2789 To return ICE to its primary mission, any new Administration that wishes to restore the rule of law to our immigration enforcement efforts should: l Order ICE to stop closing out pending immigration cases and apply the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) as written by Congress.3 The Biden Administration closed out tens of thousands of immigration cases that had already been prepared and were slated for expedited removal processing or hearings before the U.S. .

398. GDA-2792 l Direct ICE to stop ignoring criminal aliens identified through the 287(g) program.4 Ultimately, Congress should prevent ICE from ignoring criminal aliens identified by local law enforcement agencies that are partners in the 287(g) program. .

399. GDA-2793 However, before congressional action, ICE should be directed to take custody of all aliens with records for felonies, crimes of violence, DUIs, previous removals, and any other crime that is considered a national security or public safety threat as defined under current laws. .

400. GDA-2795 Victimization should not be a basis for an immigration benefit. .

401. GDA-2796 If an alien who was a trafficking or crime victim is actively and significantly cooperating with law enforcement as a witness, the S visa is already available and should be used. .

402. GDA-2797 Pending elimination of the T and U visas, the Secretary should significantly restrict eligibility for each visa to prevent fraud. .

403. GDA-2802 ICE should end its current cozy deference to educational institutions and remove security risks from the program. .

404. GDA-2805 Additionally, ICE should clarify who is responsible for enforcing its criminal and civil authorities. .

405. GDA-2806 It should also remove self-imposed limitations on its nationwide jurisdiction. .

406. GDA-2807 l Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agents in the 1811 series should enforce Title 8 and 18 crimes as the biggest part of their portfolio. .

407. GDA-2808 Alien smuggling, trafficking, and cross-border crime as defined under Title 85 and Title 186 should be the focus of ICE operations. .

408. GDA-2809 l The role of ICE Deportation Officers should be clarified. .

409. 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. .

410. GDA-2811 l All ICE memoranda identifying "sensitive zones"� where ICE personnel are prohibited from operating should be rescinded. .

411. GDA-2813 l To maximize the efficient use of its resources, ICE should make full use of existing Expedited Removal (ER) authorities. .

412. GDA-2818 Additionally, ICE/ HSI, along with CBP, should be full participants in the Intelligence Community. .

413. GDA-2819 The use of Blackies Warrants should be operationalized within ICE. .

414. GDA-2824 Budget l Congress should mandate and fund additional bed space for alien detainees. .

415. GDA-2825 ICE should be funded for a significant increase in detention space, raising the daily available number of beds to 100,000. .

416. GDA-2826 l Congress should fund ICE for at least 20,000 ERO officers and 5,000 Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) attorneys. .

417. GDA-2831 USCIS should be returned to operating as a screening and vetting agency. .

418. GDA-2838 To prioritize vetting and fraud detection, FDNS should undergo a structural shift focused on direct reporting from the field to headquarters, reclassification of leadership, and FDNS directives taking precedence over those of other component entities. .

419. GDA-2839 Correcting the current misalignment of agency priorities and resources should begin with this primary shift in focus to vetting and fraud detection. .

420. GDA-2841 Other structural changes should include reimplementation of the USCIS denaturalization unit --- an effort to maintain integrity in the system by identifying and prosecuting criminal and civil denaturalization cases, in combination with the Department of Justice, for aliens who obtained citizenship through fraud or other illicit means. .

421. 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. .

422. GDA-2844 Particular attention should be given to addressing increasing incidents of forced labor trafficking in temporary work visa programs. .

423. GDA-2847 During a transition period, a complete audit of agency policies, memoranda, and management directives issued during the Biden Administration should be completed, and rescission documents should be prepared for issuance within the first few days of the incoming Administration. .

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

425. GDA-2849 New Policies To advance the national interest, the three core immigration agencies --- USCIS, ICE, and CBP --- should remerge and have immigration elements outside of DHS (such as ORR of HHS) included. .

426. GDA-2850 The fragmented immigration enforcement framework that developed in the wake of the Homeland Security Act has weakened each agency and should be remediated. .

427. GDA-2853 Alternatively, new policies for USCIS as it currently exists should focus on matters that can be addressed through administrative action. .

428. GDA-2854 l The workforce should be realigned and, as necessary, retrained on base eligibility and fraud detection rather than speed in processing. .

429. GDA-2855 l Training should be returned to Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC), which would underscore the enforcement role of USCIS as a vetting agency, and be rebranded accordingly. .

430. GDA-2856 l Management Directives and policies should realign to ensure that the workforce, while adaptable and able to handle the bulk of the USCIS mission, is not allowed to be pulled off mission work to focus on unlawful programs (DACA, mass parole for Afghans, Ukrainians, Venezuelans, etc.), which divert resources away from nuclear family and employment programs. .

431. 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. .

432. 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. .

433. 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. .

434. 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. .

435. GDA-2861 Other efforts should be focused on adjudication standards returning to nearly 100 percent interview requirements for all appropriate cases. .

436. GDA-2862 The incoming Administration should spearhead an immigration legislative agenda focused on creating a merit-based immigration system that rewards high- skilled aliens instead of the current system that favors extended family-based and luck-of-the-draw immigration. .

437. GDA-2863 To that end, the diversity visa lottery should be repealed, chain migration should be ended while focusing on the nuclear family, and the existing employment visa program should be replaced with a system to award visas only to the "best and brightest."� Internal efforts to limit employment authorization should be matched by congressional action to narrow statutory eligibility to work in the United States and mitigate unfair employment competition for U.S. .

438. GDA-2865 The oft-abused H-1B program should be transformed into an elite program through which employers are vying to bring in only the top foreign workers at the highest wages so as not to depress American opportunities. .

439. GDA-2866 Additionally, Congress should: l Improve the integrity of the temporary work visa programs; l Repeal Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations; l Permanently authorize and make mandatory E-Verify; and l End parole abuse by legislating specific parole standards. .

440. 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. .

441. GDA-2869 This is a key concept that should be addressed as USCIS is returned to functioning primarily as a vetting agency. .

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

443. GDA-2873 It is critical that any changes in the budget, even in the wake of a realigned agency combined with ICE and CBP, should retain a fee-funded model. .

444. GDA-2874 Given the Obama and Biden Administrations' lack of will, fees should be increased agencywide to keep in step with inflation and the true cost of the adjudications. .

445. GDA-2875 The incoming Administration should immediately submit a fee rule that reflects such an increase. .

446. GDA-2876 Aside from an increase in all fees, the rule should drastically limit the availability for fee waivers and should implement a fee for asylum applications. .

447. GDA-2877 Additionally, Congress should allow for a 10 percent across- the-board increase in all fees for all fee rules to account for the fact that new fee rules always lag behind budget requirements. .

448. GDA-2878 USCIS should strive to increase opportunities for premium processing, a benefit by which applicants can expedite their processing times. .

449. GDA-2880 While simply raising fees to the necessary levels to make the agency run efficiently would be preferable, without the need for expanded premium processing, this short-term measure should be utilized, particularly if longer-term fee rules are unsuccessful. .

450. GDA-2881 At least until USCIS is caught up on all case backlogs, all applicants rejected for any benefit or status adjudication should be required to leave the U.S. .

451. GDA-2884 Finally, USCIS should pause the intake of applications in a benefit category when backlogs in that category become excessive. .

452. GDA-2885 Once USCIS adjudicators can decrease that caseload to a manageable number, application intake should resume. .

453. GDA-2886 Personnel USCIS should be classified as a national security-sensitive agency, and all of its employees should be classified as holding national security-sensitive positions. .

454. GDA-2887 Leaks must be investigated and punished as they would be in a national security agency, and the union should be decertified. .

455. GDA-2888 Any employees who cannot accept that change and cannot conform their behavior to the standards required by such an agency should be separated. .

456. GDA-2890 personnel presence should be skeletal, and agency employees with operational or security roles should be rotated out to offices throughout the United States. .

457. GDA-2891 These USCIS employees should live and work in the communities that are most affected by their daily duties and decisions. .

458. GDA-2895 To regain our sovereignty, integrity, and security, Congress must pass meaningful legislation to close the current loopholes and prevent future Administrations from exploiting them for political gain or personal ideology. .

459. 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. .

460. GDA-2907 2. If an alternative to repealing Section 235 of the TVPRA is necessary, the section should be amended so that all unaccompanied children, regardless of nationality, may be returned to their home countries in a safe and efficient manner. .

461. 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. .

462. GDA-2909 3. Congress must end the Flores Settlement Agreement by explicitly setting nationwide terms and standards for family and unaccompanied detention and housing. .

463. GDA-2910 Such standards should focus on meeting human needs and should allow for large-scale use of temporary facilities (for example, tents). .

464. GDA-2911 4. Congress should amend the Homeland Security Act and portions of the TVPRA to move detention of alien children expressly from the Department of Health and Human Services to DHS. .

465. GDA-2913 The standard for a credible fear of persecution should be raised and aligned to the standard for asylum. .

466. GDA-2914 It should also account specifically for credibility determinations that are a key element of the asylum claim. .

467. GDA-2916 3. Congress should eliminate the particular social group protected ground as vague and overbroad or, in the alternative, provide a clear definition with parameters that at a minimum codify the holding in Matter of A-B- that gang violence and domestic violence are not grounds for asylum.10 l Parole reform. .

468. GDA-2917 Congress should end the widespread abuse of parole in contravention of statute and return it to its origins as an extraordinary remedy for very limited purposes. .

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

470. GDA-2920 Such funds and infrastructure, including the DHS joint processing centers, should be redirected to secure the border, detain aliens, and provide space for immigration court proceedings. .

471. GDA-2922 While Congress should use its oversight authority to ensure that Expedited Removal is used to the fullest extent and followed to the letter of the law, other paths for border crossers should be included in a legislative package. .

472. GDA-2926 While the agreements themselves must be negotiated, Congress should mandate that the executive branch work faithfully to negotiate and execute ACAs and set parameters to ensure that an unwilling executive cannot renege on an existing agreement or abandon the effort. .

473. GDA-2928 Congress should explicitly permit programs akin to the Prompt Asylum Claim Review (PACR) and Humanitarian Asylum Review Process (HARP) programs. .

474. 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. .

475. GDA-2931 2. Congress should also permanently authorize E-Verify and make it mandatory. .

476. GDA-2933 Congress should unequivocally authorize state and local law enforcement to participate in immigration and border security actions in compliance with Arizona v. .

477. GDA-2935 Congress should require compliance with immigration detainers to the maximum extent consistent with the Tenth Amendment and set financial disincentives for jurisdictions that implement either official or unofficial sanctuary policies. .

478. GDA-2937 Congress should restrict the authority for prosecutorial discretion to eliminate it as a "catch-all"� excuse for limiting immigration enforcement. .

479. GDA-2939 Congress should eliminate ambiguous discretionary language in Title 8 that aliens "may"� be detained and clarify that aliens "shall"� be detained. .

480. GDA-2940 This language, which contrasts with other "shall detain"� language in statute, creates unhelpful ambiguity and allows the executive branch to ignore the will of Congress. .

481. 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. .

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

483. 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. .

484. GDA-2982 All criminal investigative work without a clear nexus to the border or otherwise to Title 8 should be turned over to the appropriate federal agency. .

485. GDA-2984 ICE OPLA, ERO, and HSI should issue a joint internal memo on operationalizing Blackie's Warrants for immediate use on worksite enforcement and other appropriate investigations and operations. .

486. GDA-2991 FEMA should raise the threshold because the per capita indicator has not kept pace with inflation, and this over time has effectively lowered the threshold for public assistance and caused FEMA's resources to be stretched perilously thin. .

487. GDA-2993 In addition, Congress should change the cost-share arrangement so that the federal government covers 25 percent of the costs for small disasters with the cost share reaching a maximum of 75 percent for truly catastrophic disasters. .

488. GDA-2999 The NFIP should be wound down and replaced with private insurance starting with the least risky areas currently identified by the program. .

489. GDA-3004 The principles of federalism should be upheld; these indicate that states better understand their unique needs and should bear the costs of their particularized programs. .

490. 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. .

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

492. GDA-3008 The transition should focus on building resilience and return on investment in line with real threats. .

493. GDA-3010 Only the Administrator should be confirmed by the Senate; other political leadership need not be confirmed by the Senate. .

494. GDA-3011 Additionally, FEMA's "springing Cabinet position"� should be eliminated, as this creates significant unnecessary challenges to the functioning of the whole of DHS at points in time when coordinated responses are most needed. .

495. GDA-3014 CISA's funding and resources should align narrowly with the foregoing two mission requirements. .

496. GDA-3015 The component's emergency communications and Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) roles should be moved to FEMA; its school security functions should be transferred to state homeland security offices; and CISA should refrain from duplicating cybersecurity functions done elsewhere at the Department of Defense, FBI, National Security Agency, and U.S. .

497. GDA-3019 CISA began this work because of alleged Russian misinformation in the 2016 election, which in fact turned out to be a Clinton campaign "dirty trick."� The Intelligence Community, including the NSA or DOD, should counter foreign actors. .

498. GDA-3021 In any event, the entirety of the CISA Cybersecurity Advisory Committee should be dismissed on Day One. .

499. GDA-3022 For election security, CISA should help states and localities assess whether they have good cyber hygiene in their hardware and software in preparation for an election --- but nothing more. .

500. GDA-3024 CISA should not be significantly involved closer to an election. .

501. GDA-3025 Nor should it participate in messaging or propaganda. .

502. GDA-3028 Coast Guard fleet should be sized to the needs of great-power competition, specifically focusing efforts and investment on protecting U.S. .

503. GDA-3032 USCG's budget should address the growing demand for it to address the increasing threat from the Chinese fishing fleet in home waters as well as narcotics and migrant flows in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. .

504. GDA-3035 New Policies The Coast Guard's mission set should be scaled down to match congressional budgeting in the long term, with any increased funding going to acquisitions based on an updated Fleet Mix Analysis. .

505. GDA-3037 The Coast Guard should be required to submit to Congress a long-range shipbuilding plan modeled on the Navy's 30-Year Shipbuilding Plan. .

506. GDA-3038 Ideally this should become part of the Navy plan in a new comprehensive naval long-range shipbuilding plan to ensure better coherency in the services' requirements. .

507. GDA-3039 Outside of home waters, and following the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, the Coast Guard should prioritize limited resources to the nation's expansive Pacific waters to counter growing Chinese influence and encroachment. .

508. GDA-3040 Expansion of facilities in American Samoa and basing of cutters there is one clear step in this direction and should be accelerated; looking to free association states (Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands) for enhanced and persistent presence, assuming adequate congressional funding, is another such step. .

509. GDA-3041 The Secretary of the Navy should convene a naval board to review and reset requirements for Coast Guard wartime mission support. .

510. GDA-3042 To inform and validate these updated requirements, the Chief of Naval Operations and the Coast Guard Commandant should execute dedicated annual joint wartime drills focused on USCG's wartime missions in the Pacific (the money for these activities should be allocated from DOD). .

511. GDA-3043 An interagency maritime coordination office focused on developing and overseeing comprehensive efforts to advance the nation's maritime interests and increase its military and commercial competitiveness should be established. .

512. GDA-3045 Consideration should be given to shifting the Arctic mission to the Navy. .

513. GDA-3046 Either way, the Arctic mission should be closely coordinated with our Canadian, Danish, and other allies. .

514. GDA-3048 The Administration should stop the messaging on wokeness and diversity and focus instead on attracting the best talent for USCG. .

515. GDA-3049 Simultaneously, consistent with the Department of Defense, USCG should also make a serious effort to re-vet any promotions and hiring that occurred on the Biden Administration's watch while also re-onboarding any USCG personnel who were dismissed from service for refusing to take the COVID-19 "vaccine,"� with time in service credited to such returnees. .

516. GDA-3053 Secret Service must be the world's best protective agency. .

517. GDA-3065 New Policies USSS should transfer to the Department of Justice and Department of the Treasury all investigations that are not related to its protective function. .

518. GDA-3066 It should begin the logistical operation of closing all field offices throughout the country and internationally to the extent they are not taken over by Treasury or Justice. .

519. GDA-3067 USSS agents stationed outside of Washington, D.C., should be transferred to work in Immigration and Customs Enforcement field offices where they would continue to be the "boots on the ground"� to follow up on threat reports throughout the country and liaise with local law enforcement for visits by protectees. .

520. 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. .

521. 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. .

522. GDA-3070 USSS should keep visitor logs for all facilities where the President works or resides. .

523. GDA-3075 Some amount of savings should be used to fix the personnel problems and for recruitment initiatives aimed at individuals who are inclined to join a protection-focused agency. .

524. GDA-3082 As the District of Columbia is a federal jurisdiction and currently is beholden to the trend of progressive pro- crime policies, UD officers should enforce all applicable laws. .

525. GDA-3087 should look to the Canadian and European private models of providing aviation screening manpower to lower TSA costs while maintaining security. .

526. GDA-3088 Until it is privatized, TSA should be treated as a national security provider, and its workforce should be deunionized immediately. .

527. GDA-3094 With either model, the intelligence function for domestic travel patterns should remain with the U.S. .

528. GDA-3097 Service to travelers should also improve. .

529. GDA-3101 The Directorate requires intense reform, the specifics of which should be further assessed given its expansive nature. .

530. GDA-3106 One of these advisers should understand U.S. .

531. GDA-3109 Over the first few months of the Administration, the advisers' role should be to assess what structural and procedural changes are appropriate. .

532. GDA-3110 They should dissect the current standing Management Directives and the approval processes in place to implement and/or change them; Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer's processes and procedures; hurdles to the Office of Chief Procurement Officer's procurement of innovative technology; and the facilities plan, including the consolidation into the St. .

533. GDA-3112 They should also be prepared to help implement any end to unionization of DHS components in response to an executive order pursuant to 5 U.S.C. .

534. GDA-3118 Either appropriations personnel should be moved to OLA and there should be a "dotted line"� reporting structure to OCFO, or a policy that OLA personnel must be included on communications to Congress should be implemented. .

535. GDA-3119 To avoid "answer shopping"� by congressional staff, particularly appropriations staff, all budget communications from the OCFO, including from the CFO him/ herself, should first be provided to the Director of OLA to ensure consistency of information, messaging, and answers. .

536. GDA-3123 Before the summer 2020 civil unrest, positioning FPS under MGMT was justified, but given the current climate, they should not be reporting through MGMT. .

537. GDA-3125 FPS should report to the Secretary as other components (e.g., FLETC) do. .

538. GDA-3127 Regarding operational communication, there should be information-sharing mandates (MOAs) --- which are applicable under specific circumstances where federal facilities are involved --- between FPS and the U.S. .

539. GDA-3131 Capitol Police and Supreme Court Police should also be considered, but it is noteworthy that those entities are jurisdictionally outside of the executive branch. .

540. 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. .

541. GDA-3134 PLCY should likewise do a complete inventory, analysis, and evaluation of any of the department's work, in coordination with social media outlets, to censor or otherwise change or affect Americans' speech. .

542. GDA-3135 PLCY should comprehensively report on and publish this history in full so that the American people can know the facts. .

543. GDA-3136 The department should remove all personnel who participated in any of this activity. .

544. GDA-3139 PLCY should set a departmentwide policy that establishes how granting choices are to be made and is consistent with the President's priorities. .

545. GDA-3140 PLCY should clear all granting decisions to ensure that they are consistent with the new policy. .

546. GDA-3142 PLCY should work with Congress to streamline the department's reporting requirements. .

547. GDA-3144 PLCY should seek the elimination of the Quadrennial Homeland Security Review. .

548. GDA-3146 PLCY should bolster its Immigration Statistics program and make it the one-stop shop for the timely production of all department immigration statistics and analysis. .

549. GDA-3147 OFFICE OF INTELLIGENCE AND ANALYSIS (I&A) The Office of Intelligence and Analysis should be eliminated both because it has not added value and because it has been weaponized for domestic political purposes. .

550. GDA-3153 The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which is not a member of the IC, should create cyber intelligence products in a collaborative fashion with the National Security Agency and U.S. .

551. GDA-3158 The National Operations Center (NOC) within the Office of Operations Coordination (OPS) should absorb those select I&A functions and tactically proficient personnel that need to be maintained (for example, technical support to the National Vetting Center). .

552. GDA-3159 The remainder of I&A should be eliminated. .

553. GDA-3160 The OPS entity should maintain IC status, and the only intelligence mission set should be to provide situational awareness and the dissemination of operational information or raw intelligence (no analysis or products) at classified and unclassified levels to executive leadership across the department, not outside of DHS. .

554. 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. .

555. GDA-3162 Instead of each component's chief counsel reporting to the Headquarters General Counsel (with a solid line) and indirectly to his or her component head (with a dotted line), the accountability should be reversed. .

556. GDA-3164 Thus, the chief counsel (or equivalent) of each component should report directly to the component head, report indirectly to the DHS General Counsel, and be accountable to the component head. .

557. GDA-3166 OGC should hire significantly more Schedule C/political appointees who in turn supervise career staff and manage their output. .

558. GDA-3168 OGC should serve as the center of the response to the legal challenges facing the department to ensure a streamlined, consistent response to a litany of issues facing the department. .

559. GDA-3171 OGC should invest in e-discovery software and contract with a vendor to manage the department's e-discovery. .

560. GDA-3175 Document gathering should come from the Office of the Chief Information Officer or a relevant technological element within the department that can pull responsive communications quickly. .

561. GDA-3176 OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS (OLA); OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS (OPA); AND OFFICE OF PARTNERSHIP AND ENGAGEMENT (OPE) DHS's external communications function should be consolidated and reformed so that the President's agenda can be implemented more effectively. .

562. GDA-3177 The Office of Partnership and Engagement should be merged into the Office of Public Affairs. .

563. GDA-3180 Both public and legislative affairs staff in the components should report directly to their respective headquarters equivalent. .

564. GDA-3184 Only political appointees in OLA should interact directly with congressional staff on all inquiries, including budget and appropriations matters. .

565. GDA-3185 To prevent congressional staff from answer shopping among HQ OLA, the DHS OCFO, and components, DHS legislative affairs appropriations staff should be moved from MGMT OCFO into OLA. .

566. GDA-3186 Regarding components, budget/appropriations staff should move from component budget offices into component legislative affairs offices. .

567. GDA-3188 The next President should reach an agreement with congressional leadership to limit committee jurisdiction to one authorizing committee and one appropriations committee in each chamber. .

568. GDA-3189 If congressional leadership will not limit their committees' jurisdiction over DHS, DHS should identify one authorizing and appropriations committee in each chamber and answer only to it. .

569. GDA-3190 To focus more precisely on the DHS mission, OLA staff should also identify outdated and needless congressional reporting requirements and notify Congress that DHS will cease reporting on such matters. .

570. GDA-3191 For other congressional reports, OLA should implement a sunset date so that Congress must regularly demonstrate the need for specific data. .

571. GDA-3194 OPA and OLA should change from being compliance correspondents for outside entities airing grievances to serving as messengers and advocates for the President and the Secretary. .

572. GDA-3197 OPS should absorb a very small number of tactical intelligence professionals from I&A as the rest of I&A is shut down. .

573. GDA-3209 The organizational structure of both CRCL and the Privacy Office should be changed to ensure proper alignment with the department's mission. .

574. GDA-3210 The Office of General Counsel should absorb both CRCL's and PRIV's necessary functions and staff. .

575. GDA-3212 CRCL and PRIV Officers and employees should report to a Deputy General Counsel, who would be a political appointee. .

576. GDA-3213 The CRCL Officer should focus on equal employment opportunity (EEO) compliance and the civil liberties function and investigate matters only within Headquarters or support components. .

577. GDA-3214 Operational components' civil liberties officers should investigate incidents regarding their own agencies. .

578. GDA-3215 The CRCL Officer should ensure that all civil liberties or civil rights complaints are sent to the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for review. .

579. GDA-3216 If the OIG chooses not to investigate, the CRCL Officer should only provide supportive information on possible courses of action for complainants. .

580. GDA-3217 The PRIV Officer and FOIA Officer should focus on FOIA, Privacy Compliance Policy, and Privacy Incident Response. .

581. GDA-3218 The Deputy General Counsel should provide guidance to DHS leadership regarding Privacy Compliance and Privacy Incident Response. .

582. GDA-3220 persons and Lawful Permanent Residents are provided protections as required by the Privacy Act, all DHS issuances should be updated to reflect that DHS protects the privacy of individuals as required by the Privacy Act (U.S. .

583. GDA-3222 Because of the lack of public trust in the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, CRCL and PRIV staff should no longer review intelligence products or provide guidance on any intelligence products or reports. .

584. GDA-3224 Therefore, all communications and/or meetings with any federal, state, local, or nongovernment groups should be limited to the Deputy General Counsel. .

585. GDA-3225 In addition, given the narrower scope of work, OGC should disband the outside advisory boards and the more than 50 working groups in which CRCL and PRIV currently participate. .

586. GDA-3226 Finally, CRCL and PRIV should no longer issue bulletins or periodicals. .

587. GDA-3228 The Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman should be eliminated. .

588. GDA-3235 If OIDO remains a DHS component, the Secretary should immediately issue a directive stripping CRCL of its immigration portfolio. .

589. GDA-3238 The Secretary should conduct a thorough review of the effectiveness of Directive 0810.1,19 which is widely interpreted as requiring a wholesale referral of cases to OIG. .

590. GDA-3242 The Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman should be eliminated. .

591. 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. .

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

593. GDA-3268 No views expressed herein should be attributed to any single contributor. .

594. GDA-3335 Although the Department has also evolved throughout the years, at least in the modern era, there is one significant problem that the next President must address to be successful. .

595. GDA-3338 It should not and cannot be this way: The American people need and deserve a diplomatic machine fully focused on the national interest as defined through the election of a President who sets the domestic and international agenda for the nation. .

596. GDA-3339 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. .

597. GDA-3361 The next Administration should assert leadership over, and guidance to, the State Department by placing political appointees in positions that do not require Senate confirmation, including senior advisors, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretaries, and Deputy Assistant Secretaries. .

598. GDA-3362 Given the department's size, the next Administration should also increase the number of political appointees to manage it. .

599. GDA-3363 To the extent possible, all non-confirmed senior appointees should be selected by the President-elect's transition team or the new President's Office of Presidential Personnel (depending on the timing of selection) and be in place the first day of the Administration. .

600. GDA-3364 No one in a leadership position on the morning of January 20 should hold that position at the end of the day. .

601. GDA-3365 These recommendations do not imply that foreign service and civil service officials should be excluded from key roles: It is hard to imagine a scenario in which they are not immediately relevant to the transition of power. .

602. GDA-3366 The main suggestion here is that as many political appointees as possible should be in place at the start of a new Administration. .

603. GDA-3368 The Secretary of State should use his or her office and its resources to ensure regular coordination among all political appointees, which should take the form of strategy meetings, trainings, and other events. .

604. GDA-3369 The secretary should also take reasonable steps to ensure that the State Department's political appointees are connected to other departments' political appointees, which is critical for cross-agency effectiveness and morale. .

605. GDA-3370 The secretary should capitalize on the more experienced political appointees by using them as the foundation for a mentorship program for less experienced political appointees. .

606. GDA-3371 The interaction of political appointees must be routine and operational rather than incidental or occasional, and it must be treated as a crucial dimension for the next Administration's success. .

607. GDA-3373 Career foreign service and civil service personnel can and must be leveraged for their expertise and commitment to the President's mission. .

608. GDA-3375 The secretary must find a way to make clear to career officials that despite prior history and modes of operation, they need not be adversaries of a conservative President, Secretary of State, or the team of political appointees. .

609. GDA-3378 Previous Republican Administrations have accepted the resignations of only the political ambassadors and allowed the foreign service ambassadors to retain their posts, sometimes for months or years into a new Administration.5 The next Administration must go further: It should both accept the resignations of all political ambassadors and quickly review and reassess all career ambassadors. .

610. GDA-3379 This review should commence well before the new Administration's first day. .

611. GDA-3381 policy or posture would substantially change under the new Administration, as well as any who have evinced hostility toward the incoming Administration or its agenda, should be recalled immediately. .

612. GDA-3382 The priority should be to put in place new ambassadors who support the President's agenda among political appointees, foreign service officers, and civil service personnel, with no predetermined percentage among these categories. .

613. GDA-3383 Political ambassadors with strong personal relationships with the President should be prioritized for key strategic posts such as Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United Nations, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). .

614. GDA-3385 Before inauguration, the President-elect's department transition team should assess every aspect of State Department negotiations and funding commitments. .

615. GDA-3386 Upon inauguration, the Secretary of State should order an immediate freeze on all efforts to implement unratified treaties and international agreements, allocation of resources, foreign assistance disbursements, domestic and international contracts and payments, hiring and recruiting decisions, etc., pending a political appointee-driven review to ensure that such efforts comport with the new Administration's policies. .

616. 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. .

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

618. GDA-3395 Although such agreements should be evaluated and approved as are treaties, the Biden Administration is likely to simply call them "agreements."� The Biden State Department not only approves but also enforces treaties that have not been ratified by the U.S. .

619. GDA-3397 This practice must be thoroughly reviewed --- and most likely jettisoned. .

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

621. GDA-3399 He or she should direct the Secretary of State to freeze any ongoing treaty or international agreement negotiations and assess whether those efforts align with the new President's foreign policy direction. .

622. GDA-3400 The next Administration should also direct the secretary to order an immediate stand-down on enforcement of any treaties that have not been ratified by the Senate, and order a thorough review of the degree to which such enforcement has impacted the department's functions, policies, and use of resources. .

623. 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. .

624. GDA-3402 The next Administration should also move to withdraw from treaties that have been under Senate consideration for 20 years or more, with the understanding that those treaties are unlikely to be ratified. .

625. GDA-3403 Under circumstances in which ratification of a stale treaty before the Senate still serves national interests, the treaty letter of transmittal and submission should be updated for current circumstances. .

626. GDA-3404 The Secretary of State must revoke most outstanding C-175 authorities that have been granted to other agencies during previous Administrations, although such revocations should be closely coordinated with the White House for logistical reasons. .

627. GDA-3406 Interagency engagement in this new environment must be similarly adjusted to mirror presidential direction. .

628. GDA-3409 Ideally, the Secretary of State should work as part of an agile foreign policy team along with the National Security Advisor, the Secretary of Defense, and other agency heads to flesh out and advance the President's foreign policy. .

629. GDA-3410 Bureaucratic stovepipes of the past should be less important than commitment to, and achievement of, the President's foreign policy agenda. .

630. GDA-3411 The State Department's role in these interagency discussions must reflect the President's clear direction and disallow resources and tools to be used in any way that detracts from the presidentially directed mission. .

631. GDA-3414 The department must therefore take particular care in its interaction with Congress, since poor interactions with Congress, regardless of intentions, could trigger congressional pushback or have other negative impacts on the President's agenda. .

632. GDA-3416 The Secretary of State and political leadership should ensure full coordination with the White House regarding congressional engagement on any State Department responsibility. .

633. GDA-3418 All such authorized department engagements with Congress must be driven and handled by political appointees in conjunction with career officials who have the relevant expertise and are willing to work in concert with the President's political appointees on particularly sensitive matters. .

634. GDA-3424 Nonetheless, the concept is one a Republican Administration should support mutatis mutandis. .

635. GDA-3427 Now that this reality has been accepted throughout the government, the State Department must be prepared to lead the U.S. .

636. GDA-3437 To ensure the safety, security, and prosperity of all Americans, this must change. .

637. GDA-3438 Below are several key areas in which the department's formal and informal postures must adjust to reflect the current immigration and domestic security environment: l Visa reciprocity. .

638. GDA-3439 The United States should strictly enforce the doctrine of reciprocity when issuing visas to all foreign nationals. .

639. GDA-3444 access and must reciprocally offer favorable visa-based access to U.S. .

640. GDA-3447 must be streamlined to ensure it can be updated in real time. .

641. GDA-3449 Visa sanctions under section 243(d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA),8 enacted into law to motivate countries to accept the return of any nationals who have been ordered removed from the U.S., should be quickly and fully enforced. .

642. GDA-3451 These country-specific sanctions should remain in place until the sanctioned country accepts the return of all its removal-pending nationals and formally commits to future, regular acceptance of its nationals. .

643. GDA-3452 Black- letter implementation of this law will demonstrate a heretofore lacking seriousness to the international community that other nations must respect U.S. .

644. GDA-3461 The State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, which administers USRAP, must shift its resources to challenges stemming from the current immigration situation until the crisis can be contained and refugee-focused screening and vetting capacity can reasonably be restored. .

645. GDA-3464 immigration system should start with rapid reactivation of several key initiatives in effect at the conclusion of the Trump Administration. .

646. GDA-3465 Reimplementation of the Remain in Mexico policy, safe third-country agreements, and other measures to address the influx of non-Mexican asylum applicants at the United States-Mexico border must be Day One priorities. .

647. GDA-3466 Although the State Department must rein in the C-175 authorities of other agencies, the Department of Homeland Security should retain (or regain) C-175 authorities for negotiating bilateral and multilateral security agreements. .

648. GDA-3468 To protect the American people, the State Department, in coordination with the White House and other security-focused agencies, should evaluate several key security-sensitive visa programs that it manages. .

649. GDA-3469 Key programs include, but should not be limited to, the Diversity Visa program, the F (student) visa program, and J (exchange visitor) visa program. .

650. GDA-3470 The State Department's evaluation must ensure that these programs are not only consistent with White House immigration policy, but also align with its national security obligations and resource limitations. .

651. GDA-3472 That said, the next President must significantly reorient the U.S. .

652. GDA-3482 The five countries on which the next Administration should focus its attention and energy are China, Iran, Venezuela, Russia, and North Korea. .

653. GDA-3487 The United States must have a cost-imposing strategic response to make Beijing's aggression unaffordable, even as the American economy and U.S. .

654. GDA-3490 growth; stronger partnerships; synchronized economic and security policies; and American energy independence --- but above all, it will require a very honest perspective about the nature and designs of the PRC as more of a threat than a competitor.10 The next President should use the State Department and its array of resources to reassess and lead this effort, just as it did during the Cold War. .

655. GDA-3492 government needs an Article X for China,11 and it should be a presidential mandate. .

656. GDA-3493 Along with the National Security Council, the State Department should draft an Article X, which should be a deeply philosophical look at the China challenge. .

657. GDA-3502 On the other hand, others acknowledge the dangers posed by the PRC, but believe in a moderating approach to accommodate its rise, a policy of "compete where we must, but cooperate where we can,"� including on issues like climate change. .

658. GDA-3504 As with all global struggles with Communist and other tyrannical regimes, the issue should never be with the Chinese people but with the Communist dictatorship that oppresses them and threatens the well-being of nations across the globe.12 That said, the nature of Chinese power today is the product of history, ideology, and the institutions that have governed China during the course of five millennia, inherited by the present Chinese leaders from the preceding generations of the CCP.13 In short, the PRC challenge is rooted in China's strategic culture and not just the Marxism-Leninism of the CCP, meaning that internal culture and civil society will never deliver a more normative nation. .

659. GDA-3514 The next Administration should neither preserve nor repeat the mistakes of the Obama and Biden Administrations. .

660. GDA-3517 This decision to be free of the country's abusive leaders must of course be made by the Iranian people, but the United States can utilize its own and others' economic and diplomatic tools to ease the path toward a free Iran and a renewed relationship with the Iranian people. .

661. GDA-3524 To contain Venezuela's Communism and aid international partners, the next Administration must take important steps to put Venezuela's Communist abusers on notice while making strides to help the Venezuelan people. .

662. GDA-3525 The next Administration must work to unite the hemisphere against this significant but underestimated threat in the Southern Hemisphere. .

663. GDA-3527 The common ground seems to be recognition that presidential leadership in 2025 must chart the course. .

664. GDA-3533 The end goal of the conflict must be the defeat of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a return to pre-invasion border lines. .

665. GDA-3537 European nations directly affected by the conflict should aid in the defense of Ukraine, but the U.S. .

666. GDA-3538 should not continue its involvement. .

667. GDA-3542 Rather, each foreign policy decision must first ask the question: What is in the interest of the American people? U.S. .

668. GDA-3543 military engagement must clearly fall within U.S. .

669. GDA-3547 involvement must be fully paid for; limited to military aid (while European allies address Ukraine's economic needs); and have a clearly defined national security strategy that does not risk American lives. .

670. GDA-3555 The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Korea) must be deterred from military conflict. .

671. GDA-3558 The DPRK must not be permitted to profit from its blatant violations of international commitments or to threaten other nations with nuclear blackmail. .

672. GDA-3566 The following core policies must be part of this new direction: l A "sovereign Mexico"� policy. .

673. GDA-3571 The next Administration must both adopt a posture that calls for a fully sovereign Mexico and take all steps at its disposal to support that result in as rapid a fashion as possible. .

674. GDA-3576 The next Administration must leverage its new insistence on a sovereign Mexico and work with other Western Hemisphere partners to halt the fentanyl crisis and put a decisive end to this unprecedented public health threat. .

675. GDA-3579 First, the United States must do everything possible, with both resources and messaging, to shift global manufacturing and industry from more distant points around the globe (especially from the increasingly hostile and human rights-abusing PRC) to Central and South American countries. .

676. GDA-3582 Similarly, the United States must work with Mexico, Canada, and other countries to develop a hemisphere-focused energy policy that will reduce reliance on distant and manipulable sources of fossil fuels, restore the free flow of energy among the hemisphere's largest producers, and work together to increase energy production, including for nations that are looking for dramatic economic expansion. .

677. GDA-3589 This leadership and collaboration must span all tools at the disposal of U.S. .

678. GDA-3591 Middle East and North Africa The next Administration must re-engage with Middle Eastern and North African nations and not abandon the region. .

679. GDA-3596 must prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear technology and delivery capabilities and more broadly block Iranian ambitions. .

680. GDA-3598 l Second, the next Administration should build on the Trump Administration's diplomatic successes by encouraging other Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, to enter the Abraham Accords. .

681. GDA-3599 Related policies should include reversing, as appropriate, the Biden Administration's degradation of the long-standing partnership with Saudi Arabia. .

682. GDA-3600 The Palestinian Authority should be defunded. .

683. GDA-3606 must continue to support its allies and compete with its economic adversaries, including China. .

684. GDA-3607 Relations with Saudi Arabia should be strengthened in a way that seriously curtails Chinese influence in Riyadh. .

685. GDA-3614 cannot neglect a concern for human rights and minority rights, which must be balanced with strategic and security considerations. .

686. GDA-3615 Special attention must be paid to challenges of religious freedom, especially the status of Middle Eastern Christians and other religious minorities, as well as the human trafficking endemic to the region. .

687. GDA-3624 At a bare minimum, the next Administration should: l Shift strategic focus from assistance to growth. .

688. GDA-3629 While the United States should always be willing to offer emergency and humanitarian relief, both U.S. .

689. GDA-3632 This should include the development of powerful public diplomacy efforts to counter Chinese influence campaigns with commitments to freedom of speech and the free flow of information; the creation of a template "digital hygiene"� program that African countries can access to sanitize and protect their sensitive communications networks from espionage by the PRC and other hostile actors; the recognition of Somaliland statehood as a hedge against the U.S.'s deteriorating position in Djibouti; and a focus on supporting American companies involved in industries important to U.S. .

690. GDA-3639 should support capable African military and security operations through the State Department and other federal agencies responsible for granting foreign military education, training, and security assistance. .

691. GDA-3641 Rather than thinning limited federal resources by spreading funds across all countries (including some that are unsupportive or even hostile to the United States,) the next Administration should focus on those countries with which the U.S. .

692. GDA-3643 After being designated focus countries by the State Department, such nations should receive a full suite of American engagement. .

693. GDA-3644 That said, the next Administration should still maintain a baseline level of contact even with those countries with which it has less- than-fruitful relationships in order to encourage positive developments and to be in position to seize unexpected diplomatic opportunities as they arise. .

694. GDA-3648 The United States should focus on core security, economic, and human rights engagement with African partners and reject the promotion of divisive policies that hurt the deepening of shared goals between the U.S. .

695. GDA-3650 Europe American foreign policy has long benefited from cooperation with the countries of Europe (generally, the EU), and any conservative Administration should build on this resource. .

696. GDA-3652 First, the Europe, Eurasia, and Russia region is made up of relatively wealthy and technologically advanced societies that should be expected to bear a fair share of both security needs and global security architecture: The United States cannot be expected to provide a defense umbrella for countries unwilling to contribute appropriately. .

697. GDA-3659 must undertake a comprehensive review of trade arrangements between the EU and the United States to assure that U.S. .

698. GDA-3668 diplomacy must be more attentive to inner-EU developments, while also developing new allies inside the EU --- especially the Central European countries on the eastern flank of the EU, which are most vulnerable to Russian aggression. .

699. GDA-3684 While American statecraft should also seek to improve bilateral relations throughout the region, U.S. .

700. GDA-3685 policy must be clear-eyed and realistic about the perfidiousness of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and the military-political rule in Pakistan. .

701. GDA-3692 The State Department should also encourage the "Quad-Plus"� concept that allows other regional powers to participate in Quad coordination on issues of mutual interest. .

702. GDA-3693 Further, the State Department must support an integrated federal effort to deliver a revamped regional strategy for South Asia, as well as leading the execution of key tasks to implement the strategy.15 The Arctic Because of Alaska, the U.S. .

703. GDA-3704 Arctic policy should remain national sovereignty, safeguarded through robust capabilities as well as through diplomatic, economic, and legal attentiveness. .

704. GDA-3705 The next Administration should embrace the view that NATO must acknowledge that it is, in part, an Arctic alliance. .

705. GDA-3707 NATO has been slow to appreciate that the Arctic is a theater that it must defend, especially considering Russia's brazen aggression against Ukraine. .

706. GDA-3708 NATO must develop and implement an Arctic strategy that recognizes the importance of the region and ensures that Russian use of Arctic waters and resources does not exceed a reasonable footprint. .

707. GDA-3710 should unapologetically pursue American interests in the Arctic by promoting economic freedom in the region. .

708. 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. .

709. GDA-3715 While this should be the next Administration's policy with respect to all countries that might seek to block free-flowing commercial traffic, the next Administration will clearly have to exert substantial attention toward Russia. .

710. GDA-3721 The Coast Guard should also consider upgrading facilities, such as its Barrow station, to reinforce its Arctic capabilities and demonstrate a greater commitment to the region. .

711. GDA-3723 The United States should work with like-minded Arctic nations, including Russia, to raise legitimate concerns about the PRC's so-called Polar Silk-Road ambitions. .

712. GDA-3728 Furthermore, given Greenland's geographic proximity and its rising potential as a commercial and tourist location, the next Administration should pursue policies that enhance economic ties between the U.S. .

713. GDA-3731 Working with other governments through international organizations like the United Nations (U.N.) can be tremendously useful --- but membership in these organizations must always be understood as a means to attain defined goals rather than an end in itself. .

714. GDA-3733 to defend its interests and to seek to address problems in concert with other nations, but it is not the only option --- and American diplomats should be clear- eyed about international organizations' strengths and weaknesses. .

715. GDA-3735 interests, the United States must be prepared to take appropriate steps in response, up to and including withdrawal. .

716. GDA-3738 The next Administration must end blind support for international organizations. .

717. GDA-3739 If an international organization is effective and advances American interests, the United States should support it. .

718. GDA-3740 If an international organization is ineffective or does not support American interests, the United States should not support it. .

719. GDA-3743 Serious consideration should also be given to withdrawal from organizations that no longer have value, quietly undermine U.S. .

720. GDA-3752 The next Administration should direct the Secretary of State to initiate a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of U.S. .

721. 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. .

722. GDA-3756 International organizations should not be used to promote radical social policies as if they were human rights priorities. .

723. 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. .

724. GDA-3761 It must promote a strict text-based interpretation of treaty obligations that does not consider human rights treaties as "living instruments"� both within the State Department and within international organizations that receive U.S. .

725. GDA-3766 human rights policy and should be the basis for both structural and policy changes throughout the State Department.20 All U.S. .

726. GDA-3767 multilateral engagements must be reevaluated in light of the work of the commission, and initiatives that promote controversial policies must be halted and rolled back. .

727. GDA-3772 foreign policy engagements that were produced and expanded under the Obama and Biden Administrations must be aligned with the Geneva Consensus Declaration and the work of the U.S. .

728. GDA-3775 government should not and cannot promote or fund abortion in international programs or multilateral organizations. .

729. GDA-3780 The next Administration should unequivocally embrace the premise that humanity and the international community can simultaneously tackle pandemics and other emergent health threats without impeding the rights of people. .

730. GDA-3781 It must also become a vocal surrogate for people in countries where rights are being suppressed in the name of health. .

731. GDA-3783 The United States must return to treating international organizations as vehicles for promoting American interests --- or take steps to extract itself from those organizations. .

732. 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. .

733. GDA-3798 Timelines for action on these fronts should be developed accordingly, but speed should be a priority. .

734. GDA-3803 The next Administration should take steps to ensure that future foreign assistance clearly and unambiguously supports the President's foreign policy agenda. .

735. GDA-3805 Agency for International Development, which is technically subordinate to the State Department, should be authorized to take on the additional role of Director of Foreign Assistance with the rank of Deputy Secretary and oversee all foreign assistance. .

736. GDA-3808 The next Administration should also evaluate whether these multiple sources of foreign assistance are in the national interest and, if not, develop a plan to consolidate foreign assistance authorities. .

737. GDA-3824 The United States must reassert its public diplomacy obligations by restoring its international broadcasting infrastructure as part of the broader U.S. .

738. GDA-3842 To meet this reality, the State Department must move beyond its traditional model of attempting to establish non-binding, informal world standards of acceptable cyberspace behavior. .

739. GDA-3843 The State Department should work with allies to establish a clear framework of enforceable norms for actions in cyberspace, moving beyond the voluntary norms of the United Nations Group of Governmental Experts.26 The State Department should also assist the Department of Defense to go "on offence"� against adversaries. .

740. GDA-3847 The State Department's role should be to work with allies and engage with adversaries when necessary to draw clear lines of unacceptable conduct. .

741. GDA-3849 These mission-essential institutional initiatives should be joined with others to establish a presidentially directed and durable U.S. .

742. GDA-3938 Today, as Abraham Lincoln famously said, "The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion"�. .

743. GDA-3939 [W]e must think anew, and act anew."�3 The Intelligence Community maintains an incredible capacity to achieve its mission, but both the IC and the somewhat antiquated infrastructure that supports it often place too high a priority on yesterday's threats and methodologies instead of trying to identify possible future threats or the methodologies that might be needed to combat them. .

744. GDA-3942 The IC must be perceived as a depoliticized protector of America's civil rights and security. .

745. 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. .

746. GDA-3945 The IC must also start to look forward, not backward. .

747. GDA-3946 A concerted, disciplined, leadership-led initiative must be undertaken to refocus and shift IC prioritization, funding, and authorities to new and emerging threats, technologies, and methodologies if the United States is to prevail against its global adversaries.4 Unfortunately, America's major strategic threat is a nation-state peer and possibly ahead of the U.S. .

748. GDA-3948 An incoming President must understand that today's intelligence competition could well require analyzing technologies the U.S. .

749. GDA-3950 A future President's ability to drive the resources needed to defeat another nation-state giant should therefore be the focus of near-term IC reforms. .

750. GDA-3965 My ability to begin reversing that capitulation was accomplished solely because President Trump made it repeatedly clear to the entire national security apparatus that he expected all intelligence matters to go through the DNI.9 To help further the legislative intent behind IRTPA, DNI Ratcliffe advised during the transition of incoming Biden DNI Avril Haines that the DNI should be the only Cabinet-level intelligence official.10 While his recommendation was adopted and has corrected the previously allowed imbalance by making the DNI the only Cabinet official and head of the IC at the table, the ODNI's effectiveness and direction leave much to be desired. .

751. GDA-3966 A conservative President must decide how to empower an individual to oversee and manage the Intelligence Community effectively. .

752. GDA-3967 To be successful, the DNI and ODNI must be able to lead the IC and implement the President's intelligence priorities. .

753. GDA-3976 Finally, future IC leadership must address the widely promoted "woke"� culture that has spread throughout the federal government with identity politics and "social justice"� advocacy replacing such traditional American values as patriotism, colorblindness, and even workplace competence. .

754. GDA-3984 Instead, an incoming conservative President's immediate focus should be on modifying Executive Order 12333, the President's direction for implementing IRTPA.13 Executive Order 12333 was last amended on July 30, 2008, by President George W. .

755. GDA-3989 Executive Order 12333 should be amended to take account of the changing landscape of threats and improve the functional aspects of America's intelligence enterprise. .

756. GDA-3990 To that end, a revised order should: l Address the threats to the United States and its allies in cyberspace. .

757. GDA-3992 The amended order should clearly delineate the roles and responsibilities of the various U.S. .

758. GDA-3995 Under the DNI's direction, the cyber mission should explicitly identify how information in the cyber domain will be shared promptly with the warfighters, from law enforcement agencies to the broader IC and state, local, and tribal elements. .

759. GDA-3996 The order should consider stipulating what to do with DOD cyber agencies, most notably the NSA, in terms of strategic (for example, the President and the DNI) vs. .

760. GDA-3999 This should be done in a manner that is consistent with Congress's intent as embodied in IRTPA. .

761. GDA-4000 Under the executive order as written today, the DNI "shall oversee and direct the implementation of the National Intelligence Program."� In practice, the DNI's authority to oversee execution of the IC's budget remains constrained by an inability to address changing intelligence priorities and mandate the implementation of appropriated NIP funding to higher intelligence priorities. .

762. GDA-4001 The DNI should have the President's direction to address emerging but catastrophic threats such as those posed by bioweapons. .

763. GDA-4007 The explosion of private-sector intelligence products and expertise should signal to IC leadership that duplicative efforts are unnecessary and that limited resources should be focused on problematic collection tasks. .

764. GDA-4008 The IC should avoid duplication of what is already being done well in the private sector and focus instead on complex questions that cannot be answered by conventional and frequently increasing numbers of commercial tools and capabilities. .

765. GDA-4009 If necessary, for lack of results from the National Open Source Committee, the DNI should appoint the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence (PDDNI) as chairman to prioritize and promote accountability for the IC's 18 agencies toward this effort. .

766. GDA-4013 As executive agent for security clearances, the DNI must require results from agencies that resist implementation, enforce the 48-hour reciprocity guidance, and target human resources operations that fail to attract and expediently onboard qualified personnel. .

767. GDA-4018 The DNI's authority should be similar to an orchestra conductor's. .

768. GDA-4019 An incoming conservative President will appoint whomever he chooses as DNI, but there should be agreement between the incoming DNI and President with advice and counsel from the Presidential Personnel Office on selecting positions overseen by the DNI throughout subordinate agencies, as well as concurrence by relevant Cabinet officials and the CIA. .

769. GDA-4025 Brief, specific governance language should be considered that would apply counterterrorist authority models to the broader functions of the U.S. .

770. GDA-4028 Any revised Executive Order 12333 must serve to express unequivocal support for the DNI in executing the mandates that an amended order would provide. .

771. 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. .

772. GDA-4037 Decisive senior leaders must commit to carrying out the President's agenda and be willing to take calculated risks. .

773. GDA-4038 Therefore: l The next President-Elect and incoming Presidential Personnel Office should identify a Director nominee who can foster a mission-driven culture by making necessary personnel and structural changes. .

774. GDA-4039 l The President-Elect should choose a Deputy Director who, without needing Senate confirmation, can immediately begin to implement the President's agenda. .

775. GDA-4041 Additional appointees should be placed within the agency as needed to assist the Director in supervising its functioning. .

776. GDA-4042 l The Director and Deputy Director should request briefings on all CIA activities and presence overseas, as well as any CIA-controlled access programs and existing covert action findings, without exception. .

777. GDA-4043 l The Director and Deputy Director should meet with all directorates and mission centers, prioritizing those that are aligned most closely with the President's priorities and calibrating collection and operations based on the President's intelligence requirements. .

778. GDA-4045 It must be clear that the CIA's liaison relationships overseas must follow and not contradict those set at the policy level by the President through the State Department. .

779. GDA-4047 If senior leadership finds any program or operation to be inconsistent with the President's agenda, the Director should immediately halt that program or operation. .

780. GDA-4051 The President should instruct the Director to hire or promote new individuals to lead the various directorates and mission centers. .

781. GDA-4052 This new crop of mid-level leaders should carry out clear directives from senior CIA leadership, which means more accountability and new ways of thinking to benefit the mission. .

782. GDA-4053 In addition, the President should task the Director with significantly broadening recruitment, expediting onboarding practices, and shifting resources away from headquarters, including terminal generalist GS-15s when OPM buyouts, forced rotations, or up-and-out personnel policies are set for particular positions. .

783. GDA-4054 The CIA must find creative ways to align mission requirements with hiring needs, recruit diverse sets of individuals with unique backgrounds, and become more open to hiring private-sector experts directly into senior positions. .

784. GDA-4055 In addition, the Director should break the cabal of bureaucrats in D.C. .

785. GDA-4060 As soon as possible, the Director should divert resources from any activities that promote unnecessary and distracting social engineering. .

786. GDA-4061 The Director should implement changes in promotion criteria that reward individuals for creative thinking and quality of recruitments and products rather than numeric metrics or the achievement of benchmarks that are not essential to the mission. .

787. GDA-4062 Not all careers in espionage are created equal, and the Director should incentivize and reward applicants who are willing to accept high risks over those who are climbing the ranks simply by doing business as usual. .

788. GDA-4063 The Director should refocus the CIA to an OSS-like culture and mandate that all CIA employees acquire, as a condition of securing senior (GS-14+) rank, additional or enhanced language skills, technical or cyber expertise, or field training or serve in overseas assignments. .

789. GDA-4066 Code, "the term 'covert action' means an activity or activities of the United States Government to influence political, economic, or military conditions abroad, where it is intended that the role of the United States Government will not be apparent or acknowledged publicly"�."�16 The President initiates a covert action with a written finding that explains why "such an action is necessary to support identifiable foreign policy objectives of the United States and is important to the national security of the United States."�17 The statute assumes the President will use the CIA as the principal action element to achieve the objectives of covert action findings; however, the President need not feel constrained to utilize only the CIA: "[E]ach finding shall specify each department, agency, or entity of the United States Government authorized to fund or otherwise participate in any significant way in such action."�18 For example, the Department of Defense maintains certain clandestine capabilities under Title 10 authorities that may resemble but far exceed in scale similar capabilities outside of DOD. .

790. GDA-4068 In practical terms, this means that many DOD capabilities, including those in the space and cyber domains, can be employed only after the initiation of armed conflict.19 Given the range of global threats the United States faces today, the President should consider whether DOD's complete set of capabilities should be used to support potential covert actions. .

791. GDA-4070 A future conservative President should therefore identify individuals on the transition team who are familiar with the implementation of covert action with a view to placing them in key NSC, CIA, ODNI, and DOD positions. .

792. GDA-4072 Immediately after the inauguration, the President should task the NSC's Senior Director for Intelligence Programs with conducting a 60-day review of any current covert action findings, including their effectiveness; evaluating new covert actions that might be needed to implement the President's foreign policy goals; and reporting back to the President. .

793. GDA-4073 Such an assessment should be conducted independently of the agencies responsible for the actions under review. .

794. GDA-4074 As part of the review, the Senior Director for Intelligence Programs should identify which departments or agencies, such as the CIA or DOD, are best equipped to achieve the objectives set out in new and existing findings. .

795. GDA-4075 After the 60-day review, the President should demand creative thinking and a clear strategy as to how covert action fits within the President's broader foreign policy strategy, to include possibly modifying or rescinding any current findings, drafting new findings, and streamlining or eliminating needless bureaucracy, particularly at State, to facilitate more expeditious decisions on tactical covert action. .

796. GDA-4076 Careful thought should be given to the metrics by which the effectiveness of covert action programs will be measured to ensure the appropriate use of government resources and to guard against the possibility of covert action's being used with little scrutiny in ways that are inconsistent with overt foreign policy goals. .

797. GDA-4081 The Director should handpick qualified, properly cleared personnel for front-office and managerial leadership positions, such as the DNI's Chief of Staff and heads of Legislative Affairs and Strategic Communications, to oversee those divisions with career IC staff reporting to them. .

798. GDA-4082 The incoming DNI and CIA Director should also consider changes in the Senior National Intelligence Service (SNIS)/Senior Intelligence Services (SIS). .

799. GDA-4083 Senior officers should be required to sign mobility agreements that allow ODNI and CIA leadership to move them within the IC every two years if necessary. .

800. GDA-4085 An incoming Administration should consider studying and implementing additional requirements as a condition for promotion to GS-15/ SNIS/SIS and explore concepts such as "Up and Out"� beginning at the GS-14/15 levels and above for some fields. .

801. GDA-4086 The IC should evaluate areas of bloat and underperforming cadre and work with OPM on authority for voluntary separation buyouts. .

802. GDA-4088 The ODNI and CIA should maximize their direct-hire and incentive- building authorities to bring in talented and properly cleared individuals to serve in positions requiring technical, language, and cyber expertise. .

803. GDA-4091 PREVENTING THE ABUSE OF INTELLIGENCE FOR PARTISAN PURPOSES The intelligence function must be protected from bottom-up and top-down politicization if it is to play its proper role in our national security decision-making process. .

804. GDA-4094 In particular, the IC must restore confidence in its political neutrality to rectify the damage done by the actions of former IC leaders and personnel regarding the claims of Trump-Russia collusion following the 2016 election and the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop investigation and media revelations of its existence during the 2020 election. .

805. GDA-4100 However, we should also recognize that achieving the perfect balance that avoids the pathologies of too much distance or too much closeness and responsiveness to policymakers is not only difficult, but probably impossible.22 Thus, given the very nature of the business and the political process, much will depend on the promotion of certain norms or virtues on both sides of the principal-agent relationship. .

806. GDA-4101 Specifically: l The DNI and CIA Director should use their authority under the National Security Act of 1947 to expedite the clearance of personnel to meet mission needs and remove IC employees who have abused their positions of trust. .

807. 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. .

808. GDA-4104 l The President should direct the DNI and the Attorney General, by direction of the respective Inspectors General and IC Analytic Ombudsman, to conduct a further audit of all IC equities of past politicization and abuses of intelligence information. .

809. GDA-4105 For example, a recent IC ombudsman analysis during the 2020 election cycle noted, "If our political leaders in the White House and Congress believe we are withholding intelligence because of organizational turf wars or political considerations, the legitimacy of the Intelligence Community's work is lost."�23 l The President should immediately revoke the security clearances of any former Directors, Deputy Directors, or other senior intelligence officials who discuss their work in the press or on social media without prior clearance from the current Director. .

810. GDA-4106 IC agencies, including the CIA, should minimize their public presence and vigorously investigate any and all leaks of information, classified or otherwise. .

811. GDA-4107 The ODNI and CIA should fire or refer for prosecution any employee who is suspected of leaking information, and penalties should include the removal of pension benefits for those who are found guilty. .

812. GDA-4109 l In addition, the Department of Justice should use all of the tools at its disposal to investigate leaks and should rescind damaging guidance by Attorney General Merrick Garland that limits investigators' ability to identify records of unauthorized disclosures of classified information to the media. .

813. GDA-4111 The Director and IC must prioritize hiring additional counterintelligence and security personnel to assist in this effort. .

814. GDA-4112 l Military and civilian IC training should include stronger emphasis on the norm of political neutrality, including a mandatory course on professionalism and repercussions for abuse in the execution of duties in all degree programs at the National Intelligence University. .

815. GDA-4115 IC leaders should practice extreme restraint in engaging with the public and the media. .

816. GDA-4116 They should seek to work in the shadows rather than in the limelight. .

817. GDA-4118 l Retired IC leaders should similarly support the neutrality norm by not becoming public figures. .

818. GDA-4119 l Congress should not use IC leaders as pawns in policy struggles with the President or the other party during their appearances before committees of the House and Senate. .

819. GDA-4120 While Congress has a proper oversight role, it should distinguish between information that needs to be public and information that should be discussed in private with members of the IC. .

820. GDA-4121 A DNI should call "balls and strikes"� to those on both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill who attempt to weaponize the use of selective intelligence to feed political narratives. .

821. GDA-4122 l Political leaders should avoid "manipulation-by-appointment,"� a practice by which intelligence leaders are selected for their policy views or political loyalties instead of their skilled expertise.24 Presidents should also avoid public rebukes and pressure from the intelligence profession, which can include intimidation and bullying, to shape IC analysis. .

822. GDA-4124 l Intelligence leaders and professionals should never "cook the books"� for Presidents or change or shape their analysis to preserve access or status.25 FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE ACT (FISA) A future President should understand the importance of FISA26 while also seeking reforms and accountability for any abuses of its authorities. .

823. GDA-4128 While this authority may lapse if Congress does not resolve the issue by the end of 2023, Section 702 should be understood as an essential tool in the fight against terrorism, malicious cyber actors, and Chinese espionage. .

824. GDA-4131 Nevertheless, Congress should review the PCLOB's upcoming 2023 report to help it determine whether any reforms or codification of recent administrative changes in FISA processes are needed. .

825. GDA-4134 An incoming conservative President should consider reforms designed to prevent future partisan abuses of national security authority. .

826. GDA-4136 To keep intelligence credentials from being used for partisan purposes, former high-ranking intelligence officials who retain a clearance should remain subject to the Hatch Act after they leave government to deter them from tying their political stands or activism to their continuing privilege of access to classified government information. .

827. GDA-4137 The IC should be prohibited from monitoring so-called domestic disinformation. .

828. GDA-4139 CHINA-FOCUSED CHANGES, REFORMS, AND RESOURCES The term "whole of government"� is all too frequently overused, but in responding to the generational threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party, that is exactly the approach that our national security apparatus should adopt. .

829. GDA-4143 Questions for a President will include: l What is our overarching conception of the adversarial relationship and competition? l How does intelligence-sharing fit into that conception? Some Members of Congress have said that intelligence relationships such as the Five Eyes28 should be expanded to include other allies in the Asia-Pacific in, for example, a "Nine Eyes"� framework. .

830. GDA-4145 That being said, however, a future conservative President should consider what resources and information-sharing relationships could be included in an ad hoc or quasi-formal intelligence expansion (for example, with the Quad) among nations trying to counter the threat from China. .

831. GDA-4150 The IC must do more than understand these advancements: It must rally nongovernment and allied partners and inspire unified action to counter them. .

832. GDA-4153 Broader committee jurisdictions should receive additional intelligence from IC agencies as necessary to inform China's unique and more comprehensive threat across layers of the U.S. .

833. GDA-4163 Barring statutory changes that could occur before 2025, a future conservative President should further empower and resource the IC by executive order or through suggested changes in the Counterintelligence Enhancement Act (CEA) of 2002.32 NCSC was given some authority for outreach efforts on behalf of the IC for counterintelligence education, insider threats, and broader U.S. .

834. GDA-4165 Primary operational elements should remain at the FBI and CIA, with the Bureau and NCSC collaborating on nongovernmental outreach. .

835. GDA-4166 While there is no need to create a separate agency, a future President and DNI should amplify NCSC's authorities and roles with respect to counterintelligence strategy, policy, outreach, and governance, including supporting necessary Joint Duty Assignments (JDA) for FBI and CIA personnel. .

836. GDA-4168 The CEA should be updated to include foreign espionage efforts aimed at universities. .

837. 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. .

838. GDA-4170 Reinstitution of the National Security Higher Education Advisory Board and the National Security Business Alliance Council should be prioritized with leadership from the NCSC, the FBI, or a combination of both entities. .

839. GDA-4172 If Chinese strategic technology gains are happening almost entirely in transnational commercial space, for example, and the private sector is also gathering and analyzing some critical intelligence, these essential data points should assist in national-level counterintelligence efforts. .

840. GDA-4179 An incoming Administration should focus NCTC on integrative tasks, many of which cannot be carried out elsewhere in the IC, but should not use personnel and resources for redundant analyses that duplicate the work of such other IC entities as the FBI and CIA. .

841. GDA-4189 Institutionally, it also requires that agencies' analytic processes be open to discussion, debate, and dissent because analysts must work together to describe a probable range of future outcomes and warn about unproven current threats rather than using the collection to solve a single puzzle with a definitive answer. .

842. GDA-4197 To help the United States and its leaders to outcompete China across multifaceted societal, economic, military, and technological threats, the IC's capability to conduct strategic intelligence analysis that is relevant to policymakers in both parties must be rebuilt and strengthened. .

843. GDA-4200 Strategic planning --- informed by intelligence --- must take place for the United States to stay ahead of whatever new threats China may pose. .

844. GDA-4202 The incoming DNI should also emphasize implementing the recommendations in the Ombudsman's report, especially regarding objectivity, the inclusion of dissenting viewpoints, and more serious efforts to hold senior leaders accountable for backchannel attempts to change or suppress analytic views. .

845. GDA-4203 Accounting for the long history of intelligence failures and surprises, an incoming conservative President must appreciate the ambiguity, complexity, limits, and assumptions inherent in intelligence assessments. .

846. GDA-4205 Seeing something and understanding what you are seeing are two different things, so a President should consistently and patiently press the IC about its potential biases, assumptions, methodology, and sourcing. .

847. GDA-4206 With regard to election-threat analysis and politically controversial topics, agency leaders should take seriously the Ombudsman's admonition that we need to maintain tradecraft standards across all countries and topics by ensuring that equitable standards apply across all foreign threat actors. .

848. GDA-4207 Analysis should be put forward without regard to the domestic political ramifications of intelligence conclusions. .

849. GDA-4214 As warranted, additional context should be provided to the private sector as a matter of routine. .

850. GDA-4216 government's ability to defend the country's most vital networks, the IC must adopt an "obligation to share"� policy process, including the capacity for "write to release"� intelligence products whereby newly discovered technical indicators, targeting, and other intelligence relevant to cyber defense are automatically provided either to the public or to targeted entities within 48 hours of their collection --- which is how counterterrorism intelligence has been managed for years when it comes to a "duty to warn."� Under this policy, agency heads should still have the flexibility to withhold intelligence for operational or counterintelligence reasons but would need to report regularly to Congress on the number of and justification for exceptions. .

851. GDA-4217 This policy would make sharing intelligence and defending networks the default, as it already is in the rest of the cybersecurity community outside the IC, to improve the quantity, relevance, and timeliness of defensive information while ensuring accountability for top leaders when they must withhold this information. .

852. GDA-4235 The declassification of CNSI should support key U.S. .

853. GDA-4237 Reforms should include: l Tighter definitions and greater specificity for categories of information requiring protection. .

854. GDA-4242 On the back end, an ODNI-run declassification process that is faster, nimbler, default-to-automated, and larger-scale should be a priority. .

855. GDA-4253 An incoming conservative President should task his DNI and Secretary of Commerce with increasing coordination, the resources needed for BIS and SCIF capacity, and proper and necessary intelligence sharing to counter the activities of multifaceted adversaries such as China. .

856. GDA-4272 An incoming conservative President should reset Europe's expectations. .

857. GDA-4283 An incoming President should ask for an immediate study of the implementation of Executive Order 14086 and suspend any provisions that unduly burden intelligence collection. .

858. GDA-4284 At the same time, in negotiations with the Europeans, the United States should make clear that the continued sharing of intelligence with EU member states depends on successful resolution of this issue within the first two years of a President's term. .

859. GDA-4287 An incoming conservative President should make clear what the President's Daily Brief is and is not. .

860. GDA-4288 The PDB should be for the President specifically, with a much narrower distribution and addressing areas of strategic concern. .

861. GDA-4289 During the transition, the future National Security Advisor, along with the DNI, should conduct a review of current PDB recipients and determine which should remain recipients when the President's term begins. .

862. GDA-4291 The President should want the PDB to focus on providing the information needed for the often imperfect and complex decisions that a President needs to make, which should always be based on the best intelligence that can be gathered. .

863. GDA-4294 Historically, briefers have come from the CIA, but a future President and DNI should consider a primary briefer or a rotation of briefers from other IC elements. .

864. GDA-4295 Additionally, the entirety of the PDB staff and production should be located at ODNI. .

865. GDA-4302 To encourage greater analytic independence and debate, the incoming Administration should require that non-CIA officers comprise at least 50 percent of the NIC's membership and that the first-among-equals NIC Chairman is an outsider from one of the three major IC agencies with reporting responsibility to the PDDNI. .

866. GDA-4306 As the DNI's principal adviser for technology, the ICCIO must be well-versed in technology, acquisitions, operations, and intra-agency cooperation to advance our technical prowess and simultaneously direct a bureaucracy that, left unchecked, will serve each element's own preferences. .

867. GDA-4307 To ensure that procured and implemented technology and policy reflect the Administration's agenda, the ICCIO must have the support of the DNI and possess the ability to command cooperation between and promote interoperability across IC members. .

868. GDA-4313 An incoming Administration should appoint the ICCIO as a primary member of the DNI staff along with the ODNI General Counsel, IC Chief Financial Officer, and ODNI Chief Operating Officer. .

869. GDA-4314 The President-Elect should require immediate reviews of the progress in implementing post-quantum encryption at a minimum for IC and Defense systems but preferably throughout the government. .

870. GDA-4316 Accounting for the investment that will be needed to secure IT systems for national security should be a top priority. .

871. GDA-4320 The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) and S&T should focus primarily on challenging technology problems. .

872. GDA-4326 These entities should be tasked with giving independent, informed advice and opinion concerning major matters of national security focused on long-term, enduring issues central to advancing and protecting American interests. .

873. GDA-4327 This should include taking a broader, deeper look at critical trends, developments, and their implications for U.S. .

874. GDA-4336 That goal should remain in force, and calls by outside entities or Congress to add new centers and layers should be rejected. .

875. GDA-4338 With this in mind, the following initiatives should be pursued: l Expand collaboration with partners. .

876. GDA-4340 To improve their ability to meet the threat posed by China and Russia, the IC and DOD should: 1. .

877. GDA-4344 Additionally, the IC should support building international alliances with like-minded partners beyond the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing nations. .

878. GDA-4350 There should be a clear dividing line between DOD's intelligence activities and the IC's, and 3. .

879. GDA-4353 The IC must therefore refocus and invest in methods that will enable it to characterize accurately the threats that already exist in space, not just on the ground; break down barriers to information sharing and collaboration with the DOD; and embrace commercially derived capabilities that can be adapted to a national security mission --- all while emphasizing the need to protect critical supply chains and the cybersecurity needs that result from an increasingly government- commercial low Earth orbit. .

880. GDA-4361 No particular policy statement, reform recommendation, or other view expressed herein should be attributed to any individual contributor or to the author. .

881. GDA-4497 To fulfill its mission, USAGM should also aim to present the truth about America and American policy --- not parrot America's adversaries' propaganda and talking points.2 OVERVIEW Originally formed as the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) in 1994, the BBG changed its name in 2018 to the United States Agency for Global Media. .

882. 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. .

883. GDA-4568 As of January 2021, the USAGM had not yet determined the whereabouts of these individuals.34 The USAGM must never again be entrusted with delegated authority over its personnel security programs and suitability determinations until such time as it can prove that these failures will not happen again. .

884. GDA-4569 These responsibilities must remain with the Department of Defense and the Office of Personnel Management, to which they were transferred in the final weeks of the Trump Administration. .

885. GDA-4586 Fiscal responsibility and transparency should return to the USAGM, with consolidation being a cornerstone of the strategy. .

886. GDA-4609 40 Past agency leaders have ignored national security procedures when hiring and have failed to adequately vet staff.41 Government hiring policies and federal law must be followed, and serious policy changes must be implemented to end these practices. .

887. GDA-4611 As an executive branch agency, the USAGM ostensibly should report to the President and coordinate activities with the National Security Council (NSC) --- especially given the direct and implied national security aspects of the agency's messaging globally. .

888. GDA-4621 If VOA is not put in the direct chain of command under the NSC, serious consideration should be given to putting VOA under the direct supervision of the Office of Global Public Affairs at the Department of State. .

889. 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. .

890. GDA-4630 The State Department's Assistant Secretary for Global Public Affairs and Undersecretary for Diplomacy and Public Affairs should also be in the accountability loop for agency actions. .

891. GDA-4633 This position should be relevant and directive when U.S. .

892. GDA-4641 An overhaul of the agency with review from Congress to modernize, streamline, and reduce waste must be done with congressional support. .

893. GDA-4645 Finding solutions to these problems and the restoration of the agency's networks must be the priorities of future agency leadership. .

894. GDA-4646 To accomplish this, the USAGM must be fully reformed top to bottom with congressional and White House support. .

895. GDA-4651 In that case, the USAGM should be defunded and disestablished. .

896. GDA-4659 As a 35-year-old lawyer in the Nixon White House, one Antonin Scalia warned that conservatives were being "confronted with a long-range problem of significant social consequences --- that is, the development of a government-funded broadcast system similar to the BBC."�47 All of which means that the next conservative President must finally get this done and do it despite opposition from congressional members of his own party if necessary. .

897. GDA-4662 Not only is the federal government trillions of dollars in debt and unable to afford the more than half a billion dollars squandered on leftist opinion each year, but the government should not be compelling the conservative half of the country to pay for the suppression of its own views. .

898. GDA-4670 This special budgetary treatment is unjustified and should be ended. .

899. GDA-4678 They should no longer, for example, be qualified as noncommercial education stations (NCE stations), which they clearly no longer are. .

900. GDA-4686 The next President should instruct the FCC to exclude the stations affiliated with PBS and NPR from the NCE denomination and the privileges that come with it. .

901. GDA-4822 The next conservative Administration should scale back USAID's global footprint by, at a minimum, returning to the agency's 2019 pre-COVID-19 pandemic budget level. .

902. GDA-4823 It should deradicalize USAID's programs and structures and build on the conservative reforms instituted by the Trump Administration. .

903. GDA-4833 The USAID Administrator should be authorized to take on the additional role of Director of Foreign Assistance (DFA) with the rank of Deputy Secretary at the Department of State in charge of all U.S. .

904. GDA-4861 The next conservative Administration should restore and build on the Trump Administration's counter-China infrastructure at USAID, end the climate policy fanaticism that advantages Beijing, and assess bilateral aid through the lens of U.S. .

905. GDA-4863 It should finance programs designed to counter specific Chinese efforts in strategically important countries and eliminate funding to any partner that engages with Chinese entities directly or indirectly. .

906. GDA-4864 USAID's Bangkok-based Regional Development Mission for Asia should focus its strategic attention on supporting cross-border initiatives designed to counter Chinese influence. .

907. GDA-4882 USAID should cease its war on fossil fuels in the developing world and support the responsible management of oil and gas reserves as the quickest way to end wrenching poverty and the need for open-ended foreign aid. .

908. GDA-4883 The next conservative Administration should rescind all climate policies from its foreign aid programs (specifically USAID's Climate Strategy 2022-20307); shut down the agency's offices, programs, and directives designed to advance the Paris Climate Agreement; and narrowly limit funding to traditional climate mitigation efforts. .

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

910. GDA-4890 Those seeking to do business with the agency must "describe the approaches they will use to diversify their partner base."�8 USAID often ties DEI to "gender and climate equity,"� corrupting every aspect of the agency's overseas work. .

911. GDA-4892 This pursuit of ideological purity threatens merit-based professional advancement for staff who do not overtly conform, hyperpoliticizes what should be a nonpartisan federal workplace environment, creates an institutionalized cadre of progressive political commissars, corrupts the award process, and discourages potential contractors and grantees that disagree with this radical agenda from applying for USAID funding. .

912. GDA-4893 The next conservative Administration should dismantle USAID's DEI apparatus by eliminating the Chief Diversity Officer position along with the DEI advisers and committees; cancel the DEI scorecard and dashboard; remove DEI requirements from contract and grant tenders and awards; issue a directive to cease promotion of the DEI agenda, including the bullying LGBTQ+ agenda; and provide staff a confidential medium through which to adjudicate cases of political retaliation that agency or implementing staff suffered during the Biden Administration. .

913. GDA-4894 It should eliminate funding for partners that promote discriminatory DEI practices and consider debarment in egregious cases. .

914. GDA-4895 As federal departments and agencies cannot play partisan politics, staff --- irrespective of hiring mechanism --- as well as implementers and grantees that engage in ideological agitation on behalf of the DEI agenda should be dismissed, and entities should be debarred. .

915. GDA-4896 The next conservative Administration should return the authority over all civil rights issues at USAID to the agency's Office of Civil Rights, which is the appropriate locus for ensuring that all Americans have guaranteed equality of career opportunity at USAID. .

916. 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. .

917. GDA-4907 It should also remove references to "abortion,"� "reproductive health,"� and "sexual and reproductive rights"� and controversial sexual education materials. .

918. GDA-4910 The next Administration should ensure that USAID's goal in service of its mission is to help protect and propel all members of society --- women, children, and men --- from conception to natural death. .

919. GDA-4911 To do so, USAID's Office of Women, Children, and Families should strive to ensure that communities have their basic human needs, without which they will be unable to thrive, met first and foremost. .

920. GDA-4913 The Office of Women, Children, and Families should implement the Geneva Consensus Declaration on Women's Health and Protection of the Family and prioritize partnerships with local organizations, including faith-based organizations (FBOs). .

921. GDA-4915 Protecting life should be among the core objectives of United States foreign assistance. .

922. GDA-4930 foreign aid from supporting the global abortion industry, the next conservative Administration should issue an executive order that, at a minimum, reinstates PLGHA and summarily blocks funding to UNFPA but also closes loopholes by applying the policy to all foreign assistance, including humanitarian aid, and improving its enforcement. .

923. GDA-4931 The executive order to reinstate PLGHA should be drafted broadly to apply to all foreign assistance. .

924. GDA-4932 It should simultaneously rescind President Biden's memorandum entitled "Protecting Women's Health at Home and Abroad,"� issued on January 28, 2021.12 The new pro-life executive order should apply to foreign NGOs, including subgrantees and subcontractors, and remove exemptions for U.S.-based NGOs, public international organizations, and bilateral government-to-government agreements. .

925. GDA-4933 All entities funded by USAID, both directly and indirectly, should report their compliance with the PLGHA, and USAID should institute penalties, including debarment from future federal funding, for violations of it. .

926. GDA-4934 The new executive order also should instruct the Administrator of USAID to publish reports on implementation of the PLGHA by both prime and sub-prime recipients. .

927. 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. .

928. GDA-4944 The next conservative Administration must champion the core American value of religious freedom, which correlates significantly with poverty reduction, economic growth, and peace. .

929. GDA-4945 It should train all USAID staff on the connection between religious freedom and development; integrate it into all of the agency's programs, including the five-year Country Development and Coordination Strategies due for updates in 2025; strengthen the missions' relationships with local faith-based leaders; and build on local programs that are serving the poor. .

930. GDA-4946 Congress should appropriate funding to USAID specifically to support persecuted religious minorities in line with Executive Order 13926. .

931. GDA-4958 The next conservative Administration should immediately implement language on key policy topics as standard provisions in all grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts. .

932. GDA-4959 These provisions should include language on implementing the Policy on Protecting Life in Foreign Assistance, imposing conditions on funding to multilateral organizations, and increasing accountability and transparency. .

933. GDA-4960 To ensure that USAID exercises its existing authorities to streamline procurement processes, the next conservative Administration should name a political appointee as the agency's Senior Procurement Executive and Director of the agency's Office of Assistance and Acquisitions (OAA) in the Bureau of Management (M). .

934. GDA-4963 The White House should empower the Administrator and his or her designees to make determinations concerning the scale and scope of awards and increase the transparency and accountability of subawards, which can escape public scrutiny and promote progressive policies during conservative Administrations. .

935. GDA-4964 USAID should use existing authority to use program funds to expand its roster of contracting and agreement officers to accelerate the delivery of funds for disaster responses to a more diverse collection of implementers. .

936. GDA-4966 The Administration should restore the Senior Official Accountability Review (SOAR) or create a similar process to ensure that proposed programs above a certain dollar threshold in Total Estimated Cost/Total Estimated Amount receive a close review by policymakers in each bureau and office and, for large awards, in the agency's front office. .

937. GDA-4971 This model should be replicated across all of USAID. .

938. GDA-4972 In addition, the next conservative Administration should expand use of the New Partnership Initiative (NPI) to every bureau and office; reset the requirements for USAID's overseas missions to craft and execute NPI action plans; and assign each mission a minimum percentage of its portfolio that must go to new, underutilized, and local partners. .

939. GDA-4974 Before advancing a new program, the agency should be required to assess existing local activities to avoid undercutting or duplicating them. .

940. GDA-4975 At every opportunity, USAID should build on existing local initiatives. .

941. GDA-4989 Consequently, the next conservative Administration should focus on updating the Global Health Bureau's portfolio, emphasizing a comprehensive approach to supporting women, children, and families; building host-country institutional capacity; increasing awards to local and faith-based partners (expanding what occurred during the Trump Administration with the NPI); and improving USAID's ability to coordinate with local partners. .

942. GDA-4991 The Bureau should identify and eliminate outdated and ineffective concepts and focus on funding innovation. .

943. GDA-4997 The next leadership at USAID must focus attention on women and children's health (including unborn children) as well as health risks across life spans, including childhood infections, cervical cancer, adolescent risks, and family stability, by utilizing a coordinated approach. .

944. GDA-4998 The Bureau should implement a "Request for Application for Resilient Families"� that harvests collaborative funds from siloed programs and makes individuals and the family, not diseases or conditions, the true focus of intervention. .

945. GDA-5014 The next conservative Administration should apply these reforms to all of USAID's global health programs. .

946. 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. .

947. GDA-5020 The Global Health Bureau should address its own management challenges by modifying the high ratio of contractors to direct hires, holding career leadership accountable for effective management, and building more flexibility in emergency responses. .

948. 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. .

949. GDA-5025 Leadership should designate a political appointee to help coordinate cross-agency efforts to hold the U.S. .

950. 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. .

951. GDA-5043 The permanence of this assistance, particularly in countries where we have little to no in-country presence and must rely on U.N. .

952. GDA-5064 The next Administration should resize and repurpose USAID's humanitarian aid portfolio to restore its original purpose of providing emergency short-term relief, prepare vulnerable communities for transition, and do no harm in the following ways: l Work with Congress to make deep cuts in the IDA budget by ending programs that do more harm than good in places controlled by malign actors, such as in Yemen, Syria, and Afghanistan, where our aid is consumed by fraud, diversion, and partner overhead costs. .

953. GDA-5083 The next conservative Administration must return USAID to a foreign aid model that leverages its resources to promote private-sector solutions to the world's true development problems and end the need for future foreign aid. .

954. GDA-5089 As development agencies, USAID and DFC must do a better job of aligning their respective activities and closely integrate both structurally and operationally. .

955. GDA-5092 federal bodies, DFC should be restored to its original intent of deploying its commercial risk-reducing financial services instead of its current misuse as another global vehicle to promote economy-killing climate programs, meet irrelevant diversity objectives, and overfocus on low-impact or misguided gender-based activities. .

956. GDA-5102 The United States is in a struggle for influence with China, Russia, and other competitors, and American generosity must not go unacknowledged. .

957. GDA-5103 The next conservative Administration should build on the Trump Administration's branding policy, which revamped ADS Chapter 320, to force the aid bureaucracy to fully credit the American people for the aid they are providing. .

958. GDA-5104 The Senior Advisor for Brand Management in the Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs (LPA) (discussed infra) should be a political appointee who is responsible for maximizing the visibility of U.S. .

959. GDA-5106 The LPA should liaise with counterparts at the U.S. .

960. GDA-5109 The next conservative Administration should leave in place the current structure of two presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed Deputy Administrators, one for Policy and one for Management. .

961. GDA-5110 The Deputy Administrators and the Chief of Staff must be individuals with extensive previous service in the executive branch, ideally at foreign-affairs agencies, and be fluent in the language and practice of federal procurement. .

962. GDA-5112 As noted above, the next conservative Administration should name the USAID Administrator as Director of Foreign Assistance (F) at the Department of State with the rank of Deputy Secretary. .

963. GDA-5113 It should reorient the bulk of F staff from focusing on the formulation of the annual President's budget proposal to the execution of already appropriated resources. .

964. GDA-5114 This should include eliminating the duplicative Mission and Bureau Resource Requests; speeding up the availability of appropriations by delivering to Congress within 60 days the report required by Section 653(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA); and fast-tracking the approval of Congressional Notifications (CNs) and other pre-obligation requirements. .

965. GDA-5116 As indicated previously, the next conservative Administration should name a political appointee as USAID's Senior Procurement Executive and Director of the agency's Office of Acquisition and Assistance (M/ OAA). .

966. GDA-5117 Political appointees with the appropriate credentials (including warrants) should be placed within M/OAA, and the agency should exercise its authority to engage qualified experts from other federal departments and agencies and outside of government (if they are free of conflicts of interest) on the Technical Committees that review applications for USAID's contract and grant competitions. .

967. 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. .

968. GDA-5120 As soon as possible after Inauguration Day, the next conservative Administration should name a political appointee as USAID's Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO) and Director of the Office of Human Capital and Talent Management. .

969. GDA-5121 USAID's White House Liaison must be an individual with substantial experience with federal personnel systems. .

970. GDA-5122 The White House Office of Presidential Personnel should allow the USAID Administrator to explore with counterparts at the Office of Personnel Management whether the agency could hire personnel under both the Administratively Determined authority and Schedule C of the Excepted Service of the Federal Civil Service. .

971. GDA-5123 USAID should be one of the agencies to pilot-test a reinstated Executive Order 13957,16 which created a Schedule F within the Excepted Service, and should aggressively recruit and place candidates into term-limited positions under Schedule A of the Excepted Service (especially veterans). .

972. GDA-5124 The new CHCO should examine how the existing members of the Senior Executive Service (SES) at USAID should be reworked throughout the agency and should institute an SES Mobility Program to encourage the regular rotation of senior career leaders, including through details to other departments and agencies. .

973. GDA-5126 The next conservative Administration should shift the policy functions of the Bureau for Policy, Planning, and Learning (PPL) to the Office of Budget and Resource Management (BRM), located in the Office of the Administrator. .

974. GDA-5127 It should rename BRM the Office of Budget, Policy, and Resource Management (BPRM) and staff the policy team with political appointees. .

975. GDA-5128 The Administration should also move the responsibility for reviewing and processing proposed changes in USAID's policy bible, the Automated Directives System (ADS), from the Management Bureau to the new BPRM. .

976. GDA-5129 Even before these changes, the Assistant Administrator for PPL should decree an immediate freeze on changes in the ADS and agencywide policy documents to allow for the priority publication of amendments to reflect the new Administration's viewpoint. .

977. GDA-5130 All major agency policies should be reviewed and amended or withdrawn within the new Administration's first calendar year in office. .

978. GDA-5132 The next conservative Administration should invest no more than 10 percent of USAID's allocation of Administratively Determined politically appointed positions in the Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs. .

979. GDA-5133 A priority for these positions (combined with hires under Schedule A) should be the review and editing of the agency's public-facing web pages and social media accounts to eliminate material that does not conform to the new Administration's policies. .

980. GDA-5134 The agency should accelerate the review of Congressional Notifications within LPA and publish all CNs and congressional reports. .

981. GDA-5135 To ensure consistency and clarity of public messaging, LPA should gain direct authority over the communications staff scattered through USAID's various Bureaus and Offices. .

982. 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. .

983. GDA-5138 Along with the Director of M/OAA, the General Counsel is one of the two or three most important positions at USAID and should be a priority for immediate appointments. .

984. GDA-5139 Because proper legal interpretation of executive orders and internal USAID policy is crucial, the next conservative Administration should recruit and appoint a commanding team of Schedule C attorneys in the Office of the General Counsel (OGC). .

985. GDA-5140 Within weeks of Inauguration Day, OGC should issue clear guidance on the eligibility of faith-based organizations for USAID funding. .

986. GDA-5142 The Director of Budget Resources and Management should be a political appointee empowered as part of the Administrator's senior management team. .

987. GDA-5143 BRM's highest priorities should be to prepare the report required by Section 653(a) according to the Administrator's guidance, institute a fast-track process for the submission of Congressional Notifications, and identify already appropriated resources to reprogram immediately to fund the new Administration's priorities. .

988. GDA-5144 The next conservative Administration should consider prioritizing the placing of young political appointees in BRM over LPA. .

989. GDA-5149 The next conservative Administration should make the rapid staffing of key DDI positions a high priority. .

990. GDA-5152 The next conservative Administration should harvest DDI's central appropriations to fund new priorities, especially working with ethnic and religious minorities and faith-based organizations and joint ventures with the private sector in education and energy. .

991. GDA-5153 All DDI programs should issue funding opportunities restricted to new and underutilized partners modeled on the NPI. .

992. GDA-5156 America's Indo-Pacific Strategy should guide USAID's approaches to disbursing foreign aid in the region. .

993. GDA-5157 USAID should intensify its bilateral relationships with pro-free market Japan, Australia, South Korea, and India so that they can jointly advance private-sector solutions to secure financing for power generation, infrastructure, digital connectivity, investment and trade expansion, and other economic activities. .

994. GDA-5159 Those ties should be expanded. .

995. GDA-5160 So too should development cooperation with Taiwan, which boasts effective pandemic response capacity that should be shared with developing countries. .

996. 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. .

997. GDA-5180 A new conservative President should reset USAID's programming in the Middle East in line with our national security interests and committed to the goal of ending the need for foreign aid through development that is led by the private sector. .

998. GDA-5181 Specifically: l Foreign aid must advance the Abraham Accords. .

999. GDA-5183 USAID should therefore focus its development assistance on countries such as Morocco and Sudan through joint investment collaboration with the more economically advanced economies such as the UAE and Israel. .

1000. GDA-5184 l USAID should consider cutting aid to states allied to Iran, limiting assistance in these countries to the advancement of narrow strategic priorities and support for basic American values, such as aid to persecuted religious minorities. .

1001. GDA-5187 We must admit that USAID's investments in the education sector, for example, serve no other purpose than to subsidize corrupt, incompetent, and hostile regimes. .

1002. GDA-5188 l USAID should undergo operational changes to secure better development outcomes by reducing its missions' footprints in the Middle East given that most personnel in the region are unable to leave their highly protected and expensive compounds and carry out their oversight functions. .

1003. GDA-5189 It should redirect program funding away from expensive and poorly performing international partners to more cost-effective local entities that require a minimal USAID field presence. .

1004. GDA-5206 Critically, it must hold China accountable for its extractive investments that violate international labor, environmental, and anticorruption norms and practices; undercut business opportunities for U.S. .

1005. GDA-5212 Department of Commerce's Foreign Commercial Service, should use its convening power, diplomatic heft, and risk-reducing instruments to facilitate U.S.-African business relationships and expand Prosper Africa, launched by the Trump Administration to "bring[] together services from across the U.S. .

1006. GDA-5216 The next Administration should extend AGOA beyond its 2025 term but within a strategic framework that rewards good governance and pro-free market economic policies. .

1007. 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. .

1008. GDA-5227 The next Administration should extend that localization model to all global health and humanitarian assistance in view of how local African entities have strengthened their capacity for direct management of U.S. .

1009. GDA-5229 Correspondingly, USAID should aggressively ramp down its partnerships with wasteful, costly, and politicized U.N. .

1010. GDA-5231 All new programs in Africa should build on existing local initiatives that enjoy the support of the African people. .

1011. GDA-5249 The next conservative Administration should reassess all programs of U.S. .

1012. 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. .

1013. GDA-5254 Finally, Latin America is the perfect proving ground for reducing USAID's reliance on large U.S.-based implementers, and the agency should commit to shifting all of its portfolio in the region to local organizations by 2030. .

1014. GDA-5256 The next conservative Administration should implement personnel policies from the beginning so that the agency can be effectively managed according to high standards. .

1015. GDA-5259 In general, areas of focus should be appointing effective lawyers in key positions, reforming career hiring/firing mechanisms, and getting a grip on the grantmaking process. .

1016. GDA-5260 The Administration should staff the Office of the General Counsel with at least four politically appointed attorneys (besides the General Counsel). .

1017. GDA-5261 The General Counsel should have two political deputies, one of whom should cover Human Capital and Talent Management (HCTM) and the other the Office of Acquisition and Assistance (OAA). .

1018. GDA-5262 The Administration should name a political appointee with long experience in federal personnel systems as USAID's Chief Human Capital Officer and Director of HCTM. .

1019. GDA-5264 On Day One, USAID should halt all agencywide training and replace it with training modules to advance the President's agenda. .

1020. GDA-5265 The Administration should appoint a Senior Accountable Official (SAO) to report on the agency's adherence to Administration policy priorities, including on Protecting Life in Foreign Assistance, critical race theory, climate change, gender, and diversity and inclusion. .

1021. GDA-5266 It should also create a program to staff hard-to-fill positions overseas. .

1022. GDA-5267 Finally, the Administration should create a recruiting program for veterans and other groups to participate in career job opportunities at USAID. .

1023. GDA-5268 Former missionaries, veterans, members of diasporas, and faith community stakeholders with overseas experience should be recruited to work at USAID on Schedule A appointments, as Institutional Services Contractors, as Personal Services Contractors, and as Foreign Service Officers. .

1024. GDA-5278 The author assumes full responsibility for the content of this chapter, and no views expressed therein should be attributed to any other individual. .

1025. GDA-5335 Yet the CDC ignored these high-quality RCTs, cherry-picked from politically malleable "observational studies,"� and declared that everyone except children and infants below the age of two should don masks. .

1026. GDA-5338 The incestuous relationship between the NIH, CDC, and vaccine makers --- with all of the conflict of interest it entails --- cannot be allowed to continue, and the revolving door between them must be locked. .

1027. GDA-5339 As Severino writes, "Funding for scientific research should not be controlled by a small group of highly paid and unaccountable insiders at the NIH, many of whom stay in power for decades. .

1028. 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. .

1029. 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. .

1030. GDA-5343 Severino writes that the HHS "Secretary should pursue a robust agenda to protect the fundamental right to life, protect conscience rights, and uphold bodily integrity rooted in biological realities, not ideology."� The next secretary should also reverse the Biden Administration's focus on "'LGBTQ+ equity,' subsidizing single-motherhood, disincentivizing work, and penalizing marriage,"� replacing such policies with those encouraging marriage, work, motherhood, fatherhood, and nuclear families. .

1031. GDA-5348 To rein in this "completely out of control"� bureau and remind it of its place within --- rather than at the top of --- the DOJ hierarchy, Hamilton writes that the FBI's separate Office of General Counsel (with "approximately 300 attorneys"�), separate Office of Legislative Affairs, and separate Office of Public Affairs should all be abolished. .

1032. 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. .

1033. GDA-5352 Schools should be responsive to parents, rather than to leftist advocates intent on indoctrination --- and the more the federal government is involved in education, the less responsive to parents the public schools will be. .

1034. GDA-5354 For the sake of American children, Congress should shutter it and return control of education to the states. .

1035. GDA-5355 Short of this, the Secretary of Education should insist that the department serve parents and American ideals, not advocates whose message is that children can choose their own sex, that America is "systemically racist,"� that math itself is racist, and that Martin Luther King, Jr.'s ideal of a colorblind society should be rejected in favor of reinstating a color-conscious society. .

1036. 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. .

1037. GDA-5360 McNamee says in Chapter 12, "A conservative President must be committed to unleashing all of America's energy resources and making the energy economy serve the American people, not special interests."� In Chapter 10, Daren Bakst writes that the Biden Administration's Department of Agriculture claims to be "transforming the food system as we know it."� But the government "does not need to transform the food system"�; instead, "it should respect American farmers, truckers,"� and families. .

1038. GDA-5361 In Chapter 13, former chief of staff at the Environmental Protection Agency Mandy Gunasekara writes that the EPA's "current activities and staffing levels far exceed its congressional mandates and purpose,"� whereas its "initial success"� in its "infancy"� (in the 1970s) was a product of "clear mandates, a streamlined structure, [and] recognition of the states' prominent role."� Having since become a "coercive"� agency, full of embedded activists, its "structure and mission should be greatly circumscribed."� Former secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Dr. .

1039. GDA-5364 In the next Administration, it should refocus on its core duties and keep "noncitizens"�from living in federally assisted housing,"� provide enhanced "oversight of foreign ownership of [U.S.] real estate,"� and "reinvigorate paths to upward economic mobility"� and economic "self-sufficiency."� In Chapter 18, former acting assistant secretary of policy at the Department of Labor Jonathan Berry writes that the department and related agencies should pursue pro-family, pro-worker policies to help "restore the family-supporting job as the centerpiece of the American economy,"� in lieu of the current Administration's "left-wing social-engineering agenda"� --- "the most assertive"� in history --- which empowers race, gender, and climate-change activists at the expense of American workers. .

1040. GDA-5367 Tucker, echoing concerns expressed in other chapters, writes in Chapter 20 that the Veterans Affairs (VA) must be "accountable to the needs and problems of veterans, not subservient to the parochial preferences of the bureaucracy."� 10 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Daren Bakst A merican farmers efficiently and safely produce food to meet the needs of individuals around the globe. .

1041. GDA-5371 Department of Agriculture (USDA) can and should play a limited role, with much of its focus on removing governmental barriers that hinder food production or otherwise undermine efforts to meet consumer demand. .

1042. GDA-5372 The USDA should recognize what should be self-evident: Agricultural production should first and foremost be focused on efficiently producing safe food. .

1043. GDA-5374 It provides specific recommendations for the next Administration about how to address these issues and lays out a conservative vision for what the USDA should look like in the future. .

1044. GDA-5377 The USDA would apparently use its power to change the very nature of the food and agriculture economy into one that is "equitable and climate smart."� As an initial matter, the USDA should not try to control and shape the economy, but should instead remove obstacles that hinder food production. .

1045. GDA-5378 Further, it should not place ancillary issues, such as environmental issues, ahead of agricultural production itself. .

1046. GDA-5382 Congress must limit the USDA's role. .

1047. GDA-5385 Within this agricultural focus, the USDA should develop and disseminate information and research (the historical role of the USDA); identify and address concrete threats to public health and safety arising directly from food and agriculture; remove unjustified foreign trade barriers blocking market access for American agricultural goods; and generally remove government barriers that undermine access to safe and affordable food across the food supply chain. .

1048. GDA-5386 Core principles should be included within any mission statement, including a recognition that farmers, and the food system in general, should be free from unnecessary government intervention. .

1049. GDA-5387 Further, there should be clear statements about the importance of sound science to inform the USDA's work and respect for personal freedom and individual dietary choices, private property rights, and the rule of law. .

1050. 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. .

1051. GDA-5394 The initial issues discussed should be priority issues for the next Administration: Defend American Agriculture. .

1052. GDA-5395 It is deeply unfortunate that the first issue identified must be a willingness of the incoming Administration to defend American agriculture, but this is precisely what the top priority for that Administration should be. .

1053. GDA-5398 Instead, it should respect American farmers, truckers, and everyone who makes the food supply chain so resilient and successful. .

1054. GDA-5406 politicians16 or a that organic food is expensive17 and land-intensive.18 The Biden Administration has also been pushing so-called "climate-smart"�19 agricultural practices which received additional support in the partisan Inflation Reduction Act.20 American agriculture should not need defending. .

1055. GDA-5410 This reality is not only something that should be defended but also touted as a prime example of what makes American agriculture so successful. .

1056. GDA-5413 From the outset, the next Administration should: Denounce efforts to place ancillary issues like climate change ahead of food productivity and affordability when it comes to agriculture. .

1057. GDA-5418 l Stress that ideal policy should remove obstacles imposed on American farmers and individuals across the food supply chain so that they can meet the food needs of Americans. .

1058. 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. .

1059. GDA-5420 The USDA should also carefully review existing efforts that involve inappropriately imposing its preferred agricultural practices onto farmers. .

1060. GDA-5433 The next Administration should: l Refrain from using section 5 discretionary authority. .

1061. GDA-5440 At a minimum, Congress should amend the Charter Act to: l Limit spending to directly help farmers and ranchers address issues due to unforeseen events not already covered by existing programs and that constitute genuine emergencies that must be addressed immediately. .

1062. GDA-5447 However, there is no question that farm subsidies are an important issue within agricultural policy that should be addressed by any incoming Administration. .

1063. GDA-5449 Subsidies should not influence planting decisions, discourage proper risk management and innovation, incentivize planting on environmentally sensitive land, or create barriers to entry for new farmers. .

1064. GDA-5450 Farm subsidies can lead to these market distortions and therefore, it would hardly be controversial to ensure that any subsidy scheme should be designed to avoid such problems. .

1065. GDA-5451 The overall goal should be to eliminate subsidy dependence. .

1066. GDA-5460 The next Administration should champion legislation that would: l Repeal the federal sugar program. .

1067. GDA-5461 The federal government should not be in the central planning business, and the sugar program is a prime example of harmful central planning. .

1068. GDA-5469 Congress should prohibit this duplication by prohibiting farmers from receiving an ARC or PLC payment the same year they receive a crop insurance indemnity. .

1069. 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. .

1070. GDA-5473 After all, taxpayers should not have to pay more than the farmers who benefit from the crop insurance policies. .

1071. GDA-5476 In its recently released report identifying options to reduce the federal deficit, CBO found that reducing the premium subsidy to 40 percent would save $20.9 billion over 10 years.51 Beyond these legislative reforms, the next Administration should: l Communicate to Congress the necessity of transparency and a genuine reform process. .

1072. GDA-5477 The White House and the USDA should make it very clear that the farm bill process, including reform of farm subsidies, must be conducted through an open process with time for mark-up and the opportunity for changes to be made outside the Agriculture Committee process. .

1073. 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. .

1074. GDA-5480 Any safety net for farmers should be a true safety net --- one that helps farmers when they have experienced serious unforeseen losses (preferably when there has been a disaster or unforeseen natural event causing damage) and that exists to help them in unusual situations. .

1075. GDA-5482 To have genuine reform and proper consideration of the issues, agricultural programs should be considered in separate legislation distinct from food stamps and the nutrition part of the farm bill, and reauthorization of such programs should be fixed on different timelines to ensure this separation. .

1076. GDA-5488 The next Administration should: l Move the USDA food and nutrition programs to the Department of Health and Human Services. .

1077. GDA-5491 All means-tested anti- poverty programs should be overseen by one department --- specifically HHS, which handles most welfare programs. .

1078. GDA-5497 That number continued to rise --- by 2022, outlays hit $119.5 billion.56 The next Administration should: l Re-implement work requirements. .

1079. 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. .

1080. GDA-5515 The 2014 farm bill tightened this loophole by requiring that a household must receive more than $20 annually in LIHEAP payments to be eligible for the larger utility deduction and subsequently higher food stamp benefits.76 Nonetheless, states continue to inflate their standard utility allowances. .

1081. GDA-5518 As of August 2022, approximately 6.3 million people participated in WIC each month to purchase food.78 In 2021, WIC federal outlays were $5 billion.79 The next Administration should: l Reform the state voucher system. .

1082. 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. .

1083. 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. .

1084. GDA-5534 Specifically, the next Administration should: l Promulgate a rule properly interpreting CEP. .

1085. GDA-5535 The USDA should issue a rule that clarifies that only an individual school or a school district as a whole, not a subset of schools within a district, must meet the 40-percent criteria to be eligible for CEP. .

1086. GDA-5536 Education officials should be prohibited from grouping schools together. .

1087. GDA-5538 The NSLP and SBP should be directed to serve children in need, not become an entitlement for students from middle- and upper-income homes. .

1088. GDA-5539 Congress should eliminate CEP. .

1089. GDA-5540 Further, the USDA should not provide meals to students during the summer unless students are taking summer-school classes. .

1090. GDA-5542 The USDA should work with lawmakers to restore NSLP and SBP to their original goal of providing food to K-12 students who otherwise would not have food to eat while at school. .

1091. GDA-5543 Federal school meals should be focused on children in need, and any efforts to expand student eligibility for federal school meals to include all K-12 students should be soundly rejected. .

1092. GDA-5548 In terms of USDA federal conservation programs, both the USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) oversee numerous programs.95 As a general matter, the next Administration should ensure that these programs address genuine and specific environmental concerns with a focus on currently existing environmental problems, not those that are speculative in nature. .

1093. GDA-5549 These conservation programs should have clearly identifiable goals, with the success or failure of these programs being directly measurable. .

1094. GDA-5550 Any assistance to farmers to take specific actions should not be provided unless the assistance will directly and clearly help to address a specific environmental problem. .

1095. GDA-5551 Further, any assistance to encourage farmers to engage in certain practices should only be provided if farmers would not have adopted the practices in the first place. .

1096. GDA-5552 There are specific issues that the next Administration should address. .

1097. GDA-5559 The next Administration should: l Champion the elimination of the Conservation Reserve Program. .

1098. GDA-5560 Farmers should not be paid in such a sweeping way not to farm their land. .

1099. GDA-5561 If there is a desire to ensure that extremely sensitive land is not farmed, this should be addressed through targeted efforts that are clearly connected to addressing a specific and concrete environmental harm. .

1100. GDA-5562 The USDA should work with Congress to eliminate this overbroad program. .

1101. GDA-5564 Problematic NRCS overreach could be avoided entirely by removing its authority to prescribe specific practices on a particular farm operation in order to ensure continued eligibility to participate in USDA farm programs, and to require instead that each farm (as a function of eligibility) must have created a general best practices plan. .

1102. GDA-5567 At a minimum, a new Administration should support legislation to divest more power to the states (and possibly local SWCDs) regarding erodible land and wetlands conservation.98 l Reform easements. .

1103. GDA-5568 The new Administration should, to the extent authorized by law, limit the use of permanent easements and collaborate with lawmakers to prohibit the USDA from creating new permanent easements.99 Other Major Issues and Specific Recommendations. .

1104. GDA-5569 Although the following issues have not been listed as "priority,"� these issues are still extremely important, and the next Administration should address them. .

1105. 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. .

1106. GDA-5571 Legislation entitled the New Markets for State-Inspected Meat and Poultry Act of 2021 would help to remove this obstacle.103 The next Administration should: l Promote legislation that would allow state-inspected meat to be sold in interstate commerce. .

1107. GDA-5572 These barriers to the sale of meat and poultry from USDA-approved state-inspected facilities should be removed. .

1108. GDA-5582 The next Administration should: l Reduce the number and scope of marketing orders and checkoff programs. .

1109. GDA-5583 The USDA should reject any new requests for marketing orders and checkoff programs to the extent authorized by law and eliminate existing programs when possible. .

1110. GDA-5584 While the programs work differently, there are often petition processes and other ways that make it difficult for affected parties to get rid of the marketing orders and checkoff programs,106 and the USDA itself may not even be required to honor requests to terminate a program.107 The USDA should make the process easier. .

1111. GDA-5585 Further, the USDA should reject any effort to bring back volume controls to limit supplies of commodities. .

1112. GDA-5587 These programs should be eliminated, and if industry actors want to collaborate, they should do so through private means, not using the government to compel cooperation. .

1113. GDA-5589 There should be regular voting for parties subject to checkoff programs and marketing orders. .

1114. GDA-5590 For example, the voting should occur at least every five years, to determine whether a marketing order or checkoff program should continue. .

1115. GDA-5591 The USDA should be required to honor the results of such a vote. .

1116. GDA-5595 FAS should play a proactive and leading role to help open upmarkets for American farmers and ranchers. .

1117. GDA-5596 There are numerous barriers, such as sanitary and phytosanitary measures, blocking American agricultural products from gaining access to foreign markets.111 However, FAS should not help businesses and industries promote their exports, something these businesses and industries can and should do on their own. .

1118. GDA-5597 The next Administration should: l Push legislation to repeal export promotion programs. .

1119. GDA-5598 The USDA should work with Congress to repeal market development programs like the Market Access Program and similar programs. .

1120. GDA-5601 The next Administration should embrace innovation and technology, not hinder its use --- especially because of scare tactics that ignore sound science. .

1121. GDA-5607 genetically modified yellow corn.114 The next Administration should: l Counter scare tactics and remove obstacles. .

1122. GDA-5608 The USDA should strongly counter scare tactics regarding agricultural biotechnology and adopt policies to remove unnecessary barriers to approvals and the adoption of biotechnology. .

1123. GDA-5610 The USDA should work with Congress to repeal the federal labeling law, while maintaining federal preemption, and stress that voluntary labeling is allowed. .

1124. GDA-5612 The USDA should work closely with the Office of the United States Trade Representative to remove improper barriers imposed by other countries to block U.S. .

1125. GDA-5615 The United States Forest Service is one of four federal government land management agencies that administer 606 million acres, or 95 percent of the 640 million acres of surface land area managed by the federal government.115 Located within the USDA, the Forest Service manages the National Forest System, which is comprised of 193 million acres.116 As explained by the USDA, "The USDA Forest Service's mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation's forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations."�117 The Forest Service should focus on proactive management of the forests and grasslands that does not depend heavily on burning. .

1126. GDA-5616 There should be resilient forests and grasslands in the wake of management actions. .

1127. GDA-5617 Wildfires have become a primary vegetation management regime for national forests and grasslands.118 Recognizing the need for vegetation management, the Forest Service has adopted "pyro-silviculture"� using "unplanned"� fire,119 such as unplanned human-caused fires, to otherwise accomplish vegetation management.120 The Forest Service should instead be focusing on addressing the precipitous annual amassing of biomass in the national forests that drive the behavior of wildfires. .

1128. 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. .

1129. GDA-5633 School meals are required to be consistent with the guidelines.128 The next Administration should: l Work with lawmakers to repeal the Dietary Guidelines. .

1130. GDA-5634 The USDA should help lead an effort to repeal the Dietary Guidelines. .

1131. GDA-5635 l Minimally, the next Administration should reform the Dietary Guidelines. .

1132. GDA-5636 The USDA, with HHS, should develop a more transparent process that properly considers the underlying science and does not overstate its findings. .

1133. GDA-5637 It should also ensure that the Dietary Guidelines focus on nutritional issues and do not veer off-mission by focusing on unrelated issues, such as the environment, that have nothing to do with nutritional advice. .

1134. GDA-5639 The USDA, working with lawmakers, should codify these reforms into law. .

1135. GDA-5645 For a conservative USDA to become a reality, and for it to stay on course with the mission as outlined, the White House must strongly support these reforms and install strong USDA leaders. .

1136. GDA-5649 Reducing the scope of government and promoting individual freedom may not always be easy, but it is something that conservatives regularly should strive for. .

1137. GDA-5653 This is how the chapter should close as well. .

1138. GDA-5655 A conservative USDA should appreciate this while recognizing that its role is to serve the interests of all Americans, not special interests. .

1139. GDA-5670 5. The law stated, "[T]here is hereby established at the seat of government of the United States a Department of Agriculture, the general designs and duties of which shall be to acquire and to diffuse among the people of the United States useful information on subjects connected with agriculture in the most general and comprehensive sense of that word, and to procure, propagate, and distribute among the people new and valuable seeds and plants."� Gladys L. .

1140. GDA-5696 14. Mark Bittman et al., "How a National Food Policy Could Save Millions of American Lives,"� The Washington Post, November 7, 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-a-national-food-policy-could- save-millions-of-american-lives/2014/11/07/89c55e16-637f-11e4-836c-83bc4f26eb67_story.html (accessed December 14, 2022); Daren Bakst and Gabriella Beaumont-Smith, "No, We Don't Need to Transform the American Food System,"� The Daily Signal, February 26, 2021, https://www.dailysignal.com/2021/02/26/ no-we-dont-need-to-transform-the-american-food-system/ (accessed December 14, 2022); and Daren Bakst, "Biden's Food Conference Should Put People First, Not Environmental Extremism,"� The Daily Signal, September 22, 2022, https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/09/22/bidens-food-conference-should-put-people- first-not-environmental-extremism/ (accessed December 14, 2022). .

1141. GDA-5724 24. Daren Bakst and Joshua Sewell, "Congress Should Stop Abrogating Its Spending Power and Rein in the USDA Slush Fund,"� Heritage Foundation Issue Brief No. .

1142. GDA-5726 2, https://www.heritage.org/ budget-and-spending/report/congress-should-stop-abrogating-its-spending-power-and-rein-the-usda. .

1143. GDA-5728 26. Bakst and Sewall, "Congress Should Stop Abrogating Its Spending Power."� 27. .

1144. 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). .

1145. GDA-5862 Government Accountability Office, "School Meals Programs: USDA Has Reported Taking Some Steps to Reduce Improper Payments But Should Comprehensively Assess Fraud Risks,"� GAO-19-389, May 21, 2022, https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-19-389 (accessed December 14, 2022). .

1146. GDA-5881 The Conservation Reserve Program should be eliminated. .

1147. GDA-5882 There are also two issues connected to property rights and fairness that should be addressed: challenging NRCS determinations and problems with USDA easements. .

1148. GDA-5883 To be eligible for many USDA programs, farmers must comply with certain conservation provisions enforced by NRCS. .

1149. GDA-5889 There must be a fair and reasonable process for farmers to challenge such actions. .

1150. GDA-5891 Here's What Should Be Done About It,"� The Daily Signal, April 25, 2022, https:// www.dailysignal.com/2022/04/25/food-price-inflation-continuing-to-worsen-heres-what-should-be-done- about-it/ (accessed December 15, 2022); American Bakers Association et.al., letter to Vilsack; U.S. .

1151. GDA-5897 The new Administration should focus on best practices instead of imposing prescriptive federal practices. .

1152. 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. .

1153. GDA-5991 Burke MISSION Federal education policy should be limited and, ultimately, the federal Department of Education should be eliminated. .

1154. GDA-5992 When power is exercised, it should empower students and families, not government. .

1155. GDA-5993 In our pluralistic society, families and students should be free to choose from a diverse set of school options and learning environments that best fit their needs. .

1156. GDA-5994 Our postsecondary institutions should also reflect such diversity, with room for not only "traditional"� liberal arts colleges and research universities but also faith-based institutions, career schools, military academies, and lifelong learning programs. .

1157. GDA-5995 Elementary and secondary education policy should follow the path outlined by Milton Friedman in 1955, wherein education is publicly funded but education decisions are made by families. .

1158. 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. .

1159. 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. .

1160. GDA-6005 Eventually, policymaking and funding should take place at the state and local level, closest to the affected families. .

1161. GDA-6006 Although student loans and grants should ultimately be restored to the private sector (or, at the very least, the federal government should revisit its role as a guarantor, rather than direct lender) federal postsecondary education investments should bolster economic growth, and recipient institutions should nourish academic freedom and embrace intellectual diversity. .

1162. GDA-6008 Federal postsecondary policy should be more than massive, inefficient, and open-ended subsidies to "traditional"� colleges and universities. .

1163. GDA-6009 It should be rebalanced to focus far more on bolstering the workforce skills of Americans who have no interest in pursuing a four- year academic degree. .

1164. GDA-6010 It should reflect a fuller picture of learning after high school, placing apprenticeship programs of all types and career and technical education on an even playing field with degrees from colleges and universities. .

1165. 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. .

1166. GDA-6031 Instead, special interest groups like the National Education Association (NEA), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and the higher education lobby have leveraged the agency to continuously expand federal expenditures --- a desirable funding stream from their vantage point because federal budgets are not constrained like state and local budgets that must be balanced each year. .

1167. GDA-6037 As the next Administration executes its work, it should be guided by a few core principles, including: l Advancing education freedom. .

1168. GDA-6042 Responsibility for serving these students should be housed in agencies that are already serving these families. .

1169. GDA-6044 As Washington begins to downsize its intervention in education, existing funding should be sent to states as grants over which they have full control, enabling states to put federal funding toward any lawful education purpose under state law. .

1170. GDA-6046 Taxpayers should expect their investments in higher education to generate economic productivity. .

1171. GDA-6047 When the federal government lends money to individuals for a postsecondary education, taxpayers should expect those borrowers to repay. .

1172. GDA-6049 The new Administration must end the practice of acting like the federal student loan portfolio is a campaign fund to curry political support and votes. .

1173. GDA-6050 The new Administration must end abuses in the loan forgiveness programs. .

1174. GDA-6051 Borrowers should be expected to repay their loans. .

1175. GDA-6053 Enforcement of civil rights should be based on a proper understanding of those laws, rejecting gender ideology and critical race theory. .

1176. GDA-6055 Congress should set policy --- not Presidents through pen-and-phone executive orders, and not agencies through regulations and guidance. .

1177. GDA-6056 National emergency declarations should expire absent express congressional authorization within 60 days after the date of the declaration. .

1178. GDA-6082 The federal government should confine its involvement in education policy to that of a statistics-gathering agency that disseminates information to the states. .

1179. GDA-6083 To improve educational opportunities for all Americans, the next Administration should work with Congress to pass a Department of Education Reorganization Act to reform, eliminate, or move the department's programs and offices to appropriate agencies. .

1180. GDA-6084 The following is an overview of what should happen within each of the offices and to each of the programs currently operated by the department. .

1181. GDA-6089 It should be administered as a no-strings-attached formula block grant. .

1182. GDA-6097 is under the jurisdiction of Congress --- should be expanded into a universal program, formula-funded, and moved to the Department of Health and Human Services. .

1183. GDA-6098 l All other programs at OESE should be block-granted or eliminated. .

1184. GDA-6101 l Most IDEA funding should be converted into a no-strings formula block grant targeted at students with disabilities and distributed directly to local education agencies by Health and Human Service's Administration for Community Living. .

1185. GDA-6104 l To the extent that OSERS supports federal efforts to enforce our laws against discrimination of individuals with disabilities, those assets should be moved to the Department of Justice (DOJ) along with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). .

1186. GDA-6105 Office for Postsecondary Education (OPE) l The next Administration should work with Congress to eliminate or move OPE programs to ETA at the Department of Labor. .

1187. GDA-6106 l Funding to institutions should be block-granted and narrowed to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and tribally controlled colleges. .

1188. 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. .

1189. GDA-6117 Office for Civil Rights (OCR) l OCR should move to the Department of Justice. .

1190. GDA-6118 The federal government has an essential responsibility to enforce civil rights protections, but Washington should do so through the Department of Justice and federal courts. .

1191. GDA-6119 The OCR at DOJ should be able to enforce only through litigation. .

1192. GDA-6120 Additional Bureaus and Offices For those attorneys, accountants, experts, and specialists in the department's remaining offices subject to closure whose positions might nevertheless be a key component of serving the mission --- positions that might include the Office of the Secretary/Deputy Secretary, Office of the Undersecretary, Office of the General Counsel, Office of the Inspector General, Office of Finance and Operations, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Office of Communications and Outreach, and Office of Legislative and Congressional Affairs --- the opportunity to join other agencies based on their expertise and the needs of other agencies should be made available. .

1193. GDA-6122 These positions must first be determined to serve a continued mission need prior to being transferred. .

1194. GDA-6123 l Attorneys, accountants, experts, and specialists in the department's remaining offices subject to closure, and whose positions are indispensable to serving the mission, should have the opportunity to join other agencies. .

1195. GDA-6124 Current Laws Relating to the Department of Education That Require Repeal In order to fully wind down the Department of Education, Congress must pass and the President must sign into law a Department of Education Reorganization Act (or Liquidating Authority Act) to direct the executive branch on how to devolve the agency as a stand-alone Cabinet-level department. .

1196. GDA-6125 l Congress should pass and the next President should sign a Department of Education Reorganization Act. .

1197. 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. .

1198. 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. .

1199. GDA-6137 l The new Administration must take immediate steps to rescind the new requirements and lessen the federal restrictions on charter schools. .

1200. GDA-6140 l The new Administration must quickly move to rescind these changes, which add a new "nonbinary"� sex category to OCR'S data collection and issue a new CRDC that will collect data directly relevant to OCR's statutory enforcement authority. .

1201. GDA-6145 l The new Administration must quickly commence negotiated rulemaking and propose that the department rescind these regulations. .

1202. GDA-6146 l The next Administration should also rescind Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) GEN 22-11 and DCL GEN 22-10 and its letters to accreditation agencies dated July 19, 2022, which are attempts to undercut Florida's SB 7044, providing universities more flexibility on accreditation. .

1203. 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. .

1204. GDA-6154 l The next Administration should move quickly to restore the rights of women and girls and restore due process protections for accused individuals. .

1205. GDA-6160 l The next Administration should abandon this change redefining "sex"� to mean "sexual orientation and gender identity"� in Title IX immediately across all departments. .

1206. 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. .

1207. GDA-6162 Official notice-and-comment should be posted immediately. .

1208. GDA-6163 l At the same time, the political appointees in the Office for Civil Rights should begin a full review of all Title IX investigations that were conducted on the understanding that "sex"� referred to gender identity and/or sexual orientation. .

1209. GDA-6164 l All ongoing investigations should be dropped, and all school districts affected should be given notice that they are free to drop any policy changes pursued under pressure from the Biden Administration. .

1210. GDA-6165 l The OCR Assistant Secretary should prepare a report of OCR's actions for the new Secretary of Education, who should --- by speech or letter --- publicize the nature of the overreach engaged in by his predecessor. .

1211. GDA-6166 l The Secretary should make it clear that FERPA allows parents full access to their children's educational records, so any practice of paperwork obfuscation on this front violates federal law. .

1212. GDA-6167 Title VI --- School Discipline and Disparate Impact Assuring a safe and orderly school environment should be a primary consideration for school leaders and district administrators. .

1213. GDA-6173 l The next Administration should continue the policy of the Trump Administration in this area and direct the department to conduct a comprehensive review of all Title VI cases to ascertain to what extent these cases include allegations of disparate impact. .

1214. GDA-6174 l OCR should also review all resolution agreements with school districts to conform with this policy. .

1215. GDA-6175 l As part of this effort, the new Administration should also direct the department and DOJ jointly to issue enforcement guidance stating that the agencies will no longer investigate Title VI cases that exclusively rest on allegations of disparate impact. .

1216. 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. .

1217. 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. .

1218. GDA-6181 l Although it would require political capital from the White House, given that mainstream news outlets are sure to frame it as an attack on civil rights, the next conservative Administration should take sweeping action to assure that the purpose of the Civil Rights Act is not inverted through a disparate impact standard to provide a pretext for theoretically endless federal meddling. .

1219. GDA-6183 The new Administration should rescind this regulation. .

1220. 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. .

1221. GDA-6192 l The next Administration should immediately commence rulemaking to rescind the Equity in IDEA regulation. .

1222. 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. .

1223. GDA-6195 Every effort should be made to dissuade states from continuing to operate on the assumption that overrepresentation requires state intervention after the federal pressure is rescinded. .

1224. GDA-6201 l The next Administration should prohibit the USDA or any other federal agency from withholding services from federal or state agencies --- including but not limited to K-12 schools --- that choose not to replace "sex"� with "SOGI"� in that agency's administration of Title IX. .

1225. GDA-6207 l The Secretary should phase out all existing IDR plans by making new loans (including consolidation loans) ineligible and should implement a new IDR plan. .

1226. GDA-6208 The new plan should have an income exemption equal to the poverty line and require payments of 10 percent of income above the exemption. .

1227. GDA-6209 If new legislation is possible, there should be no loan forgiveness, but if not, existing law would require forgiving any remaining balance after 25 years. .

1228. GDA-6218 l The Department of Education (or whichever agency collects such data long term) should make student data available by family structure to the public, including as part of its Data Explorer tool. .

1229. GDA-6219 l As discussed above, data collection efforts should be consolidated under the Census Bureau. .

1230. GDA-6220 l Data collection efforts in higher education should also be improved by housing higher education data at the Department of Labor. .

1231. GDA-6229 Higher education outcomes data should be similarly "risk adjusted"� to more carefully isolate the impact of educational quality versus socioeconomic status and other factors on college outcomes. .

1232. GDA-6241 l The Department of Education should work with Congress to amend the HEA to eliminate the negotiated rulemaking requirement. .

1233. GDA-6242 At a minimum, Congress should allow the department to use public hearings rather than negotiated rulemaking sessions. .

1234. GDA-6244 l The new Administration must end the prior Administration's abuse of the agency's payment pause and HEA loan forgiveness programs, including borrower defense to repayment, closed school discharge, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness. .

1235. 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. .

1236. GDA-6246 l The federal government does not have the proper incentives to make sound lending decisions, so the new Administration should consider returning to a system in which private lenders, backed by government guarantees, would compete to offer student loans, including subsidized and unsubsidized, loans. .

1237. GDA-6248 Pell grants should retain their current voucher-like structure. .

1238. GDA-6249 If Congress is unwilling to reform federal student aid, then the next Administration should consider the following reforms: l Switch to fair-value accounting from FCRA accounting, and l Consolidate all federal loan programs into one new program that 1. .

1239. GDA-6255 This must never happen again. .

1240. 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. .

1241. GDA-6257 NEW POLICY PRIORITIES FOR 2025 AND BEYOND New Legislation That Should Be Prioritized For nearly 250 years, Congress has incorporated public and private institutions, including banks, the District of Columbia's city government, and other organizations that federal officials deem to be conducting operations in the public interest. .

1242. 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. .

1243. 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. .

1244. GDA-6268 Parental Rights in Education and Safeguarding Students l Federal officials should protect educators and students in jurisdictions under federal control from racial discrimination by reinforcing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and prohibiting compelled speech. .

1245. GDA-6269 Specifically, no teacher or student in Washington, D.C., public schools, Bureau of Indian Education schools, or Department of Defense schools should be compelled to believe, profess, or adhere to any idea, but especially ideas that violate state and federal civil rights laws. .

1246. GDA-6273 So, when critical race theory is used as part of school activities such as mandatory affinity groups, teacher training programs in which educators are required to confess their privilege, or school assignments in which students must defend the false idea that America is systemically racist, the theory is actively disrupting the values that hold communities together such as equality under the law and colorblindness. .

1247. GDA-6274 l As such, lawmakers should design legislation that prevents the theory from spreading discrimination. .

1248. GDA-6275 l For K-12 systems under their jurisdiction, federal lawmakers should adopt proposals that say no individual should receive punishment or benefits based on the color of their skin. .

1249. GDA-6276 l Furthermore, school officials should not require students or teachers to believe that individuals are guilty or responsible for the actions of others based on race or ethnicity. .

1250. GDA-6277 Educators should not be forced to discuss contemporary political issues but neither should they refrain from discussing certain subjects in an attempt to protect students from ideas with which they disagree. .

1251. GDA-6278 Proposals such as this should result in robust classroom discussions, not censorship. .

1252. GDA-6279 At the state level, states should require schools to post classroom materials online to provide maximum transparency to parents. .

1253. GDA-6280 l Again, specifically for K-12 systems under federal authority, Congress and the next Administration should support existing state and federal civil rights laws and add to such laws a prohibition on compelled speech. .

1254. GDA-6289 To remedy the lack of clear and robust protection for parental rights, the next Administration should: l Work to pass a federal Parents' Bill of Rights that restores parental rights to a "top-tier"� right. .

1255. GDA-6293 At the same time, Congress should also consider equipping parents with a private right of action. .

1256. GDA-6300 Department of Education, which must then work with the school to obtain compliance before taking any action to suspend or terminate federal financial assistance. .

1257. GDA-6304 l The next Administration should work with Congress to amend FERPA and PPRA to provide parents and students over the age of 18 years with a private right of action to seek injunctive and declaratory relief, together with attorneys' fees and costs if a prevailing party, against educational institutions and agencies that violate rights enshrined in these statutes. .

1258. GDA-6306 Protect Parental Rights in Policy In addition to strengthening legal protections for parents, the next Administration should: l Prioritize legislation advancing such rights. .

1259. GDA-6310 l These congressional actions should be carefully reviewed to make sure they complement state Parents' Bills of Rights, such as those passed in Georgia (2022), Florida (2021), Montana (2021), Wyoming (2017), Idaho (2015), Oklahoma (2014), Virginia (2013), and Arizona (2010). .

1260. GDA-6316 l The next Administration should take particular note of how radical gender ideology is having a devastating effect on school-aged children today --- especially young girls. .

1261. GDA-6320 The next Administration should work with Congress to provide an example to state lawmakers by requiring K-12 districts under federal jurisdiction, including Washington, D.C., public schools, Bureau of Indian Education schools, and Department of Defense schools, with legislation stating that: l No public education employee or contractor shall use a name to address a student other than the name listed on a student's birth certificate, without the written permission of a student's parents or guardians. .

1262. GDA-6321 l No public education employee or contractor shall use a pronoun in addressing a student that is different from that student's biological sex without the written permission of a student's parents or guardians. .

1263. GDA-6323 State lawmakers should use this model and adopt similar provisions for public schools within their borders. .

1264. GDA-6324 Federal lawmakers should not allow public school employees to keep secrets about a child from that child's parents. .

1265. GDA-6330 l Congress should expand eligibility to all students, regardless of income or background, and raise the scholarship amount closer to the funding students receive in D.C. .

1266. 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. .

1267. GDA-6333 l Congress should additionally deregulate the program by removing the requirement of private schools to administer the D.C. .

1268. GDA-6335 Provide Education Choice for Populations Under the Jurisdiction of Congress The federal government oversees three school systems that Washington should transform into examples of quality learning environments for every child in those systems: students attending schools in Washington, D.C.; students in active-duty military families, including students attending schools operated by the U.S. .

1269. GDA-6337 In each of these systems, federal lawmakers should allow every student the option of using an education savings account so that parents can select different education products and services to meet their child's needs. .

1270. GDA-6341 l Federal lawmakers should offer District students the opportunity to use education savings accounts. .

1271. GDA-6342 A portion of a child's federal education spending should be deposited in a private spending account that parents can use to pay for personal tutors, education therapists, books and curricular materials, private school tuition, transportation and more --- accounts modeled after the accounts in Arizona, Florida, West Virginia, and seven other states. .

1272. GDA-6343 l Members of Congress should design the same account system for students in active-duty military families, including students attending schools that receive funding under the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).18 Heritage Foundation research found that if even 10 percent of the students eligible for accounts under such a proposal transferred from an assigned school to an education savings account, the change for the sending district would be 0.1 percent of that school district's K-12 budget. .

1273. GDA-6353 l Federal officials should design a federal education savings account option for all children attending BIE schools. .

1274. GDA-6354 The next Administration should make the K-12 systems under federal jurisdiction examples of quality learning opportunities and education freedom. .

1275. GDA-6355 Washington should convert some of the lowest-performing public school systems in the country into areas defined by choices, creating rigorous learning options for all children and from all backgrounds, income levels, and ethnicities. .

1276. GDA-6367 l Federal lawmakers should move IDEA oversight and implementation to the U.S. .

1277. 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. .

1278. GDA-6370 l IDEA already allows families to choose a private school under certain conditions, but federal officials should update the law so that families can use their child's IDEA spending for textbooks, education therapies, personal tutors, and other learning expenses, similar to the way in which parents use education savings accounts in states such as Arizona and Florida. .

1279. GDA-6372 l Members of Congress and the White House should consider a similar update to Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). .

1280. GDA-6378 l Initially, the responsibilities for administering and overseeing Title I should be moved to HHS, along with IDEA. .

1281. GDA-6379 l Students attending schools that receive Title I spending should also have access to micro-education savings accounts that allow families to choose how and where their children learn according to their needs. .

1282. GDA-6380 l Parents should be allowed to use their child's Title I resources to help pay for private learning options including tutoring services and curricular materials. .

1283. GDA-6381 l Over a 10-year period, the federal spending should be phased out and states should assume decision-making control over how to provide a quality education to children from low-income families. .

1284. GDA-6383 l Though actions by state lawmakers are essential and any federal policies should be strictly designed so they do not conflict with state activities, Congress could consider school choice legislation such as the Educational Choice for Children Act. .

1285. GDA-6387 States should be able to opt out of federal education programs such as the Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success (APLUS) Act. .

1286. GDA-6391 That 7 percent share should not allow the federal government to dictate state and local education policy. .

1287. GDA-6392 l To restore state and local control of education and reduce the bureaucratic and compliance burden, Congress should allow states to opt out of the dozens of federal K-12 education programs authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and instead allow states to put their share of federal funding toward any lawful education purpose under state law. .

1288. GDA-6408 The next Administration should work with Congress to amend the HEA and should consider the following reforms: l Prohibit accreditation agencies from leveraging their Title IV gatekeeper role to mandate that educational institutions adopt diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. .

1289. 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. .

1290. GDA-6420 The new Administration should consider: l Privatizing all lending programs, including subsidized, unsubsidized, and PLUS loans (both Grad and Parent). .

1291. GDA-6422 Pell grants should retain their current voucher-like structure. .

1292. GDA-6423 If privatizing student lending is not feasible, then the next Administration should consider the following reforms: l Switch to fair-value accounting from FCRA accounting. .

1293. GDA-6429 l The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which prioritizes government and public sector work over private sector employment, should be terminated. .

1294. GDA-6432 l The next Administration should work with Congress to amend the HEA to ensure that no Administration engages in this kind of abuse in the future. .

1295. GDA-6433 l Specifically, the new Administration should urge the Congress to amend the HEA to abrogate, or substantially reduce, the power of the Secretary to cancel, compromise, discharge, or forgive the principal balances of Title IV student loans, as well as to modify in any material way the repayment amounts or terms of Title IV student loans. .

1296. GDA-6434 l Further, the next Administration should propose that Congress amend the HEA to remove the department's authority to forgive loans based on borrower defense to repayment; instead, the department should be authorized to discharge loans only in instances where clear and convincing evidence exists to demonstrate that an educational institution engaged in fraud toward a borrower in connection with his or her enrollment in the institution and the student's educational program or activity at the institution. .

1297. GDA-6439 To correct course, l Congress should cap the indirect cost rate paid to universities so that it does not exceed the lowest rate a university accepts from a private organization to fund research efforts. .

1298. 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. .

1299. GDA-6442 l The Secretary of Education should refuse to recognize all accreditors that abuse their power. .

1300. GDA-6443 l New accreditors should also be encouraged to start up. .

1301. GDA-6447 The next Administration must l Reverse the Biden Administration's refusal to enforce Section 117 of the HEA, which directs colleges and universities to report gifts from, and contracts with, sources outside the U.S. .

1302. 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. .

1303. GDA-6456 Reforming "Area Studies"� Funding l Congress should wind down so-called "area studies"� programs at universities (Title VI of the HEA), which, although intended to serve American interests, sometimes fund programs that run counter to those interests. .

1304. 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. .

1305. GDA-6458 NEW EXECUTIVE ORDERS THAT THE PRESIDENT SHOULD ISSUE Guidance Documents l The President should immediately reinstate and reissue Executive Order 13891: Promoting the Rule of Law Through Improved Agency Guidance Documents, 84 Fed. .

1306. GDA-6467 The President should issue an executive order requiring the Office for Civil Rights' Case Processing Manual to go through APA (Administrative Procedures Act) notice and comment. .

1307. GDA-6469 The President should issue an executive order requiring grant applications (SF-424 series) to contain assurances that the applicant will uphold the First Amendment in funded programs and work. .

1308. GDA-6471 The President should issue an executive order stating that a college degree shall not be required for any federal job unless the requirements of the job specifically demand it. .

1309. GDA-6475 The President should issue an executive order removing the archived list and preventing such a list from being published in the future. .

1310. 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). .

1311. GDA-6477 l At the same time, the Department of Education should develop a portal and resources for parents on their rights under FERPA and PPRA. .

1312. GDA-6478 This portal should also contain an explanation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) and public school procedures to demonstrate that the law does not deprive parents of their right to access any school health records. .

1313. GDA-6481 Opportunity Scholarship Program stating that participating private schools must submit to site visits by the program administrator, inform prospective students about the school's accreditation status, mandate that teachers of core subjects have bachelor's degrees, and require participating students to take some form of nationally norm-referenced test. .

1314. 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. .

1315. GDA-6486 Transparency Around Program Performance and DEI Influence The next President should issue a series of executive orders requiring: l An accounting of how federal programs/grants spread DEI/CRT/ gender ideology, l A review of outcomes for GEAR UP and the 21st Century grants programs, l The reissuing of the report on school safety from 2018 with updated information, l The release of a report to Congress on how to consolidate the department and trim nonessential employees, l A report on the negative influence of action civics on students' understanding of history and civics and their disposition toward the United States, l An update of the Coleman report to show the impact of family structure on student achievement, l A full accounting of CARES Act education expenditures, and l A report on how many dollars make their way to the classroom in every federal education grant and program. .

1316. 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). .

1317. 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. .

1318. 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. .

1319. GDA-6499 Competitive grant programs operated by the Department of Education should be eliminated, and federal spending should be reduced to reflect remaining formula grant programs authorized under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and the handful of other programs that do not fall under the competitive/ project grant category. .

1320. GDA-6504 $95.5$14 of Education, such as large formula grant programs for K-12 education, should be reduced by 10 percent. .

1321. GDA-6508 As mentioned above, the PLUS loan program, which provides graduate student loans and loans to the parents of undergraduate students, should be eliminated. .

1322. GDA-6514 GEAR UP should be eliminated, and its functions should instead be handled privately or at the state and local levels, where policymakers are better equipped to increase college preparedness within their school districts. .

1323. GDA-6520 The author alone assumes responsibility for the content of this chapter, and no views expressed herein should be attributed to any other individual. .

1324. GDA-6561 McNamee AMERICAN ENERGY AND SCIENCE DOMINANCE The next conservative Administration should prioritize energy and science dominance to ensure that Americans have abundant, affordable, and reliable energy; create good-paying jobs; support domestic manufacturing and technology leadership; and strengthen national security. .

1325. GDA-6580 A conservative President must be committed to unleashing all of America's energy resources and making the energy economy serve the American people, not special interests. .

1326. GDA-6581 This means that the next conservative Administration should: l Promote American energy security by ensuring access to abundant, reliable, and affordable energy. .

1327. GDA-6605 MISSION STATEMENT FOR A REFORMED DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY The Department of Energy should be renamed and refocused as the Department of Energy Security and Advanced Science (DESAS). .

1328. GDA-6614 Government, however, should not be picking winners and losers in dealing with energy resources or commercial technology. .

1329. GDA-6617 New Policies: Energy To ensure that the American people have access to abundant, affordable, and reliable energy, DESAS's energy role should be focused on: l Working with the energy industry and networks to ensure energy infrastructure security through science and coordination with the private sector. .

1330. GDA-6627 DESAS should: l Focus on studying threats to the electric grid, natural gas, and oil infrastructure; sharing such information with the energy industry; promoting the reliability and security of energy resources and infrastructure; and developing strategies and technologies to combat threats by working with the National Labs. .

1331. GDA-6638 The DOE Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED); Office of State and Community Energy Programs; ARPA-E; Office of Grid Deployment (OGD); and DOE Loan Program should be eliminated or reformed. .

1332. GDA-6639 If they continue to exist, FECM, NE, OE, and EERE should focus on fundamental science and technology issues, particularly in relation to cyber and physical threats to energy security, rather than subsidizing and commercializing energy resources. .

1333. GDA-6641 In addition, Congress should reform the Natural Gas Act8 to expand required approvals from merely nations with free trade agreements to all of our allies, such as NATO countries. .

1334. 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. .

1335. GDA-6648 It is an economic regulator and should not make itself a climate regulator. .

1336. GDA-6654 The next Administration should stop using energy policy to advance politicized social agendas. .

1337. GDA-6656 DOE should focus on providing all Americans with access to abundant, affordable, reliable, and secure energy, and DOE should manage its employees so that everyone is treated fairly based on his or her talent, skills, and hard work. .

1338. GDA-6660 The next Administration should make U.S. .

1339. GDA-6664 DESAS should analyze U.S. .

1340. GDA-6666 This strategy would take account of the energy landscape across the globe to inform the President in his foreign policy and defense roles, but it should not be a tool for U.S. .

1341. GDA-6672 The existing Assistant Secretary for International Affairs should provide the principal support for the DOE Secretary and Deputy Secretary on National Security Council (NSC) activities and should interface with colleagues at the Departments of Defense, State, Treasury, and Commerce, as well as the Intelligence Community (IC). .

1342. GDA-6673 New Policies: Advanced Science To ensure that America continues to lead the world in fundamental science, the National Labs should be refocused, and national science policy should be reviewed and coordinated. .

1343. GDA-6676 The three National Labs run by DOE's NNSA should continue to focus on national security issues. .

1344. GDA-6677 The remaining 14 science and energy labs should focus on basic research projects; demonstration and deployment of technology should be left to the private sector. .

1345. GDA-6680 Before the start of a new Administration, there should be a review of all the federal science agencies.12 This should include a review of the ill-advised attempt to expand the National Science Foundation's mission from supporting university research to supporting an all-encompassing technology transition. .

1346. GDA-6681 Specific to DOE, there should be a review to measure, prioritize, and consolidate DOE programs based on a range of beneficial factors, including degree of relationship to national security; furtherance of energy security (cyber but also international aspects); and importance to scientific discovery/advancement. .

1347. GDA-6684 The new DESAS should: l Continue DOE's remediation of radioactive waste created by the nuclear weapons projects from the Manhattan Project and Cold War. .

1348. GDA-6698 With strong leadership by the Secretary of DESAS, the next Administration should: l Fund the design, development, and deployment of new nuclear warheads, including the production of plutonium pits in quantity.15 l Expand the U.S. .

1349. GDA-6707 A good first step would be to reinstate an iteration of the Trump Administration's Executive Order 13920, "Securing the United States Bulk-Power System."�19 The Biden Administration also placed the Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) and DOE's Federal Power Act 202(c) authority20 under the CESER office, which should continue in the next Administration. .

1350. GDA-6708 New Policies CESER should be refocused to prioritize the cybersecurity, physical security, and resilience of critical infrastructure. .

1351. GDA-6718 These programs should be eliminated. .

1352. GDA-6719 The next Administration should work with Congress to eliminate all DOE applied energy programs including OE (except perhaps those related to basic science for new energy technology). .

1353. GDA-6721 OE (along with CESER if they are combined) should focus on the security of critical infrastructure equipment used in the bulk power system as envisioned in President Trump's May 2020 Executive Order 13920 and a related December 2020 Prohibition Order,26 which was revoked in April 2021 by President Biden.27 In addition, CESER/OE should: 1. .

1354. GDA-6726 The next Administration should work with Congress to eliminate nonessential funding of commercial technology and deployment. .

1355. GDA-6733 Absent wholesale reforms that restructure the federal energy and science bureaucracy to eliminate such functional energy offices, the next Administration should: l Substantially limit NE's size and scope. .

1356. GDA-6736 New Policies NE should transition to a more limited scope of responsibilities that focuses on basic research, solving broadly applicable technology challenges, and solving the nuclear waste management issue as it relates to the development and deployment of advanced next-generation reactors, which can include small modular reactors (SMR). .

1357. GDA-6737 While respecting existing contractual obligations, NE should not initiate any new civilian reactor demonstration and commercialization projects. .

1358. GDA-6738 NE also should: l Focus on overcoming technical barriers that are preventing commercial reactor demonstration projects from moving forward. .

1359. GDA-6739 Any activities in support of existing nuclear plants and any other projects directed toward commercialization, including licensing support, should be shouldered by the private sector. .

1360. GDA-6742 These responsibilities and their associated funds should be moved to NE as appropriate. .

1361. GDA-6743 NE should not simply add or subtract programs, as some programs may help to support NE's new priorities. .

1362. GDA-6748 CCUS programs should be left to the private sector to develop.35 If the office continues any CCUS research, that research should be focused more on innovative utilization. .

1363. GDA-6750 Development of domestic critical material sources is important for national security, as the vast majority of critical materials are mined or processed (or both) in Russia and China.36 The processing of critical materials from fossil fuel waste products (primarily coal) has shown some potential and, in view of our vast domestic reserves of coal and abundant waste from coal mining and combustion, should be pursued. .

1364. GDA-6752 The next Administration should work with Congress to eliminate all of DOE's applied energy programs, including those in FECM (with the possible exception of those that are related to basic science for new energy technology). .

1365. GDA-6753 Taxpayer dollars should not be used to subsidize preferred businesses and energy resources, thereby distorting the market and undermining energy reliability. .

1366. GDA-6756 Absent elimination of FECM, Congress should direct FECM appropriations toward increasing energy security and supply. .

1367. GDA-6764 Regardless of where the responsibility lies, the new DESAS should ensure that the SPR is maintained for national strategic purposes and not misused for political gain. .

1368. GDA-6774 The next Administration should work with Congress to eliminate all of DOE's applied energy programs, including those in EERE (with the possible exception of those that are related to basic science for new energy technology). .

1369. GDA-6775 Taxpayer dollars should not be used to subsidize preferred businesses and energy resources, thereby distorting the market and undermining energy reliability. .

1370. GDA-6777 If EERE cannot be eliminated, then the Administration should engage with Congress and the House and Senate Appropriations Committees on EERE's budget. .

1371. GDA-6779 In recent years, Congress has appropriated many billions of dollars in excess of EERE's normal budget (DOE requested more than $4.0 billion for FY 2023).46 It should rescind these excess monies so that DOE is not required to spend them. .

1372. GDA-6780 If funding cannot be reduced, then it should be reallocated to more fundamental research and less toward commercialization and deployment. .

1373. GDA-6782 If EERE cannot be eliminated, then the Administration should focus on broader and more fundamental energy research, consistent with law. .

1374. GDA-6786 The next Administration should work with Congress to modify or repeal the law mandating energy efficiency standards. .

1375. GDA-6796 Instead of focusing on grid expansion for the benefit of renewable resources or supporting low/carbon generation, GDO should be incorporated into the reformed Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response, which would work to enhance the grid's reliability and resilience. .

1376. GDA-6797 To the extent that they remain in effect, the funding programs that GDO oversees and administers should emphasize grid reliability, not renewables expansion. .

1377. GDA-6803 They should be reassigned to the reformed and expanded CESER. .

1378. GDA-6808 Congress should rescind any money not already spent. .

1379. GDA-6813 Government should not be picking winners and losers and should not be subsidizing the private sector to bring resources to market. .

1380. GDA-6815 The next Administration should work with Congress to eliminate all DOE energy demonstration programs, including those in OCED. .

1381. GDA-6816 Taxpayer dollars should not be used to subsidize preferred businesses and energy resources, thereby distorting the market and undermining energy reliability. .

1382. GDA-6818 To the extent that the various energy research and development funding authorities cannot be repealed, funded projects should be consistent with the programmatic goals of the next Administration. .

1383. 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. .

1384. 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. .

1385. GDA-6840 To save tax dollars and reduce current risk, the new Administration: l Should not back any new loans or loan guarantees. .

1386. GDA-6841 l Should seek to sunset DOE's loan authority through Congress and eventually eliminate the Loan Program Office. .

1387. GDA-6843 New Policies To the extent that DOE loan programs cannot be repealed, the new Administration should: l Strengthen due diligence and increase transparency in DOE loan programs. .

1388. 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. .

1389. GDA-6857 The next Administration should work with Congress to eliminate ARPA-E. .

1390. GDA-6858 The agency is unnecessary, risks taxpayer dollars, and interferes with risk-benefit decisions that should be made by the private sector. .

1391. 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. .

1392. GDA-6862 The Trump Administration took a less aggressive approach in Executive Order 13834, which specified that "each agency shall prioritize actions that reduce waste, cut costs, enhance the resilience of Federal infrastructure and operations, and enable more effective accomplishment of its mission."�64 New Policies A conservative Administration should follow the language of Executive Order 13834 and direct federal agencies to "reduce waste, cut costs, enhance the resilience of Federal infrastructure and operations, and enable more effective accomplishment of its mission."� For FEMP, this means focusing on helping federal agencies to follow the law and use energy efficiently and cost-effectively. .

1393. 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. .

1394. GDA-6875 EIA should ensure that its reporting provides an accurate assessment of generation costs. .

1395. GDA-6876 The cost of backup power for when wind and solar resources are not available should be included when comparing the technologies and reported as a separate component in the modeling documents. .

1396. GDA-6878 EIA, in conjunction with FERC, NERC, regional transmission organizations (RTOs), and the electric industry, should change how electric grid reserve margins are defined and calculated. .

1397. GDA-6885 This report should become a project that is performed annually or every other year as part of EIA's base program. .

1398. GDA-6890 EIA forecasts should be based on current laws and regulations and should not be used to promote favored policies. .

1399. GDA-6892 There are some who think that EIA should be privatized. .

1400. GDA-6893 The cost savings to taxpayers should be considered. .

1401. GDA-6898 International energy activities should be consolidated under IA (and the Department of State's Bureau of Energy Resources should be eliminated) to ensure a proper understanding of domestic energy policy and how it affects foreign policy, as well as the international energy landscape and how it affects U.S. .

1402. GDA-6906 interests will be protected and should not be supported in any form. .

1403. GDA-6909 To this end, IA should work closely with the DESAS Office of Policy on the National Energy Security Strategy. .

1404. GDA-6913 The Secretary of Energy is a senior member of the President's National Security Council and should function as such. .

1405. GDA-6914 The DOE's Deputy Secretaries, Under Secretaries, and Assistant Secretaries should be guaranteed representation at all Deputies and Policy Coordination Committee meetings. .

1406. GDA-6915 In addition, senior political and career staff should hold positions on the NSC staff equivalent to their counterparts at State, Defense, Treasury, and the Intelligence Community (IC). .

1407. GDA-6916 DESAS billets should replace State Department Bureau of Energy Resources billets at the relevant posts worldwide. .

1408. GDA-6917 l Stop "climate reparations."� The President should refuse to provide climate reparations under an unratified treaty, and IA should encourage other countries to reconsider their desire to provide reparations. .

1409. GDA-6921 The United States must establish a strategic plan to promote its national security, energy, and economic interests in the Arctic. .

1410. GDA-6922 An analysis and plan to support the responsible development of Alaska's energy assets should be a priority. .

1411. GDA-6925 AE should help to identify those interests, as well as threats posed by countries like Russia and China, and develop appropriate policy options for the President's consideration. .

1412. GDA-6930 AE's operations in Alaska should be expanded to encompass broader national energy security interests in the region including rare earths, oil, and natural gas. .

1413. GDA-6931 AE should also be the lead for DOE Antarctic operations as a counter to growing Russian and Chinese interest in Antarctic resources. .

1414. GDA-6932 Personnel AE should provide a senior Arctic Energy official to the U.S. .

1415. GDA-6938 IAC should be led by a qualified appointee and report directly to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary. .

1416. 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. .

1417. GDA-6959 Because America's technological edge is a key national security asset, and in view of China's predatory thefts of intellectual property, OTT should: l Ensure that R&D funds are used for projects that protect and advance that edge. .

1418. 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. .

1419. GDA-6971 SC is led by a Senate-confirmed Director at the Assistant Secretary level and has eight program offices.82 Needed Reforms The next conservative President should commit the United States to scientific dominance to support national and economic security, especially in light of similar efforts by China. .

1420. GDA-6972 To aid in this effort, the Office of Science should: l Return to its primary mission: nonpartisan and basic science. .

1421. GDA-6973 SC's mission should be international leadership in basic and early applied science and provision of world-leading facilities for this work. .

1422. GDA-6974 The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act mark the major reorientation of DOE primarily from defense applications in the NNSA and basic and early applied science across SC and the applied offices to a massive federal research, development, demonstration, and commercialization body.83 Distraction from SC's basic science mission should be prevented. .

1423. GDA-6981 The next Administration must commit itself to ensuring that the U.S. .

1424. GDA-6984 The Administration should work with Congress to rationalize the National Lab network to meet specific national objectives (such as the NNSA laboratories' role in national defense) and conduct basic research that the private sector would not otherwise conduct. .

1425. GDA-6985 Activities that duplicate those of other government agencies or the private sector should be eliminated. .

1426. 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. .

1427. GDA-6997 New Policies The next Administration should: l Accelerate the cleanup. .

1428. GDA-6998 This means that a comprehensive cost projection and schedule reflecting the entire scope of the job should be developed and appropriate reforms should be instituted. .

1429. 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. .

1430. GDA-7001 To the extent that funding from the IIJA and IRA cannot be repealed, requests to divert those funds to EM's cleanup obligations should be considered. .

1431. 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. .

1432. GDA-7023 In 2022, DOE announced $16 million to support local communities in consent-based siting.96 The next Administration should use the consent-based-siting process to identify and build temporary or permanent sites for a civilian waste nuclear repository (or repositories). .

1433. GDA-7025 DOE should restart the Yucca Mountain licensing process. .

1434. GDA-7026 Any continuation of interim storage facilities should be made part of an integrated waste management system that includes geologic storage. .

1435. GDA-7027 Further, building on the consent-based siting process already underway, DOE should find a second repository site. .

1436. GDA-7034 OCRWM, as already established by statute, should be tasked with developing the next steps on Yucca Mountain and nuclear waste management. .

1437. GDA-7035 These steps should include initiating market reforms, including significant amendments to the NWPA, to allow additional industry responsibility for managing waste, market pricing and competition for waste services, and the opportunity for Nevadans to have more partnership involvement with any nuclear facility at Yucca Mountain. .

1438. GDA-7037 Budget Within the Office of Nuclear Energy budget, approximately $100 million is set aside for fuel cycle and waste management activities.100 These funds should be transferred to the newly established OCRWM, which should also be responsible for managing the Nuclear Waste Fund and given access to the fund as necessary to carry out its responsibilities. .

1439. GDA-7045 A conservative Administration should: l Continue to develop new warheads for each branch of the triad (land, sea, and air defenses). .

1440. GDA-7051 The review should be conducted by the Director of Naval Reactors (DNR) with an eye to the possible inclusion of advanced affordable nuclear reactor technology and extension of DNR authority over these agencies' nuclear construction programs. .

1441. GDA-7057 DOE non-nuclear programs should be the first source of additional resources for NNSA activities. .

1442. GDA-7059 NNSA received $19.7 billion in 2021, and its FY 2023 budget request was $21.4 billion.106 The next Administration should ensure that funding is targeted to the accelerated development of new warheads. .

1443. 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. .

1444. GDA-7083 FERC should direct RTOs to establish reliability pricing for eligible dispatchable generation resources or require intermittent resources to procure backup power for times when they are not available to operate. .

1445. GDA-7084 In addition, Congress should repeal subsidies for generation resources. .

1446. GDA-7086 FERC, NERC, and DOE should revise the definition of reserve margins to ensure the grid's reliability throughout the day and the year. .

1447. GDA-7093 NERC reliability reviews and FERC's reliability roles should be aware that overreliance on any one power generation fuel source entails concurrent cost and availability risk. .

1448. GDA-7094 FERC should reform market rules that unduly discriminate against dispatchable resources needed for reliability. .

1449. GDA-7097 DOE should play a leading role in identifying and addressing threats to the grid. .

1450. GDA-7105 Finally, customers are not seeing the full economic benefits that non-fuel, subsidized resources should provide. .

1451. GDA-7118 New Policies FERC must make reliability of the grid and service to end use top priorities. .

1452. GDA-7119 To do so, it should: l Reexamine the premise of RTOs. .

1453. GDA-7124 FERC should require RTOs to ensure that reliable, dispatchable resources are properly valued to provide electricity when needed for the benefit of customers. .

1454. GDA-7129 Alternatives to marginal price auctions also should be considered. .

1455. GDA-7133 FERC should also consider allowing states to enter into non-RTO power pools with alternative structures for the sharing of resources and electric generation. .

1456. GDA-7141 New Policies FERC should either change course on its existing transmission rulemakings (if still in progress) or issue a new rulemaking to: l Ensure that transmission planning and interconnection processes are resource neutral. .

1457. GDA-7144 With respect to NIETCs, FERC and the new DESAS should ensure that state interests are respected and not allow such NEITC transmission lines to be developed as a mere subsidy to renewable developers. .

1458. GDA-7157 EPA decision.124 New Policies FERC should: l Recommit itself to the NGA's purpose of providing the American people with access to affordable and reliable natural gas. .

1459. GDA-7160 In addition, Congress, the states, and FERC should consider how better to protect and compensate property owners whose property is taken for the benefit of the public. .

1460. GDA-7172 New Policies Since Congress through the NGA has already determined that LNG exports to countries with free trade agreements are in the public interest,129 and because LNG exports help to ensure America's ability to support our friends and allies around the world while also supporting domestic natural gas production, FERC: l Should not use environmental issues like climate change as a reason to stop LNG projects. .

1461. GDA-7173 l Should ensure that the natural gas pipelines that are needed deliver more of the product to market, both for domestic use and export, and are reviewed, developed and constructed in a timely manner. .

1462. 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. .

1463. GDA-7182 Applications for Combined Operating Licenses (COLs) and design certifications that rely on light-water technology should generally be completed within two years. .

1464. GDA-7183 Early Site Permits should generally be issued within one year for construction on or adjacent to an existing reactor site. .

1465. GDA-7184 Additionally, the NRC should: l Expedite the review and approval of license extensions of existing reactors, which will require the NRC to streamline and focus its NEPA review process. .

1466. GDA-7191 Though informed by many, the author alone assumes responsibility for the content of this chapter, and no views expressed herein should be attributed to any particular individual. .

1467. GDA-7207 This work should continue and be enhanced under the next Administration. .

1468. GDA-7551 As discussed in the section on the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, infra, these automatic approvals should be extended to allies of the United States, not just to those with free trade agreements. .

1469. GDA-7610 EPA's structure and mission should be greatly circumscribed to reflect the principles of cooperative federalism and limited government. .

1470. GDA-7612 EPA should build earnest relationships with state and local officials and assume a more supportive role by sharing resources and expertise, recognizing that the primary role in making choices about the environment belongs to the people who live in it. .

1471. 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. .

1472. GDA-7616 Duplicative, wasteful, or superfluous programs that do not tangibly support the agency's mission should be eliminated, and a structured management program should be designed to assist state and local governments in protecting public health and the environment. .

1473. GDA-7618 EPA should consider and reduce as much as possible the economic costs of its actions on local communities to help them thrive and prosper. .

1474. GDA-7620 EPA should foster cooperative relationships with the regulated community, especially small businesses, that encourage compliance over enforcement. .

1475. GDA-7622 EPA should make public and take comment on all scientific studies and analyses that support regulatory decision-making. .

1476. 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. .

1477. GDA-7639 To initiate the review and reorganization, a Day One executive order should be drafted for the incoming President with explicit language requiring reconsideration of the agency's structure with reference to fulfilling its mission to create a better environmental tomorrow with clean air, safe water, healthy soil, and thriving communities. .

1478. GDA-7640 The order should set up "pause and review"� teams to assess the following: l Major Rules and Guidance Materials. .

1479. GDA-7652 EPA should not conduct any ongoing or planned activity for which there is not clear and current congressional authorization, and it should communicate this shift in the President's first budget request. .

1480. GDA-7655 Personnel The majority of the political appointee team must be assembled, vetted, and ready to deploy before Day One. .

1481. GDA-7656 To the extent provided by the Federal Vacancies Reform Act,15 appointees in consideration for Senate-confirmed positions (excluding the Administrator) should be prepared to serve as a Deputy or Principal Deputy to get into the agency on Day One while their nomination and affiliated confirmation processes proceeds. .

1482. GDA-7658 Teams should be balanced with technical knowledge, legal expertise, and political exposure. .

1483. GDA-7659 Ideally, they should also be geographically diverse. .

1484. GDA-7660 Appointee positions should also extend to all the regional offices and specialty labs. .

1485. GDA-7665 A reformed OAR should focus on EPA's mission of limiting and minimizing criteria and hazardous air pollutants in partnership with the states. .

1486. GDA-7668 The following reforms should be implemented across all OAR offices: l Issue a rule to ensure consistent and transparent consideration of costs. .

1487. GDA-7673 Congress placed special constraints on air rules, and that intent should be respected. .

1488. GDA-7677 The statute does not require this, and EPA should consider whether a longer timeline is less disruptive or more realistic. .

1489. GDA-7678 Regional haze rules should be revised to prevent subsequent "planning periods"� from being abused to compel the shutdown of disfavored facilities. .

1490. GDA-7683 EPA must ensure, in keeping with statutory text, that petitions identify a reasonably discrete "group"� of upwind sources alleged to violate the good neighbor provision. .

1491. GDA-7708 l Defend the position that petitions to object to Title V should not be used to second-guess previous state decisions. .

1492. GDA-7730 The August 6, 2019, "Office of Water Policy for Draft Documents"� memorandum28 should be strictly enforced to ensure transparency as well as good governance by not letting guidance linger in draft form and by also ensuring that guidance documents are clearly just that: guidance. .

1493. GDA-7731 They do not have the effect of law and should not be treated by the office as if they did have any such effect. .

1494. GDA-7732 As a matter of broad practice, OW should be complying with statutorily established deadlines in all situations with only minimal exceptions. .

1495. GDA-7733 In cases where statutory deadlines will not be met, senior management should be made aware of the delay and should have an opportunity to determine whether alternative courses should be taken. .

1496. 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. .

1497. 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. .

1498. GDA-7758 To manage cleanups more effectively, OLEM should: l Require training in project management for project managers (as opposed to all staff having a general science background). .

1499. GDA-7776 This system should operate from a range of common handheld devices and could be expanded to accommodate solid waste and materials for reuse and recycling. .

1500. GDA-7779 If a new Risk Management Program (RMP) rule is finalized by the Biden Administration, it should be revised to reflect the amendments finalized in 2019 to protect sensitive information. .

1501. GDA-7801 Needed Reforms and New Policy in OPP (Pesticides) l OPP should rely on Department of Agriculture and state usage data that reflect actual pesticide use in registration reviews and Endangered Species Act (ESA)42 analyses. .

1502. GDA-7803 Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service should rely on similar data in their ESA analyses. .

1503. GDA-7804 l OPP has rigorous testing requirements that registrants must meet before pesticides are allowed on the market. .

1504. GDA-7814 l While individual pesticide registrations are considered adjudications and not reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), consistent with a 1993 OMB guidance, when pesticide tolerances and registrations are withdrawn by the agency (as opposed to being withdrawn voluntarily by registrants), these actions should undergo coordinated interagency review managed by OMB. .

1505. GDA-7821 Guardrails and third-party audits should be part of any funding increases through the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act (PRIA)43 or other mechanisms. .

1506. GDA-7826 This priority should be underscored in the President's first budget request. .

1507. GDA-7827 l The new President's Inauguration Day regulatory review/freeze directives should avoid exceptions for EPA actions. .

1508. 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. .

1509. GDA-7834 Qualifications for these positions should emphasize management, oversight, and execution skills (including in leading state environmental agencies) as opposed to personal scientific output. .

1510. GDA-7839 Budget: Back-to-Basics Rejection of Unauthorized or Expired Science Activities A top priority should be the immediate and consistent rejection of all EPA ORD and science activities that have not been authorized by Congress. .

1511. 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. .

1512. 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. .

1513. GDA-7853 In addition, EPA should: l Shift responsibility for evaluating misconduct away from its Office of Scientific Integrity, which has been overseen by environmental activists, and toward an independent body. .

1514. GDA-7859 Given the disproportionate economic impacts of top-down solutions, EPA should implement an approach that defaults to less restrictive regulatory outcomes. .

1515. GDA-7861 It should embrace concepts laid out in the 2018 "Back-to-Basics Process for Reviewing National Ambient Air Quality Standards"� memo48 to ensure that any science and risk assessment for the NAAQS matches congressional direction. .

1516. 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. .

1517. GDA-7865 This should include a prohibition on peer review activities for unaccountable third parties that lack independence or application of these same principles to non- governmental peer review bodies (including NASEM). .

1518. GDA-7869 A high priority should be the repeal or reform of the Global Change Research Act of 1990,50 which has been misused for political purposes. .

1519. GDA-7875 Needed Reforms AIO should be significantly elevated as a stand-alone EPA Assistant Administrator office. .

1520. GDA-7877 While designated a "headquarters"� office with direct reporting to the Administrator, its location should be in the American West, closer to most tribal nations. .

1521. GDA-7880 New Policies All EPA tribal grants and tribal matters should be run from this office as a one- stop-shop for all tribal affairs. .

1522. GDA-7881 Budget and Personnel AIO should be led by a politically appointed, Senate-confirmed Assistant Administrator, ideally one with strong ties to a federally recognized tribe. .

1523. GDA-7882 He or she should have political deputies and staff to assist the political leadership in carrying out agency policies. .

1524. GDA-7884 Because of this, tribal staff should be fully under the authority of the new American Indian Office and its Assistant Administrator, not the regional offices. .

1525. GDA-7891 Allocations of agency resources, increased EPA enforcement, and/or agency distribution of grants should be based on neutral constitutional principles. .

1526. GDA-7893 University of North Carolina.54 Accordingly, the next Administration should pause and review all ongoing EJ and Title VI actions to ensure that they are consistent with any forthcoming SCOTUS decision. .

1527. GDA-7897 All attorneys with authority to represent EPA --- not necessarily all attorneys --- should therefore be housed in OGC. .

1528. GDA-7902 OECA attorneys should be moved into OGC. .

1529. GDA-7907 OCIR employees should not take legal positions. .

1530. GDA-7909 There must be a strategic relationship between OCIR and OGC, but OGC, in consultation with agency clients and White House Counsel, should assert EPA legal positions to Congress (for example, the assertion of interests regarding congressional subpoenas, witness availability and testimony, and document production). .

1531. GDA-7913 OEJECR should be disbanded; OEJECR's attorneys should be moved back into OGC; and nonlegal staff (for example, EJ Policy Advisers) should be moved back into the Administrator's office as is customary. .

1532. GDA-7917 To the extent that legal positions are taken by the ORCs and/or regional staff, they should be coordinated and approved by OGC and the appropriate regional leadership. .

1533. GDA-7921 --- of the case."�55 In addition, EPA should refrain from publicly undermining the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)56 process at other agencies and should instead focus on providing constructive, technical support during the interagency process. .

1534. GDA-7936 Steps should be taken to ensure that grants are awarded based on need instead of ideological affiliation or academic preference. .

1535. GDA-7937 Specifically, EPA should: l Institute a pause and review for all grants over a certain threshold. .

1536. GDA-7941 Audit teams should be diversified. .

1537. GDA-7942 Staffing assignments, especially at the senior level, should be reviewed and streamlined, and the office should consolidate space to save agency costs. .

1538. GDA-7946 In addition to evaluating whether the Deputy Chief Financial Officer position should be reserved for a career official, a new Administration should immediately fill these positions with political appointees and establish a new political leadership position for Appropriations Liaison, which is currently overseen by career employees. .

1539. GDA-7958 No views expressed herein should be attributed to any other individual. .

1540. GDA-8119 Accordingly, HHS must return to serving the health and well-being of all Americans at all stages of life instead of using social engineering that leaves us sicker, poorer, and more divided. .

1541. GDA-8123 The Secretary should pursue a robust agenda to protect the fundamental right to life, protect conscience rights, and uphold bodily integrity rooted in biological realities, not ideology. .

1542. GDA-8125 The Secretary must ensure that all HHS programs and activities are rooted in a deep respect for innocent human life from day one until natural death: Abortion and euthanasia are not health care. .

1543. GDA-8127 The Secretary must protect Americans' civil rights by ensuring that HHS programs and activities follow the letter and spirit of religious freedom and conscience-protection laws. .

1544. GDA-8130 The next Secretary must ensure that HHS programs protect children's minds and bodies and that HHS programs respect parents' basic right to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their children. .

1545. GDA-8134 Health care reform should be patient-centered and market-based and should empower individuals to control their health care-related dollars and decisions. .

1546. 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. .

1547. 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. .

1548. GDA-8142 These policies should be repealed and replaced by policies that support the formation of stable, married, nuclear families. .

1549. GDA-8146 HHS should prioritize married father engagement in its messaging, health, and welfare policies. .

1550. GDA-8147 In the context of current and emerging reproductive technologies, HHS policies should never place the desires of adults over the right of children to be raised by the biological fathers and mothers who conceive them. .

1551. GDA-8148 In cases involving biological parents who are found by a court to be unfit because of abuse or neglect, the process of adoption should be speedy, certain, and supported generously by HHS. .

1552. GDA-8154 Before the next national public health emergency, this apparatus must be fundamentally restructured to ensure a transparent, scientifically grounded, and more nimble, efficient, transparent, and targeted response that respects the unique needs and input of patient populations and providers. .

1553. GDA-8158 For the sake of democratic accountability, we must know with clarity what will trigger the next emergency declaration and, just as important, what will trigger its end. .

1554. GDA-8159 Unaccountable bureaucrats like Anthony Fauci should never again have such broad, unchecked power to issue health "guidelines"� that will certainly be the basis for federal and state mandates. .

1555. GDA-8160 Never again should public health bureaucrats be allowed to hide information, ignore information, or mislead the public concerning the efficacy or dangers associated with any recommended health interventions because they believe it may lead to hesitancy on the part of the public. .

1556. 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. .

1557. GDA-8164 We must erect robust firewalls to mitigate these obvious financial conflicts of interest. .

1558. 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. .

1559. GDA-8167 Funding for agencies and individual government researchers must come directly from the government with robust congressional oversight. .

1560. GDA-8168 We must shut and lock the revolving door between government and Big Pharma. .

1561. 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. .

1562. GDA-8170 Similarly, pharmaceutical company executives should be restricted from moving from industry into positions within regulatory agencies. .

1563. GDA-8171 Finally, HHS should adopt metrics across the agency that can objectively determine the extent to which the agency's policies and programs achieve desired health and welfare outcomes (not agency outputs). .

1564. GDA-8179 Congress should ensure that CDC's legal authorities are clearly defined and limited to prevent a recurrence of any such arbitrary and vacillating exercise of power. .

1565. GDA-8180 The CDC should be split into two separate entities housing its two distinct functions. .

1566. GDA-8185 In February 2022, for example, it was reported that "[t]wo full years into the pandemic, the agency leading the country's response to the public health emergency has published only a tiny fraction of the data it has collected,"� much of which "could [have helped] state and local health officials better target their efforts to bring the virus under control."� A CDC spokesman said that one of the reasons was "fear that the information might be misinterpreted."�4 These distinct functions should be separated into two entirely separate agencies with a firewall between them. .

1567. GDA-8187 A separate agency should be responsible for public health with a severely confined ability to make policy recommendations. .

1568. GDA-8188 The CDC can and should make assessments as to the health costs and benefits of health interventions, but it has limited to no capacity to measure the social costs or benefits they may entail. .

1569. 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. .

1570. GDA-8192 When it comes to testing, the CDC's role should similarly be to facilitate rather than supplant the efforts of private test developers, academic laboratories, state public health laboratories, and clinical testing providers. .

1571. GDA-8193 When responding to a novel pathogen, the CDC should focus on gathering and disseminating information, including specimens needed for development of positive controls and reference panels, and ensuring that test developers can develop and validate diagnostic tests. .

1572. GDA-8199 By statute or regulation, CDC guidance must be prohibited from taking on a prescriptive character. .

1573. GDA-8200 For example, never again should CDC officials be allowed to say in their official capacity that school children "should be"� masked or vaccinated (through a schedule or otherwise) or prohibited from learning in a school building. .

1574. GDA-8201 Such decisions should be left to parents and medical providers. .

1575. GDA-8202 We have learned that when CDC says what people "should"� do, it readily becomes a "must"� backed by severe punishments, including criminal penalties. .

1576. GDA-8203 CDC should report on the risks and effectiveness of all infectious disease-mitigation measures dispassionately and leave the "should"� and "must"� policy calls to politically accountable parties. .

1577. 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. .

1578. GDA-8210 Congress should require HHS to prioritize the electronic collection and dissemination of robust, privacy-protected data that better leverages existing systems while reducing burdens on clinicians. .

1579. GDA-8211 HHS should also enter into a public-private partnership with a data-management expert to develop a system that makes critical information available to health care workers and policymakers in real time.8 The CDC operates several programs related to vaccine safety including the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS); Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD); and Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment (CISA) Project. .

1580. GDA-8212 Those functions and their associated funding should be transferred to the FDA, which is responsible for post-market surveillance and evaluation of all other drugs and biological products. .

1581. GDA-8214 The CDC should eliminate programs and projects that do not respect human life and conscience rights and that undermine family formation. .

1582. GDA-8215 It should ensure that it is not promoting abortion as health care. .

1583. GDA-8216 It should fund studies into the risks and complications of abortion and ensure that it corrects and does not promote misinformation regarding the comparative health and psychological benefits of childbirth versus the health and psychological risks of intentionally taking a human life through abortion. .

1584. GDA-8220 All such research should be prohibited as a matter of law and policy. .

1585. GDA-8221 CDC should update its public messaging about the unsurpassed effectiveness of modern fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) of family planning and stop publishing communications that conflate such methods with the long-eclipsed "rhythm"� or "calendar"� methods. .

1586. GDA-8222 CDC should fund studies exploring the evidence- based methods used in cutting-edge fertility awareness. .

1587. GDA-8227 Because liberal states have now become sanctuaries for abortion tourism, HHS should use every available tool, including the cutting of funds, to ensure that every state reports exactly how many abortions take place within its borders, at what gestational age of the child, for what reason, the mother's state of residence, and by what method. .

1588. GDA-8228 It should also ensure that statistics are separated by category: spontaneous miscarriage; treatments that incidentally result in the death of a child (such as chemotherapy); stillbirths; and induced abortion. .

1589. GDA-8229 In addition, CDC should require monitoring and reporting for complications due to abortion and every instance of children being born alive after an abortion. .

1590. GDA-8230 Moreover, abortion should be clearly defined as only those procedures that intentionally end an unborn child's life. .

1591. GDA-8231 Miscarriage management or standard ectopic pregnancy treatments should never be conflated with abortion. .

1592. GDA-8232 Comparisons between live births and abortion should be tracked across various demographic indicators to assess whether certain populations are targeted by abortion providers and whether better prenatal physical, mental, and social care improves infant outcomes and decreases abortion rates, especially among those who are most vulnerable. .

1593. GDA-8234 The CDC should immediately end its collection of data on gender identity, which legitimizes the unscientific notion that men can become women (and vice versa) and encourages the phenomenon of ever-multiplying subjective identities. .

1594. GDA-8240 Specifically, the FDA should prohibit pharmaceutical companies from purposely sitting on their legally available right to be the first to sell generic versions of their drugs. .

1595. GDA-8241 Additionally, Congress should create legal remedies for generic companies to obtain samples of brand-name products for their generic development efforts and should prohibit meritless "citizen petitions"� submitted by manufacturers to delay approval of a generic competitor.10 Approval Process for Laboratory-Developed or Modified Medical Tests. .

1596. 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. .

1597. 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. .

1598. 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). .

1599. GDA-8250 HHS and the FDA should encourage more dependable generic drug manufacturing. .

1600. GDA-8251 The FDA should expand its current pass/fail approach to drug facility inspections into a graded system that recognizes manufacturers that exceed minimum standards by investing in improving production reliability. .

1601. GDA-8252 The FDA should also add facility codes to drug packaging and construct a searchable database that cross-references product codes and facility codes. .

1602. GDA-8254 For its part, HHS should exempt multi-source generic drugs from requirements to pay rebates to Medicaid and other federally funded health programs, as those provisions penalize new investments in expanding manufacturing capacity when supply is unable to meet demand.15 Additionally, FDA and NIH should promote efficacy trials of new applications for generic drugs, which might include NIH funding such trials or conducting its own. .

1603. GDA-8267 FDA should therefore: l Reverse its approval of chemical abortion drugs because the politicized approval process was illegal from the start. .

1604. 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. .

1605. GDA-8272 As an interim step, the FDA should immediately restore the REMS by removing the in-person dispensing requirement to eliminate dangerous tele-abortion and abortion-by-mail distribution. .

1606. GDA-8275 The FDA should therefore: l Reinstate earlier safety protocols for Mifeprex that were mostly eliminated in 2016 and apply these protocols to any generic version of mifepristone. .

1607. GDA-8278 The Administration and policymakers should ensure that health care workers, particularly those in hospitals and emergency rooms, report abortion pill complications. .

1608. GDA-8280 Submitting an adverse event to the database should be a quick and efficient process for busy health care practitioners. .

1609. GDA-8283 The FDA should respond to congressional requests and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests about inspections, compliance, and post-marketing safety in a timely manner. .

1610. GDA-8290 The FDA should restore the waiver to comply with RFRA and for the obvious public health benefits of increased childhood vaccination by families seeking ethically derived alternatives. .

1611. GDA-8291 To avoid future moral coercion of the sort experienced with the COVID-19 vaccines, the FDA and NIH should require the development of drugs and biologics that are free from moral taint and switch to cell lines that are not derived from aborted fetal cell lines or aborted baby body parts. .

1612. GDA-8294 The FDA should impose a lengthy cooling off period for reviewers, preventing them from working for companies they regulated. .

1613. GDA-8298 The FDA or Congress should regulate where and how paid advertising is used by pharmaceutical companies more stringently, especially on media outlets. .

1614. GDA-8303 Research using human embryonic stem cells also involves the destruction of human life and should not be subsidized with taxpayer dollars. .

1615. GDA-8308 HHS should: l Promptly restore the ethics advisory committee to oversee abortion- derived fetal tissue research, and Congress should prohibit such research altogether. .

1616. GDA-8309 l End intramural research projects using tissue from aborted children within the NIH, which should end its human embryonic stem cell registry. .

1617. GDA-8311 In addition, the Administration should reconvene a new National Council on Bioethics (NCB) to discuss new and emerging areas of ethical concern, to assess whether the ends justify the means when it comes to the promise of therapies and cures, and to establish what limiting principles should guide research and health policy. .

1618. GDA-8312 Because the male-female dyad is essential to human nature and because every child has a right to a mother and father, three-parent embryo creation and human cloning research should be banned. .

1619. GDA-8313 A new NCB should convene leading experts to examine these issues and provide policy recommendations for the new frontier of bioethical questions that our country will have to address in the coming years. .

1620. GDA-8314 Finally, HHS should create and promote a research agenda that supports pro- life policies and explores the harms, both mental and physical, that abortion has wrought on women and girls. .

1621. GDA-8321 Funding for scientific research should not be controlled by a small group of highly paid and unaccountable insiders at the NIH, many of whom stay in power for decades. .

1622. GDA-8322 The NIH monopoly on directing research should be broken. .

1623. GDA-8323 Term limits should be imposed on top career leaders at the NIH, and Congress should consider block granting NIH's grants budget to states to fund their own scientific research. .

1624. GDA-8327 Private donations to these foundations --- a majority of them from pharmaceutical companies --- should not be permitted to influence government decisions about research funding or public health policy. .

1625. GDA-8330 This quota practice should be ended, and the NIH Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, which pushes such unlawful actions, should be abolished. .

1626. GDA-8332 Instead, it should fund studies into the short-term and long-term negative effects of cross- sex interventions, including "affirmation,"� puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries, and the likelihood of desistence if young people are given counseling that does not include medical or social interventions. .

1627. GDA-8335 Both programs should be managed so that the individuals enrolled are empowered to make decisions for themselves and have quality options with affordable prices driven by competition and innovation. .

1628. GDA-8336 Providers who participate should retain (or have restored) the freedom to practice medicine and take care of their patients according to their patients' unique needs. .

1629. GDA-8338 Medicare should be reformed according to four goals and principles: l Increase Medicare beneficiaries' control of their health care. .

1630. GDA-8343 Doctors must be free to focus on treating patients first, not entering codes on computers, and should not be tempted to change their medical judgment based on arbitrary or illogical reimbursement incentives. .

1631. 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. .

1632. GDA-8352 Additionally, regulations should advance site neutrality by eliminating the inpatient- only list and expanding the ambulatory surgical center covered procedures list. .

1633. GDA-8354 Whether a medical service is delivered in a physician's office, a clinic, or a hospital setting, the Medicare payment for that service should be the same. .

1634. GDA-8355 CMS should expand the application of site-neutral payment options to more settings. .

1635. GDA-8360 These restrictions should be removed so that physician-owned hospitals can compete with other hospitals in serving Medicare patients.25 l Encourage more direct competition between Medicare Advantage and private plans. .

1636. GDA-8372 Legislation reforming legacy (non-MA) Medicare should: l Base payments on the health status of the patient or intensity of the service rather than where the patient happens to receive that service. .

1637. GDA-8379 This "negotiation"� program should be repealed, and reforms in Part D that will have meaningful impact for seniors should be pursued. .

1638. GDA-8380 Other reforms should include eliminating the coverage gap in Part D, reducing the government share in the catastrophic tier, and requiring manufacturers to bear a larger share. .

1639. GDA-8381 Until the IRA is repealed, an Administration that is required to implement it must do so in a way that is prudent with its authority, minimizing the harmful effects of the law's policies and avoiding even worse unintended consequences.30 Medicaid. .

1640. GDA-8384 The dramatic increase in Medicaid expenditures is due in large part to the ACA (Obamacare), which mandates that states must expand their Medicaid eligibility standards to include all individuals at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL), and the public health emergency, which has prohibited states from performing basic eligibility reviews. .

1641. GDA-8392 All components of the health care system should be part of the reform efforts, and it is imperative that the system be modified to assist states with their current programs. .

1642. GDA-8393 Therefore, the next Administration should: l Reform financing. .

1643. GDA-8395 This system should include a more balanced or blended match rate, block grants, aggregate caps, or per capita caps. .

1644. GDA-8396 Any financial system should be designed to encourage and incentivize innovation and the efficient delivery of health care services. .

1645. GDA-8397 Federal and state financial participation in the Medicaid program should be rational, predictable, and reasonable. .

1646. GDA-8398 It should also incentivize states to save money and improve the quality of health care. .

1647. GDA-8401 CMS should: 1. .

1648. GDA-8405 4. Restructure basic financing and put the program on a more fiscally predictable budget (which should include reform of Disproportionate Share Hospital payments to hospitals).31 l Strengthen program integrity. .

1649. GDA-8409 An enhanced contingency fee should be paid to states that successfully increase their efforts to decrease waste, fraud, and abuse. .

1650. GDA-8410 The current system's IT development 90/10 matching rate should be allowed for improvements in states' current fraud and abuse and eligibility systems. .

1651. GDA-8411 Innovative programs that show a positive return on investment for both the state and federal governments should be allowed without the onerous waiver process. .

1652. GDA-8414 To this end, CMS should: a. .

1653. GDA-8419 CMS should allow states to ensure that Medicaid recipients have a stake in their personal health care and a say in decisions related to the Medicaid program. .

1654. GDA-8420 Personal responsibility and consumer choice for Medicaid recipients must go together as standard components of the safety net, especially for able-bodied recipients. .

1655. 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. .

1656. GDA-8423 Because Medicaid serves a broad and diverse group of individuals, it should be flexible enough to accommodate different designs for different groups. .

1657. GDA-8424 For example, CMS should launch a robust "personal option"� to allow families to use Medicaid dollars to secure coverage outside of the Medicaid program. .

1658. GDA-8425 CMS should also: 1. .

1659. GDA-8428 Congress should allow states the option of contributing to a private insurance benefit for all members of the family in a flexible account that rewards healthy behaviors. .

1660. GDA-8429 This reform should also allow catastrophic coverage combined with an account similar to a health savings account (HSA) for the direct purchase of health care and payment of cost sharing for most of the population. .

1661. GDA-8431 CMS should add flexibility to eliminate obsolete mandatory and optional benefit requirements and, for able-bodied recipients, eliminate benefit mandates that exceed those in the private market. .

1662. GDA-8432 This should include flexibility to redesign eligibility, financing, and service delivery of long-term care to serve the most vulnerable and truly needy and eliminate middle-income to upper- income Medicaid recipients. .

1663. GDA-8434 CMS should allow providers to make payment reforms without cumbersome waivers or state plan amendment processes where possible. .

1664. GDA-8435 More broadly, the federal government's role should be oversight on broad indicators like cost effectiveness and health measures like quality, health improvement, and wellness and should give the balance of responsibility for Medicaid program management to states. .

1665. GDA-8441 Changes should clarify that DPC's fixed fee for care does not constitute insurance in the context of health savings accounts.36 l Revisit the No Surprises Act on surprise medical billing. .

1666. GDA-8444 The No Surprises Act should scrap the dispute resolution process in favor of a truth-in-advertising approach that will protect consumers and free doctors, insurers, and arbiters from confused and conflicting standards for resolving disputes that the disputing parties can best resolve themselves.38 l Facilitate the development of shared savings and reference pricing plan options. .

1667. GDA-8446 Barriers to rewarding patients for cost-saving decisions should be removed. .

1668. GDA-8447 CMS should ensure that shared savings and reference pricing models that reward consumers are permitted. .

1669. 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. .

1670. GDA-8451 In 2020, CMS completed its rule to require hospitals to post the prices of common hospital procedures.40 Future updates of these rules should focus on including quality measures. .

1671. GDA-8455 Congress should build on the Trump Administration's efforts to expand choices for small businesses and workers, both in and out of the exchanges, by codifying an expansion of association health plans, short-term health plans, and health reimbursement arrangements (including individual coverage HRAs). .

1672. GDA-8456 CCIIO should also work with the Treasury Department and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to give consumers more flexibility with their health care dollars through expanded access to health savings accounts. .

1673. GDA-8462 CMS should similarly revise CLIA rules regarding scope of practice for clinical laboratories and testing personnel.42 l Create CLIA-certification-equivalent pathways for non-clinical laboratories and researchers. .

1674. GDA-8465 To accomplish this, CMS should create pathways for granting non-clinical laboratories and their testing personnel CLIA certification equivalency. .

1675. GDA-8467 CMS should build on that existing framework so that those laboratories and personnel can similarly demonstrate their clinical testing capabilities.43 LIFE, CONSCIENCE, AND BODILY INTEGRITY l Prohibit abortion travel funding. .

1676. GDA-8471 Two of the first actions of a pro-life Administration should be for HHS to withdraw the Medicaid guidance (and any Section 1115 waivers issued thereunder) and for DOJ OLC to withdraw and disavow its interpretation of the Hyde Amendment. .

1677. 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. .

1678. GDA-8476 HHS should take two actions to limit this funding: 1. .

1679. 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. .

1680. GDA-8480 CMS should resolve pending Section 1115 waivers from Idaho, South Carolina, and Tennessee, which, like Texas in January 2022, are seeking both to prohibit abortion providers from participating in state-run Medicaid programs and to work with other states to do the same. .

1681. GDA-8481 Abortion is not health care, and states should be free to devise and implement programs that prioritize qualified providers that are not entangled with the abortion industry. .

1682. GDA-8486 HHS/CMS should withdraw appropriated funding, up to and including 10 percent of Medicaid funds, from states that require abortion insurance coverage. .

1683. GDA-8487 DOJ should commit to litigating the defense of those funding decisions promptly to the Supreme Court in order to maximize HHS's ability to withdraw funds from entities that violate the Weldon Amendment. .

1684. GDA-8490 The violation should likewise face the penalties discussed above. .

1685. GDA-8495 "Separate"� does not mean "together."� HHS should reinstate a Trump Administration regulation and enforce what the plain text of Section 1303 requires. .

1686. GDA-8496 That regulation should be further improved by requiring CMS to ensure that consumers pay truly separate charges for abortion coverage. .

1687. GDA-8498 HHS should undertake a full audit to determine compliance or noncompliance with the Hyde amendment and similar funding restrictions in HHS programs. .

1688. GDA-8499 This audit should include a full review of the Biden Administration's post-Dobbs executive actions to promote abortion. .

1689. GDA-8500 It should also encompass a review of Medicaid managed care plans in pro-abortion states. .

1690. GDA-8505 In July 2022, HHS/CMS released guidance mandating that EMTALA- covered hospitals and the physicians who work there must perform abortions, to include completing chemical abortions even when the child might still be alive. .

1691. GDA-8509 HHS should rescind the guidance and end CMS and state agency investigations into cases of alleged refusals to perform abortions. .

1692. GDA-8510 DOJ should agree to eliminate existing injunctions against pro-life states, withdraw its enforcement lawsuits, and in lawsuits against CMS on the guidance agree to injunctions against CMS and withdraw appeals of injunctions. .

1693. GDA-8512 CMS should repromulgate its 2016 decision that CMS could not issue a National Coverage Determination (NCD) regarding "gender reassignment surgery"� for Medicare beneficiaries. .

1694. GDA-8513 In doing so, CMS should acknowledge the growing body of evidence that such interventions are dangerous and acknowledge that there is insufficient scientific evidence to support such coverage in state plans. .

1695. GDA-8516 HHS should use EMTALA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act,53 which prohibits disability discrimination, to investigate instances of infants born alive and left untreated in covered hospitals. .

1696. GDA-8517 CMS, OCR, and OIG should be required to follow through on these investigations with specific enforcement actions. .

1697. 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. .

1698. GDA-8519 In addition, Congress should pass the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act55 to require that proper medical care be given to infants who survive an abortion and to establish criminal consequences for practitioners who fail to provide such care. .

1699. GDA-8526 The redefinition of sex to cover gender identity and sexual orientation and pregnancy to cover abortion should be reversed in all HHS and CMS programs as was done under the Trump Administration. .

1700. GDA-8528 Low-income families who rely on CHIP should not be coerced, pressured, or otherwise encouraged to embrace this ideologically motivated sexualization of their children. .

1701. 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. .

1702. GDA-8534 CMS should: l Announce nonenforcement of the Biden Administration's COVID-19 vaccination mandate on Medicaid and Medicare hospitals. .

1703. GDA-8550 The tenets of this rule should be applied to the TANF program as well. .

1704. GDA-8552 To increase transparency, HHS should clarify how states, in their quarterly and annual reports, ought to track and audit the outcomes from how they spend TANF funds to meet the TANF program's four statutory purposes. .

1705. GDA-8555 CMS should require explicit measurement of these goals. .

1706. GDA-8558 Both programs should ensure that there is better reporting of subgrantees and referral lists so that they do not promote abortion or high-risk sexual behavior among adolescents. .

1707. GDA-8559 CMS should ensure that Sexual Risk Avoidance (SRA) proponents receive these grants and are given every opportunity to prove their effectiveness. .

1708. GDA-8560 SRA programs, both at ACF and at OASH and both discretionary and mandatory, should be equal in funding and emphasis. .

1709. GDA-8561 Qualitative research should be conducted on both types of programs to ensure continuous improvement. .

1710. GDA-8562 In addition, certain provisions should be employed so that these programs do not serve as advocacy tools to promote sex, promote prostitution, or provide a funnel effect for abortion facilities and school field trips to clinics, or for similar purposes. .

1711. GDA-8563 Parent involvement and parent-child communication should be encouraged and be a part of any funded project. .

1712. GDA-8564 Risk avoidance should be prioritized, and any program that submits a proposal that promotes risk rather than health should not be eligible for funding. .

1713. GDA-8565 Site visits should be revamped to ensure adherence to these optimal health metrics, and a cost analysis of programming as compared to students served should be a metric in funding (taking into account that in certain cases, intensive programs will serve fewer students and can have more positive results). .

1714. GDA-8566 These same parameters should apply to sex education programs at ACF. .

1715. 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. .

1716. GDA-8569 HHS should create a list of criteria for evaluating the sort of curriculum that should be selected for any sex education grant programs, both at OASH and at ACF, with the aim of promoting optimal health and adhering to the legislative language of each program. .

1717. GDA-8572 Unfortunately, many of the faith- based adoption agencies that serve these children are under threat from lawsuits, or else their licenses and contracts have been halted because they cannot in good conscience place children in every household due to their religious belief that a child should have a married mother and father. .

1718. 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. .

1719. GDA-8574 ACF and OCR should also survey their programs to consider whether additional waivers of HHS grant conditions --- waivers the Biden Administration revoked in 2021 --- are needed for faith-based agencies. .

1720. GDA-8575 Additionally, Congress should pass the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act62 to ensure that providers and organizations cannot be subjected to discrimination for providing adoption and foster care services based on their beliefs about marriage. .

1721. GDA-8577 The Office of Refugee Resettlement should be moved to the Department of Homeland Security. .

1722. GDA-8584 Congress should reform the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act63 to transfer all ORR duties for unaccompanied alien children to DHS and eliminate the Flores settlement agreement.64 Regardless of where ORR's functions reside, ORR staff and care providers should never be allowed to facilitate abortions for unaccompanied children in its custody, including by transporting minors across state lines from pro-life states to abortion-friendly states. .

1723. GDA-8585 Pregnant, unaccompanied girls in ORR custody should be treated with dignity, not trafficked across state lines to be victimized by the abortion industry. .

1724. GDA-8586 ORR should withdraw its policy of allowing elective abortions for children in ORR care and issue a new policy of instructing care providers not to allow girls to be transported for elective abortions. .

1725. GDA-8587 HHS OGC and the White House should insist that DOJ fight to defend that policy up to the U.S. .

1726. GDA-8594 Child support in the United States should strengthen marriage as the norm, restore broken homes, and encourage unmarried couples to commit to marriage. .

1727. 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. .

1728. GDA-8607 Each state should be induced to implement a high-tech, easy-to-use application to centralize child support payments. .

1729. GDA-8615 The following policies should be implemented. .

1730. GDA-8619 Congress should adopt the following recommendation from a report issued by members of Congress's Joint Economic Committee: Children are far more likely to experience abuse when they are raised outside of their married-parent family. .

1731. GDA-8623 States should consider using some of their Title IV-B funding for providing healthy marriage and relationship education for families at risk of having their children placed in foster care.65 l Provide educational information on healthy marriage and relationships at Title X family planning clinics. .

1732. GDA-8624 HHS should require clinics it funds under Title X (family planning) to provide information to customers about the importance of marriage to family and personal well-being and refer them to available federal, state, and nonprofit marriage resources. .

1733. GDA-8627 Recent assessments have shown increasing effectiveness and positive community- level marital outcomes.66 The HMRE program should receive a fair and realistic assessment. .

1734. GDA-8628 Additionally, the positive role of faith-based programs should be protected and prioritized so that these programs do not receive undue scrutiny or pressure to conform to nonreligious definitions of marriage and family as put forward by the recently enacted Respect for Marriage Act.67 l Protect faith-based grant recipients from religious liberty violations and maintain a biblically based, social science-reinforced definition of marriage and family. .

1735. GDA-8630 For the sake of child well-being, programs should affirm that children require and deserve both the love and nurturing of a mother and the play and protection of a father. .

1736. GDA-8631 Despite recent congressional bills like the Respect for Marriage Act that redefine marriage to be the union between any two individuals, HMRE program grants should be available to faith- based recipients who affirm that marriage is between not just any two adults, but one man and one unrelated woman. .

1737. GDA-8638 Similar to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's 2022 fatherhood bill, HMRF funds should be used to support national messaging campaigns that affirm the role fathers play in the lives of their children, that recognize the financial hardships the fathers themselves face, and that seek to provide relationship education to fathers who were raised without a father in the home. .

1738. GDA-8640 Grant allocations should protect and prioritize faith-based programs that incorporate local churches and mentorship programs or increase social capital through multilayered community support (including, for example, job training and social events). .

1739. GDA-8641 Programs should affirm and teach fathers based on a biological and sociological understanding of what it means to be a father --- not a gender- neutral parent --- from social science, psychology, personal testimonies, etc. .

1740. GDA-8645 At the same time, in cases where the father or mother does not make a sincere or serious effort to be involved in the child's upbringing, termination of parental rights for children in foster care should be swift. .

1741. GDA-8648 With a budget of more than $11 billion, the program should function to protect and educate minors. .

1742. GDA-8651 Given its unaddressed crisis of rampant abuse and lack of positive outcomes, this program should be eliminated along with the entire OHS. .

1743. GDA-8652 At the very least, the program's COVID-19 vaccine and mask requirements should be rescinded. .

1744. GDA-8656 Instead of embracing PAS, policymakers should focus on the benefits of palliative care, which works to improve a patient's quality of life by alleviating pain and other distressing symptoms of a serious illness. .

1745. GDA-8657 HHS ACL should survey their programs to ensure that they are supporting vulnerable persons of age or disability and are not facilitating or encouraging participation in PAS. .

1746. GDA-8659 While in theory the strategy aims to support family members with duties to care for older family members, the plan is overly focused on racial and "LGBTQ+ equity."� The strategy should be examined to establish an efficient plan to support caregivers and their families. .

1747. GDA-8660 There should also be a review of its COVID-19 policies. .

1748. GDA-8661 HEALTH RESOURCES AND SERVICES ADMINISTRATION (HRSA) l Congress should allow CMS to use the 340B data that HRSA collects rather than having CMS conduct its own survey, especially in view of the U.S. .

1749. GDA-8663 Becerra decision.69 The legislation should also create penalties for those who do not respond to HRSA's data collection. .

1750. 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. .

1751. GDA-8683 HRSA should be required to repromulgate any women's preventive services mandates through the notice and comment process that is compliant with the Administrative Procedures Act. .

1752. GDA-8685 HHS should rescind these contracts and establish an advisory committee that is compliant with the Federal Advisory Committee Act and has members that are committed to women's preventive services and are not pro-abortion ideologues. .

1753. GDA-8691 HRSA should promulgate regulations consistent with this order. .

1754. GDA-8692 HHS should more thoroughly ensure that fertility awareness-based methods of family planning are part of women's preventive services under the ACA. .

1755. GDA-8693 FABMs often involve costs for materials and supplies, and HHS should make clear that coverage of those items is also required. .

1756. GDA-8697 HRSA should not incorporate exclusively male contraceptive methods into guidelines that specify they encompass only women's services. .

1757. GDA-8701 HRSA should eliminate this potential abortifacient from the contraceptive mandate. .

1758. GDA-8703 HRSA should withdraw all guidance encouraging Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program service providers to provide controversial "gender transition"� procedures or "gender-affirming care,"� which cause irreversible physical and mental harm to those who receive them. .

1759. GDA-8705 HHS should ensure that training programs for medical professionals --- including doctors, nurses, and doulas --- are in full compliance with restrictions on abortion funding and conscience-protection laws. .

1760. GDA-8706 In addition, HHS should: 1. .

1761. GDA-8709 3. Communicate to medical schools that any abortion-related training must be on an opt-in rather than opt-out basis. .

1762. GDA-8716 Instead of providing universal day care, funding should go to parents either to offset the cost of staying home with a child or to pay for familial, in-home childcare. .

1763. GDA-8718 By partnering with new organizations like the Center on Child and Family Poverty, HRSA should provide resources and information on the importance of the mother-child relationship in child well-being. .

1764. GDA-8719 This should include relationship education curricula that equip mothers and caregivers to connect with and improve their understanding of their infants, toddlers, and young children. .

1765. GDA-8723 Doulas often use the power of touch and massage to reduce stress and anxiety during labor."�73 Given concerns about maternal mortality or postpartum depression that is worsened by poor birth experiences, doulas should be an active option for all women whether they are giving birth in a traditional hospital, through midwifery, or at home. .

1766. GDA-8724 Additionally, since most Doulas' services are not covered by traditional insurance programs, the Maternal and Child Health program should work to provide funding for low-income mothers. .

1767. GDA-8726 Reforms are needed to improve America's ability to deliver on its promises to these important populations and must take account of cultural preferences and lifestyles, limitations due to geography (such as challenging terrain), and limited Internet access. .

1768. GDA-8731 Patients in these populations should be empowered to rely on alternatives to IHS through better access to private health care providers. .

1769. GDA-8737 Both Congress and an Administration must continually keep in mind how health care policies uniquely affect these regions because their market trends and populations are different from those of more populous regions. .

1770. 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. .

1771. GDA-8743 The Secretary is the most accountable individual within HHS and, along with his or her immediate staff, should therefore be responsible for setting the policies that govern the department's operations instead of allowing the operational divisions to assume the leading role in policymaking, thereby diffusing responsibility. .

1772. GDA-8744 Practical reforms to enhance the Secretary's accountability should include the following: l Restrict HHS's ability to declare indefinite public health emergencies (PHEs). .

1773. GDA-8746 Congress should establish a set time frame for any PHE, placing on the Secretary the burden of proof as to why an extension of the PHE is necessary. .

1774. 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. .

1775. GDA-8752 The Office of the Secretary should eliminate the HHS Reproductive Healthcare Access Task Force and install a pro-life task force to ensure that all of the department's divisions seek to use their authority to promote the life and health of women and their unborn children. .

1776. GDA-8753 Additionally, HHS should return to being known as the Department of Life by explicitly rejecting the notion that abortion is health care and by restoring its mission statement under the Strategic Plan and elsewhere to include furthering the health and well-being of all Americans "from conception to natural death."� The next Administration should create a dedicated Special Representative for Domestic Women's Health. .

1777. GDA-8759 The Secretary's antidiscrimination policy statements should never conflate sex with gender identity or sexual orientation. .

1778. GDA-8760 Rather, the Secretary should proudly state that men and women are biological realities that are crucial to the advancement of life sciences and medical care and that married men and women are the ideal, natural family structure because all children have a right to be raised by the men and women who conceived them. .

1779. GDA-8769 The USPHS should be restructured to make it more like its sister uniformed services with a more streamlined chain of command and corresponding appropriations to ensure efficiency and clarity of mission. .

1780. GDA-8770 Its core mission should be refocused to emphasize prompt, responsive deployments that meet specific criteria and are less dependent on the various agencies to which the officers are assigned. .

1781. GDA-8771 Fulfillment of specific tasks should not be duplicated by non-uniformed civil servants and USPHS officers, and any roles that can be filled by civilians should be filled by them. .

1782. GDA-8772 The ASH and SG positions should be combined into one four-star position with the rank, responsibilities, and authority of the ASH retained but with the title of Surgeon General and some of the SG's communications responsibilities, which would include disseminating other HHS messages and sharing general medical advice without legal weight. .

1783. GDA-8773 The holder of this consolidated position, which should be filled by a health care provider, would be better positioned to ensure that the USPHS is properly focused and deployed. .

1784. GDA-8775 Congress should consider legislation that would require this office to take such actions or at least make such recommendations to the Secretary. .

1785. GDA-8777 The position previously known as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health should be combined with and have the title of Deputy Surgeon General and become a three-star position with operational control including financial and deployment decisions. .

1786. GDA-8778 The Director of the Headquarters should be responsible for implementing the decisions of the Deputy Surgeon General. .

1787. GDA-8780 In dealing with sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies, the OASH should focus on root-cause analysis with a focus on strengthening marriage and sexual risk avoidance. .

1788. GDA-8782 The OASH should withdraw all recommendations of and support for cross-sex medical interventions and "gender-affirming care."� Title X. .

1789. GDA-8783 The Title X family planning program should be reframed with a focus on better education around fertility awareness and holistic family planning and a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs that understands the program and is able to work within its legislative framework (ideally, an MD). .

1790. GDA-8784 In addition, the Office of Population Affairs should eliminate religious discrimination in grant selections and guarantee the right of conscience and religious freedom of health care workers and participants in the Title X program. .

1791. GDA-8788 HHS should rescind the Biden Administration's regulation and reinstate the Trump Administration regulation for the program. .

1792. 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. .

1793. GDA-8790 Congress should complement these efforts by passing legislation such as the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act,78 which would prohibit family planning grants from going to entities that perform abortions or provide funding to other entities that perform abortions. .

1794. GDA-8795 While this arrangement has some benefits because of FEMA's unique logistical capabilities, the arrangement should be reviewed --- especially considering the COVID-19 pandemic --- for improvements in efficiency according to expertise and available resources, reduced confusion for ASPR and among HHS agencies, and avoidance of duplicated efforts among agencies and personnel. .

1795. GDA-8797 The President should invoke the Defense Production Act,79 which is a form of temporary takeover of private enterprises, only in the gravest circumstances. .

1796. GDA-8798 The Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) should be reformed to consider the potential supply chain disruptions of pandemics or global conflicts. .

1797. GDA-8800 The SNS should clarify its mission as supplier of last resort to the federal government, state governments, or first responders and key medical staff and should not portray itself as serving the public as a whole. .

1798. GDA-8804 Internal processes should be reformed to streamline necessary legal determinations during crises, and general processes should be reviewed for efficiency. .

1799. GDA-8805 OGC should also: l Rescind its PREP Act liability memo. .

1800. GDA-8807 It should be rescinded as contrary to law. .

1801. GDA-8809 All OGC memos and Federal Register notices of organization or delegations of authority moving any OCR conscience and religious freedom enforcement to OGC, including RFRA, should be rescinded, and independent authority over these matters should be restored to OCR. .

1802. GDA-8815 OFFICE OF GLOBAL AFFAIRS (OGA) The Director of the Office of Global Affairs should have the title of Assistant Secretary so that he or she can adequately represent HHS and the Secretary and serve as the lead on global health diplomacy for the government. .

1803. GDA-8817 In addition: l All divisions that work on international health efforts should be responsive to requests and direction from the Assistant Secretary with coordination for all health diplomacy emanating from OGA. .

1804. GDA-8818 l OGA should have a clear and consistent voice for the Administration's pro-life and pro-family priorities in all international engagements. .

1805. GDA-8819 l OGA should hold oversight authority for implementation of the Mexico City policy throughout all divisions. .

1806. GDA-8820 l Every effort should be made to locate all OGA staff in the same building for better oversight and communication. .

1807. GDA-8821 l Health attachés in various global locations should be trained in the Administration's policies with clear expectations communicated and with accountability, including replacement, when their conduct and advocacy are contrary to Administration policies and programmatic priorities. .

1808. GDA-8826 Congress should pass the Conscience Protection Act so that victims can pursue redress through courts without having to depend exclusively on OCR. .

1809. GDA-8827 In addition: l OCR should return to Trump Administration policies that initiated robust enforcement of these conscience laws. .

1810. GDA-8828 It should restore and fully fund the Office of the Deputy Director for the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division (CRFD) and ensure that it has the necessary delegations from the Secretary to enforce these laws. .

1811. GDA-8829 The Secretary should give adequate delegations to OCR to pursue enforcement of conscience laws, including RFRA, and require all HHS components that provide funding or grants to cooperate with OCR CRFD investigations. .

1812. GDA-8830 The Secretary, the Deputy Secretary, and principals in other HHS divisions should endorse the remedial measures recommended by OCR CRFD and limit territorial objections and slow-down attempts by other divisional officials including OGC. .

1813. GDA-8831 HHS should withdraw funding from any violating entities that refuse to correct their behavior, and OCR CRFD should work with ASFR to ensure that all grant announcements and instruments inform grantees and applicants of their obligations to comply with federal health care conscience laws specifically as a condition of obtaining or maintaining their funding. .

1814. GDA-8832 l A draft OCR RFRA and religious freedom rule from the Trump Administration should be issued and finalized. .

1815. GDA-8834 l HHS should reestablish waivers for state and child welfare agencies for religious exemptions, especially for faith-based adoption and foster care agencies. .

1816. GDA-8835 It should also rescind subjective case-by-case evaluations for religious and faith-based organizations that request religious exemptions. .

1817. GDA-8837 The recommended waivers should be granted to all states and agencies that request them, and OCR memos finding that RFRA would be violated if the waivers are not granted should be restored. .

1818. GDA-8838 l HHS should restore OCR authority to review requests for and render opinions on the application of RFRA to requests for religious accommodation of people, families, and doctors who cannot in good conscience take or administer vaccines, including those made or tested with aborted fetal cell lines. .

1819. GDA-8839 l HHS should restore Section 1557, Section 504, and other OCR regulations and fix guidance documents. .

1820. 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. .

1821. GDA-8844 l OCR should return its enforcement of sex discrimination to the statutory framework of Section 1557 and Title IX. .

1822. GDA-8845 Specifically, it should: 1. .

1823. GDA-8848 DOJ should commit to defending these actions aggressively against inevitable court challenges, including under cases such as Heckler v. .

1824. GDA-8851 DOJ should agree to defend this rule to the Supreme Court if necessary. .

1825. GDA-8853 In particular, OCR should highlight its 2019 investigation and voluntary resolution agreement with Michigan State University based on the sexual abuse of gymnasts by Larry Nassar. .

1826. GDA-8854 OCR should also coordinate with the Department of Education on a public education and civil rights enforcement campaign to ensure that female college athletes who become pregnant are no longer pressured to obtain abortions; pursue race discrimination claims against entities that adopt or impose racially discriminatory policies such as those based on critical race theory; and announce its intention to enforce disability rights laws to protect children born prematurely, children with disabilities, and children born alive after abortions. .

1827. GDA-8856 l OCR should withdraw its pharmacy abortion mandate guidance. .

1828. GDA-8857 OCR should withdraw its "Obligations Under Federal Civil Rights Laws to Ensure Access to Comprehensive Reproductive Health Care Services"� guidance for retail pharmacies,85 which purports to address nondiscrimination obligations of pharmacies under federal civil rights laws and in fact orders them to stock and dispense first-trimester abortion drugs. .

1829. GDA-8860 l OCR should withdraw its Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)86 guidance on abortion. .

1830. GDA-8861 OCR should withdraw its June 2022 guidance87 that purports to address patient privacy concerns following the Dobbs decision but is actually a politicized statement in favor of abortion and against Dobbs. .

1831. GDA-8881 Haislmaier, "Lessons from COVID-19: How Policymakers Should Reform the Regulation of Clinical Testing,"� Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. .

1832. GDA-8883 heritage.org/public-health/report/lessons-covid-19-how-policymakers-should-reform-the-regulation-clinical. .

1833. GDA-8891 8. Joel White and Doug Badger, "In Order to Defeat COVID-19, the Federal Government Must Modernize Its Public Health Data,"� Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. .

1834. GDA-8899 11. Sluzala and Haislmaier, "Lessons From COVID-19: How Policymakers Should Reform the Regulation of Clinical Testing."� 12. .

1835. GDA-8904 14. Sluzala and Haislmaier, "Lessons From COVID-19: How Policymakers Should Reform the Regulation of Clinical Testing."� 15. .

1836. GDA-8959 38. Doug Badger, "On Surprise Medical Bills, Congress Should Side with Consumers, Not Special Interests,"� Heritage Foundation Commentary, January 31, 2020, https://www.heritage.org/health-care-reform/ commentary/surprise-medical-bills-congress-should-side-consumers-not-special. .

1837. GDA-8973 42. Sluzala and Haislmaier, "Lessons from COVID-19: How Policymakers Should Reform the Regulation of Clinical Testing."� 43. .

1838. GDA-9123 This effort should specifically include a broad reversal of the Biden Administration's persistent implementation of corrosive progressive ideologies across the department's programs. .

1839. 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. .

1840. GDA-9132 Each of the following offices should be headed by political appointees except where otherwise noted. .

1841. GDA-9169 FIRST-DAY AND FIRST-YEAR ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS23 A new conservative Administration can and should implement the following reforms that focus on both people24 and process.25 Implementation of these reforms simply requires courageous political leadership across all of HUD's key appointed positions. .

1842. GDA-9170 l HUD political leadership should immediately assign all delegated powers to politically appointed PDAS, DAS, and other office leadership positions; change any current career leadership positions into political and non-career appointment positions; and use Senior Executive Service (SES) transfers to install motivated and aligned leadership. .

1843. GDA-9171 l The President should issue an executive order making the HUD Secretary a member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which will gain broader oversight authorities to address foreign threats, particularly from China with oversight of foreign ownership of real estate in both rental and ownership markets of single-family and multifamily housing,26 with trillions worth of real estate secured across HUD's portfolio. .

1844. 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). .

1845. GDA-9173 Additionally, departmental leadership should: 1. .

1846. 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. .

1847. 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. .

1848. GDA-9180 Local welfare organizations, not the federal government, should step up to provide welfare for the housing of noncitizens. .

1849. 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. .

1850. 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. .

1851. 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. .

1852. GDA-9184 l FHA leadership should increase the mortgage insurance premium (MIP) for all products above 20-year terms and maintain MIP for all products below 20-year terms and all refinances. .

1853. GDA-9185 FHA should encourage wealth-building homeownership opportunities, which can be accomplished best through shorter-duration mortgages.39 Ideally, Congress would contemplate a fundamental revision of FHA's statutory restriction of single-family housing mortgage insurance to first-time homebuyers.40 This would include (with support from HUD leadership): 1. .

1854. GDA-9189 l Statutorily restricting eligibility for first-time homebuyers and abandoning the affirmative obligation authorities erected for the single-family housing programs across federal agencies and government-sponsored enterprises.41 l The HUD Secretary should move the HUD Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) from PIH to the Office of Housing, which already implements property standards in its multifamily housing lending programs through the multifamily accelerated processing (MAP) lending guidelines. .

1855. GDA-9190 Giving HUD the authority to streamline the enforcement of compliance with housing standards across the federal government and flexibility for physical inspections through private accreditation should also be considered. .

1856. GDA-9191 l HUD should maintain its requested budget authority for modernization initiatives that are applicable to the Office of the Chief Information Officer and program offices across the department. .

1857. GDA-9195 Also, the production mandate for HUD's housing portfolio has waned for decades with the department effectively working to maintain the public housing portfolio from the late 1990s when the Faircloth Amendment capped HUD's public housing portfolio.43 Longer-term reforms of HUD rental assistance programs should encourage choice and competition for renters, encourage participation by landlords where appropriate,44 and encourage all non-elderly, able-bodied adults to move toward self-sufficiency. .

1858. GDA-9198 The turn toward mobility vouchers constitutes an abandonment of America's public housing stock, and efforts to increase competition in the public housing market must not come at the expense of local autonomy and the ability of cities, towns, neighborhoods, and communities to choose for themselves the sort of housing they want to allow. .

1859. GDA-9199 Freedom of association and self-government at the most local level possible must remain primary considerations in any conservative effort to increase competition in the public housing market. .

1860. GDA-9200 Congress should also consider those areas in which federal policy negatively interacts with private markets, including when federal policy crowds out private- sector development and exacerbates affordability challenges that persist across the nation. .

1861. GDA-9202 In the same manner, Congress should prioritize any and all legislative support for the single-family home. .

1862. 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. .

1863. GDA-9208 Additionally, enhanced statutory authorities for local autonomy should extend to the prioritizing of federal rental assistance subsidies that emphasize choice and mobility in housing voucher subsidies over static, site-based subsidies and provide authority for maximal flexibility to direct PHA land sales that involve the existing stock of public housing units. .

1864. GDA-9209 Congress must consider the future of the public housing model. .

1865. GDA-9211 Any long-term view of HUD's future must include maintaining the strong financial operations and reliable reporting that are needed to run a $50 billion- per-year agency. .

1866. GDA-9259 "The URA establishes the minimum Federal requirements for the acquisition of real property for Federally-funded programs and projects, and for the relocation of persons who must move from their homes, businesses, or farms as a direct result of acquisition, rehabilitation, or demolition for a Federally- funded program or project."� U.S. .

1867. GDA-9303 23. Guiding questions: What immediate administrative reforms of HUD and its programs can be made with high probability of success? What short-term legislative reforms can be proposed that, in tandem with administrative reforms, would achieve the HUD vision/mission objective? What HUD offices should be eliminated and/or realigned to reduce any redundancy that may persist in programmatic functions? 24. .

1868. GDA-9304 Wholly aside from reforms that would require legislation, the next Administration must ensure that key political appointees are able to acquit themselves as change agents to execute administrative reforms. .

1869. 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. .

1870. GDA-9307 25. Process must prioritize where political leadership can implement administrative reforms through regulatory action and subregulatory guidance reforms. .

1871. GDA-9308 26. China and other foreign nations should not be able to disrupt our nation's housing markets, including by artificially driving up prices and reducing affordability and access to housing for Americans who are crowded out of the market by such market participation. .

1872. GDA-9310 28. At a minimum, these efforts duplicate what the federal government already collects and assesses; at worst, they institute arbitrary procedures in real estate appraisal practices that undermine integrity and perversely introduce arbitrary biases into what should be an unbiased system for determining financial value. .

1873. GDA-9324 In concept, the FHA's Home Equity Accelerator Loan (HEAL) and Good Neighbor Next Door (GNND) pilot initiatives might lead to meaningful wealth generation for first-time buyers, but they should be available to all eligible households only when they do not arbitrarily discriminate based on race or other characteristics. .

1874. GDA-9328 Federal housing policy should get out of the way where possible and minimize the distortive impact that stimulating greater demand through loose lending can have in driving up housing prices for households that are looking for affordable entry into the housing market. .

1875. GDA-9334 34. Reforms should contemplate rent payment flexibilities, allow escrow savings, and set maximum term limits that can reduce implicit penalties for increasing household incomes over eligibility terms for housing assistance and reweight waiting-list prioritization for two-parent households. .

1876. 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. .

1877. GDA-9344 Instead of the permanent supportive housing proffered by Housing First, a conservative Administration should shift to transitional housing with a focus on addressing the underlying issues that cause homelessness in the first place. .

1878. GDA-9354 42. Guiding questions: What reforms should be proposed that could be accomplished within five years? What reforms can be done administratively, and what reforms would need legislative authorization? Are there functions that HUD administers that could be achieved more effectively at another department or agency? What big-picture reforms should be proposed that might take more than five years that would reorganize HUD and its programs to meet the objectives in the vision or mission? What would occur in the absence of these public finance subsidies? How much crowd-out do these subsidies create in the market? Would America be a seriously underhoused nation without these subsidies? Who are the policies intended to benefit? What organizational changes must be made? 43. .

1879. GDA-9364 44. As the evolution of HUD rental assistance transitions away from the public housing model toward housing choice vouchers, there should be adequate landlord participation to ensure that the supply of housing units for rent in these programs meets the demand for rent among eligible tenants. .

1880. GDA-9388 Unfortunately, Biden's DOI is at war with the department's mission, not only when it comes to DOI's obligation to develop the vast oil and gas and coal resources for which it is responsible, but also as to its statutory mandate, for example, to manage much of federal land overseen by the BLM pursuant to "multiple use"� and "sustained yield"� principles.11 Instead, Biden's DOI believes most BLM land should be placed off-limits to all economic and most recreational uses. .

1881. 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. .

1882. GDA-9433 At the same time, the new Administration must: l Reinstate quarterly onshore lease sales in all producing states according to the model of BLM's IM 2018-034, with the slight adjustment of including expanded public notice and comment.31 The new Administration should work with Congress on legislation, such as the Lease Now Act32 and ONSHORE Act,33 to increase state participation and federal accountability for energy production on the federal estate. .

1883. GDA-9446 The new Administration should be able to draw on the enormous expertise of state agency personnel throughout the country who are capable and knowledgeable about land management and prove it daily. .

1884. GDA-9447 States are better resource managers than the federal government because they must live with the results. .

1885. GDA-9448 President Trump's Schedule F proposal44 regarding accountability in hiring must be reinstituted to bring success to these reforms. .

1886. GDA-9449 Consistent with the theme of bringing successful state resource management examples to the forefront of federal policy, DOI should also look for opportunities to broaden state-federal and tribal-federal cooperative agreements. .

1887. GDA-9495 It is not just effective and responsive management that has been lost; Colorado lost its chance to become a must-visit destination for BLM's stakeholders. .

1888. GDA-9516 They should report to a professional, expert, and knowledgeable chain of command. .

1889. GDA-9518 BLM's LEOs must keep in touch, work closely, and coordinate with fellow federal, state, and local law enforcement officers. .

1890. GDA-9536 Congress must enact laws permitting the BLM to dispose humanely of these animals. .

1891. GDA-9545 Those PLOs must be lifted to permit Alaska and Alaska Natives to select what was promised by Congress. .

1892. GDA-9547 This revocation should be a top priority. .

1893. GDA-9548 BLM recommended this revocation in the 2006 report to Congress based on the Alaska Land Transfer Acceleration Act, and the Interior Secretary has authority to revoke based on the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act under section d(1).58 All other remaining BLM PLOs --- all of which are more than 50 years old --- should be revoked immediately. .

1894. GDA-9552 A new Administration must take the following actions immediately: l Approve the 2020 National Petroleum Reserve Alaska Integrated Activity Plan (NPRA-IAP) by resigning the Record of Decision. .

1895. GDA-9556 Therefore, the new Administration must immediately approve the Ambler Road Project60 across BLM-managed lands, pursuant to the Secretary's authority under the ANILCA and based on the Final Environmental Impact Statement on the project.61 This will permit construction of a new 211-mile roadway on the south side of the Brooks Range, west from the Dalton Highway to the south bank of the Ambler River, and open the area only to mining-related industrial uses, providing high-paying jobs in an area known for unemployment. .

1896. GDA-9561 A new Administration should: l Revoke National Park Service and U.S. .

1897. GDA-9571 by 2030."�68 Although the new President should vacate that order, DOI under a conservative President must take immediate action on the 30 by 30 plan by vacating a secretarial order issued by the Biden DOI69 that eliminated the Trump Administration's requirement for the approval of state and local governments before federal acquisition of private property with monies from the Land and Water Conservation Fund.70 National Monument Designations. .

1898. GDA-9574 Although President Trump courageously ordered a review of national monument designations, the result of that review was insufficient in that only two national monuments in one state (Utah) were adjusted.72 Monuments in Maine and Oregon, for example, should have been adjusted downward given the finding of Secretary Ryan Zinke's review that they were improperly designated. .

1899. GDA-9576 Furthermore, the new Administration must vigorously defend the downward adjustments it makes to permit a ruling on a President's authority to reduce the size of national monuments by the U.S. .

1900. GDA-9578 Finally, the new Administration must seek repeal of the Antiquities Act of 1906, which permitted emergency action by a President long before the statutory authority existed for the protection of special federal lands, such as those with wild and scenic rivers, endangered specials, or other unique places. .

1901. 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. .

1902. GDA-9586 The Trump Administration adopted common-sense NEPA reform that must be restored immediately. .

1903. GDA-9587 Meanwhile, DOI should reinstate the secretarial orders adopted by the Trump Administration, such as placing time and page limits on NEPA documents and setting forth --- on page one --- the costs of the document itself. .

1904. GDA-9588 Meanwhile, the new Administration should call upon Congress to reform NEPA to meet its original goal. .

1905. GDA-9589 Consideration should be given, for example, to eliminating judicial review of the adequacy of NEPA documents or the rectitude of NEPA decisions. .

1906. GDA-9592 Interior Secretary David Bernhardt required DOI to prominently display and provide open access to any and all litigation settlements into which DOI or its agencies entered, and any attorneys' fees paid for ending the litigation.80 Biden's DOI, aware that the settlements into which it planned to enter and the attorneys' fees it was likely to pay would cause controversy, ended this policy.81 A new Administration should reinstate it. .

1907. GDA-9599 In the meantime, a new Administration should take the following immediate action: l Delist the grizzly bear in the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide Ecosystems and defend to the Supreme Court of the United States the agency's fact-based decision to do so.84 l Delist the gray wolf in the lower 48 states in light of its full recovery under the ESA.85 l Cede to western states jurisdiction over the greater sage-grouse, recognizing the on-the-ground expertise of states and preventing use of the sage-grouse to interfere with public access to public land and economic activity. .

1908. GDA-9606 The following actions should ensure OSM's ability to perform its mission while complying with SMCRA and without interfering with the production of high-quality American coal: l Relocate the OSM Reclamation and Enforcement headquarters to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to recognize that the agency is field-driven and should be headquartered in the coal field.90 l Reduce the number of field coal-reclamation inspectors to recognize the industry is smaller. .

1909. GDA-9612 Pursuant to an Executive Order signed by President Trump, and consistent with its authority along with other federal agencies, DOI's Bureau of Reclamation must take the following actions: l Develop additional storage capacity across the arid west, including by: 1. .

1910. GDA-9620 This should be done to foster opportunities for locally led investment in water infrastructure. .

1911. GDA-9634 The new Administration must take the following actions to fulfill the nation's trust responsibilities to American Indians and Indian nations: l End the war on fossil fuels and domestically available minerals and facilitate their development on lands owned by Indians and Indian nations. .

1912. GDA-9639 Finally, the new Administration should seek congressional reauthorization of the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations,96 which provided a $1.9 billion Trust Land Consolidation Fund to purchase fractional interests in trust or restricted land from willing sellers at fair market value, but which sunsets November 24, 2022. .

1913. GDA-9640 New funds should come from the Great American Outdoors Act.97 AUTHOR'S NOTE: The preparation of this chapter was a collective enterprise of individuals involved in the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. .

1914. GDA-9646 The author alone assumes responsibility for the content of this chapter; no views expressed herein should be attributed to any other individual. .

1915. 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. .

1916. GDA-9674 16. "You know what there's not is a shall for? 'I shall manage the land to stop climate change,' or something similar to that,"� Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt testified. .

1917. GDA-9675 "You guys come up with the shalls."� Chris D'Angelo, "Interior Secretary Blames Congress for His Inaction on Climate Change,"� High Country News, May 9, 2019. .

1918. GDA-9950 These actions stand in stark contrast to Attorney General Merrick Garland's assertion before taking office that "there [must] not be one rule for Democrats and another for Republicans, one rule for friends and another for foes."�18 While it is true, as it is with other federal departments and agencies, that there are committed career personnel across the department who perform their duties faithfully and with the best intentions, this small sampling of scandals illustrates that the DOJ has become a bloated bureaucracy with a critical core of personnel who are infatuated with the perpetuation of a radical liberal agenda and the defeat of perceived political enemies. .

1919. GDA-9953 Critically, this must include the FBI. .

1920. GDA-9960 This chapter features prominently the things the department must do to restore its focus on these functions. .

1921. GDA-9963 The Department of Justice --- in partnership with state and local partners --- must recommit in both word and deed to protecting public safety. .

1922. 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. .

1923. GDA-9976 To do so, the next conservative Administration should: l Conduct an immediate, comprehensive review of all major active FBI investigations and activities and terminate any that are unlawful or contrary to the national interest.30 This is an enormous task, but it is necessary to re-earn the American people's trust in the FBI and its work. .

1924. GDA-9977 To conduct this review, the department should detail attorney appointees with criminal, national security, or homeland security backgrounds to catalogue any questionable activities and elevate them to appropriate DOJ leadership consistent with the new chain of command (discussed below). .

1925. GDA-9978 The department should also consider issuing a public report of the findings from this review as appropriate. .

1926. GDA-9981 The next conservative Administration should direct the Attorney General to remove the FBI from the Deputy Attorney General's direct supervision within the department's organizational chart and instead place it under the general supervision of the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division and the supervision of the Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division, as applicable.32 This can be accomplished through a simple internal departmental reorganization and does not need to be approved by Congress. .

1927. GDA-9983 All notifications and approvals that currently run to the Deputy Attorney General or the Attorney General should be evaluated and redirected in the first instance, where appropriate, to the relevant Assistant Attorney General. .

1928. GDA-9984 Such a move would better align the FBI with the mission of the divisions with which it most often interacts and emphasize the need for the areas on which it should focus. .

1929. GDA-9985 In general, however, under no circumstances should the FBI ever be able to go around the Attorney General or the department's leadership on any matter within its area of responsibility. .

1930. GDA-9988 It must not look to or rely on the past decade as precedent or legitimization for continued action in certain spaces. .

1931. GDA-9995 But government must never manipulate the scales and censor information that is potentially harmful to it or its political leadership. .

1932. GDA-9997 The DOJ needs a hard firewall between its legitimate activities (monitoring online activity for potential threats in its mission space, looking at social media profiles for evidence of intent or other criminal activity, etc.) and those in which it must not engage (asking or demanding public forums or publishers to remove material based on the content and/or viewpoints expressed or itself censoring speech). .

1933. GDA-9999 The next conservative Administration should eliminate any offices within the FBI that it has the power to eliminate without any action from Congress.34 For example, few Americans know that the FBI maintains a core of approximately 300 attorneys within its Office of General Counsel, an office that has been involved in some of the FBI's most damaging recent scandals.35 These attorneys are not necessary to the functioning of the FBI in their current capacity. .

1934. GDA-10000 Legal advice should come from attorneys at the DOJ, whether those attorneys are within the Criminal Division, the National Security Division, the Justice Management Division, or the Office of Legal Counsel. .

1935. GDA-10004 While the FBI has essential headquarters functions that must be fulfilled and should likely be fulfilled by a team in Washington, D.C., the next conservative Administration should make a priority of deploying, funding, and rewarding the work of the field offices to the greatest extent possible. .

1936. GDA-10005 The Department of Justice must value badges over bureaucracy, must rethink its internal reporting structures, and should aim to realign the FBI's resources accordingly. .

1937. GDA-10009 The Director of the FBI must remain politically accountable to the President in the same manner as the head of any other federal department or agency. .

1938. GDA-10010 To ensure prompt political accountability and to rein in perceived or actual abuses, the next conservative Administration should seek a legislative change to align the FBI Director's position with those of the heads of all other major departments and agencies. .

1939. GDA-10012 The department's leadership must make actually reducing violent crime a priority across the United States --- and it must do so in partnership with state and local officials in a manner that is tailored to the needs and conditions in those states and localities. .

1940. GDA-10014 The next conservative Administration must ensure that the Department of Justice devotes significant effort to reducing violent crime nationwide. .

1941. GDA-10015 The Attorney General should require all U.S. .

1942. GDA-10017 Then the Attorney General should hold each U.S. .

1943. 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. .

1944. GDA-10025 While the prosecution of criminal offenses in most jurisdictions across the country must remain the responsibility of state and local governments, the federal government owes a special responsibility to Americans in jurisdictions where state and local prosecutors have abdicated this duty.40 Jurisdictions suffering from deficiencies in the rule of law warrant, as appropriate within our federal system, greater attention and additional federal resources that are sufficient to protect the rights of American citizens and federal interests. .

1945. GDA-10027 Attorneys, should therefore: l Use applicable federal laws to bring federal charges against criminals when local jurisdictions wrongfully allow them to evade responsibility for their conduct.41 The department should also increase the federal law enforcement presence in such jurisdictions and explore innovative solutions to bring meaningful charges against criminals and criminal organizations in such jurisdictions. .

1946. GDA-10034 At the same time, the DOJ must ensure that its line attorneys are consistently using the tools at their disposal in cases with violent offenders, including pursuing mandatory minimum sentences under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA).43 The department should also support legislative efforts to provide further tools, such as the Restoring the Armed Career Criminal Act, which Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) introduced in 2021 in response to U.S. .

1947. GDA-10036 Capital punishment is a sensitive matter, as it should be, but the current crime wave makes deterrence vital at the federal, state, and local levels. .

1948. GDA-10038 The next conservative Administration should therefore do everything possible to obtain finality for the 44 prisoners currently on federal death row. .

1949. GDA-10039 It should also pursue the death penalty for applicable crimes --- particularly heinous crimes involving violence and sexual abuse of children --- until Congress says otherwise through legislation.45 DISMANTLING DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL ENTERPRISES Criminal organizations are as old as crime itself, but are more extensive, sophisticated, and dangerous today than at any other point in history. .

1950. GDA-10041 The department's primary directive under the next Administration should be to return to an unapologetic focus on dismantling these criminal organizations and incarcerating their membership. .

1951. GDA-10042 Once this reprioritization occurs, the department's political leadership should take concrete steps to use agency reach and resources to prevent these criminal organizations from operating and surviving. .

1952. GDA-10046 For example, the department should: 1. .

1953. GDA-10056 In addition to finalizing the southwestern land border wall, the next Administration should take a creative and aggressive approach to tackling these dangerous criminal organizations at the border. .

1954. GDA-10061 More than 100,000 Americans died in a one-year period from opioid overdoses, and many of them died specifically from having used fentanyl.50 The federal government should treat this problem as aggressively as necessary. .

1955. 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. .

1956. GDA-10068 The next conservative Administration should therefore: l Restart the China Initiative. .

1957. GDA-10072 Restoration of the department's values of independence, impartiality, honesty, integrity, respect, and excellence must serve as first principles for its efforts on all fronts. .

1958. GDA-10073 Concretely, the DOJ must identify and address all individuals, policies, and directives that have fueled the destruction of these core values and the American people's loss of trust in the department and its officials. .

1959. GDA-10081 Kennedy building on January 20, 2025, the next Administration should: l Conduct a thorough review of all publicly available policies, investigations, and cases. .

1960. GDA-10090 The department should make every effort to uphold equal protection of the law and avoid politically motivated and viewpoint-based prosecutions. .

1961. GDA-10091 Specifically, it should: l Ensure that its review extends beyond ending the absurd double standards embodied in the ongoing campaign of FACE Act prosecutions and instead be a thorough and holistic review of all DOJ activities, including all consent degrees and settlement agreements currently in force. .

1962. GDA-10100 Thus, and putting aside criminal prosecutions that can warrant different treatment, litigation decisions must be made consistent with the President's agenda. .

1963. GDA-10102 Ultimately, the department will have to make tough calls as it manages its litigation, but those calls must always be consistent with the President's policy agenda and the rule of law. .

1964. GDA-10103 A line attorney should never either directly or indirectly pursue a policy agenda through litigation that is inconsistent with the agenda of his or her client agency or the President. .

1965. GDA-10104 The department should also be cognizant of any attempts to slow litigation and outlast the Administration to avoid finality. .

1966. GDA-10105 The next conservative Administration should therefore: l Issue guidance to ensure that litigation decisions are consistent with the President's agenda and the rule of law. .

1967. 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. .

1968. GDA-10117 The next conservative Administration should formally take the position that Humphrey's Executor violates the Constitution's separation of powers. .

1969. GDA-10119 The next conservative Administration must ensure that the DOJ zealously guards the constitutional rights of all Americans in all that it does. .

1970. GDA-10121 The department should reject any invitation to limit these fundamental promises based on the political ideology of the speech at issue. .

1971. GDA-10130 In that case, the United States acknowledged "a basic First Amendment principle that 'freedom of speech prohibits the government from telling people what they must say.'"�66 The department had it right when it argued that the government may not "compel the dissemination of its own preferred message,"� because the First Amendment protects the "individual freedom of mind."�67 It was also correct when it argued that "[a]n artist cannot be forced to paint, a musician cannot be forced to play, and a poet cannot be forced to write."�68 The United States' directly contrary position in 303 Creative is hard to explain based on anything other than its support for the message the State of Colorado was attempting to compel. .

1972. 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. .

1973. GDA-10134 Even though numerous federal laws prohibit discrimination based on notable immutable characteristics such as race and sex,73 the Biden Administration --- through the DOJ's Civil Rights Division and other federal entities --- has enshrined affirmative discrimination in all aspects of its operations under the guise of "equity."� Federal agencies and their components have established so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices that have become the vehicles for this unlawful discrimination, and all departments and agencies have created "equity"� plans to carry out these invidious schemes.74 To reverse this trend, the next conservative Administration should: l Ensure that the DOJ spearheads an initiative demonstrating the federal government's commitment to nondiscrimination. .

1974. 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. .

1975. GDA-10139 The Attorney General and other DOJ political leadership should provide the resources and moral support needed for these efforts. .

1976. 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. .

1977. GDA-10144 The Department of Justice in the next conservative Administration should therefore announce its intent to enforce federal law against providers and distributors of such pills. .

1978. GDA-10146 The Attorney General in the next conservative Administration should reassign responsibility for prosecuting violations of 18 U.S. .

1979. GDA-10158 Code § 241 investigations.80 The Criminal Division has accordingly advised states that "[i]n the case of a crime of violence or intimidation,"� they should "call 911 immediately and before contacting federal authorities"� because "[s]tate and local police have primary jurisdiction over polling places,"�81 despite clearly applicable federal law. .

1980. GDA-10167 Act 12 requires, as part of the mail-in application process, an affidavit that: [The elector] shall not be eligible to vote at a polling place on election day unless the elector brings the elector's mail-in ballot to the elector's polling place, remits the ballot and the envelope containing the declaration of the elector to the judge of elections to be spoiled and signs a statement subject to the penalties under 18 Pa.C.S. .

1981. GDA-10168 § 4904 (relating to unsworn falsification to authorities) to the same effect.84 The law in Pennsylvania clearly states that no county may affirmatively provide provisional ballots: The mail-in voter must vote in person and sign a new affidavit. .

1982. GDA-10170 Thus, unlike in-person voters, mail-in or absentee voters are not provided any opportunity to cure perceived defects in a timely manner."� 85 Given the Pennsylvania Secretary of State's use of guidance to circumvent state law, the Pennsylvania Secretary of State should have been (and still should be) investigated and prosecuted for potential violations of 18 U.S. .

1983. 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. .

1984. 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. .

1985. GDA-10199 To receive grant funding, a recipient must agree to certain conditions, which in many instances include the President's priorities. .

1986. 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. .

1987. GDA-10211 The DOJ and its leadership must intentionally prioritize fulfillment of the department's immigration-related responsibilities in the next conservative Administration. .

1988. GDA-10213 If they hope to fulfill their responsibilities as assigned by Congress and deliver results for the American people, the department and the Attorney General should: l Issue guidance to all U.S. .

1989. GDA-10219 The Attorney General should pick up where the Attorneys General under President Trump left off and exercise his or her authority to adjudicate cases and provide guidance in appropriate cases to correct erroneous decisions, provide clarity, and align Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) decisions with the law. .

1990. 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. .

1991. GDA-10229 Fraud and unethical behavior are rampant in the immigration system and must be addressed --- not only to ensure that the federal government is operating in a proper manner, but also for the sake of the aliens involved in the process as well as the integrity/credibility of the members of the private immigration bar who do not engage in such conduct. .

1992. GDA-10232 As the next Administration pursues its objectives, it should use the department's resources efficiently in a manner that delivers results for the American people. .

1993. GDA-10236 The next conservative Administration must make every effort to obtain the resources to support a vast expansion of the number of appointees in every office and component across the department --- especially in the Civil Rights Division, the FBI, and the EOIR. .

1994. GDA-10238 Considering all of the many challenges facing the DOJ, the next conservative Administration should terminate and recall all details of DOJ personnel shortly after the President's inauguration. .

1995. GDA-10241 The next conservative Administration should complete a thorough review of any sanctions or findings of misconduct issued over the four years preceding the inauguration to ensure that the Biden Administration acted appropriately in response to any such sanctions or findings. .

1996. GDA-10243 The next conservative Administration should conduct a holistic review of hiring practices employed across all DOJ offices and components to ensure that those practices comply with applicable law and policy. .

1997. 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. .

1998. GDA-10246 The next conservative Administration should explore the possibility of consolidating and aligning the functions of the DOJ's various components and offices in human resources, legal counsel, public relations, and other related areas. .

1999. GDA-10248 From IT infrastructure to management functions to public relations, DOJ leadership should explore consolidation and intradepartmental efficiencies to obtain the best possible support for its critical missions. .

2000. GDA-10252 Additionally, given the interplay of function between the Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA) and the Office of Public Affairs, as well as the fact that the Assistant Attorney General for the OLA is a Senate-confirmed position, the two offices should be folded into one for more efficiency and proper coordination. .

2001. GDA-10255 The next conservative Administration should undertake a comprehensive review of the DOJ's current organizational chart and make decisions about its structure --- consistent with any authority to do so outside of congressional action --- to ensure the most efficient accomplishment of the department's missions. .

2002. GDA-10256 For example: l Is the current reporting structure for the Associate Attorney General's Office the best and optimal for the achievement of the department's mission? l Should all of the Deputy Attorney General's direct reports continue to be direct reports, or would a different structure achieve a better, more efficient outcome in fulfilling the department's mission? l What should the Office of Legal Policy's role be in the next conservative Administration? Should it continue to be responsible for assisting with judicial nominations, or should that function be assigned to the Office of Legislative Affairs, which interacts with Congress on a daily basis? Pursuing Legislative Changes for Assistant United States Attorneys' Compensation. .

2003. GDA-10257 To ensure that the department can attract and retain top legal talent away from Washington, D.C., the next conservative Administration should seek congressional reform of the pay scale used for Assistant United States Attorneys in the field. .

2004. GDA-10258 At a minimum, that reform should include a proposal to compensate Assistant United States Attorneys on at least the same basis as attorneys employed by Main Justice who are compensated under the GS scale. .

2005. GDA-10262 The DOJ's statistical and research arms should serve the American people and not special interests. .

2006. GDA-10263 The Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics should focus the BJS on producing the statistics of greatest interest to everyday Americans, and hence of policymakers, rather than those of particular interest to criminal- justice academics. .

2007. GDA-10264 The Director should insist that such statistics be as accurate as possible and presented as clearly as possible. .

2008. GDA-10265 The intellectually engaged, everyday American citizen should be able to read and understand the BJS's published statistics and reports rather than having to trust "experts"� because the statistics are not clear. .

2009. GDA-10266 The BJS should focus on the core statistics involving crime and punishment, such as those relating to serious crimes committed, imprisonment, time served, recidivism, and the like. .

2010. GDA-10267 It should not pursue the niche political agendas of academics or advocates. .

2011. GDA-10268 Moreover, a clear line should be maintained between official government statistics and third-party contractor reports. .

2012. GDA-10269 There should be no reports that look like official BJS reports but are authored by private entities such as the Urban Institute as happened under the Obama Administration. .

2013. GDA-10270 Research funded by the National Institute of Justice should follow similar principles. .

2014. GDA-10271 The NIJ should fund high-quality, unbiased research on the topics of greatest interest to everyday Americans and policymakers rather than agenda- driven research desired by advocates or academics. .

2015. GDA-10272 The National Crime Victimization Survey, which is the nation's largest crime survey and predates the BJS (it dates to the Nixon Administration), is of particular importance, and the department should prioritize and sufficiently fund it. .

2016. GDA-10277 The author alone assumes responsibility for the content of this chapter, and no views expressed herein should be attributed to any other individual. .

2017. GDA-10344 Nevertheless, the goal should be as comprehensive a review as possible. .

2018. GDA-10349 Marshals Service, although the USMS's mission protecting the federal courts could present compelling reasons why the department should maintain it as a direct report to the Deputy Attorney General. .

2019. GDA-10353 34. An argument could also be made that the upper echelons of the FBI's leadership should physically relocate back to the Robert F. .

2020. GDA-10389 407 (2008), in applicable cases, but the department should place a priority on doing so. .

2021. GDA-10561 The next Administration should eliminate every one of these wrongful and burdensome ideological projects. .

2022. 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). .

2023. GDA-10568 The President should direct the Department of Justice and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to enforce Title VII to prohibit racial classifications and quotas, including human-resources classifications and DEI trainings that promote critical race theory. .

2024. GDA-10574 The next Administration should work with Congress to amend Title VII to prohibit the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from collecting EEO-1 data and any other racial classifications in employment for both private and public workplaces. .

2025. GDA-10578 Congress should: l Eliminate disparate impact as a valid theory of discrimination for race and other bases under Title VII and other laws. .

2026. GDA-10579 Disparities do not (and should not legally) imply discrimination per se. .

2027. GDA-10580 The President should: l Sign an executive order explicitly forbidding OFCCP from using disparate impact in its analysis. .

2028. 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. .

2029. GDA-10587 The President should eliminate OFCCP by simply rescinding EO 11246. .

2030. GDA-10596 The new Administration should restrict Bostock's application of sex discrimination protections to sexual orientation and transgender status in the context of hiring and firing. .

2031. GDA-10597 l Withdraw unlawful "notices"� and "guidances."� The President should direct agencies to withdraw unlawful "notices"� and "guidances"� purporting to apply Bostock's reasoning broadly outside hiring and firing. .

2032. 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. .

2033. GDA-10601 The President should direct agencies to focus their enforcement of sex discrimination laws on the biological binary meaning of "sex."� PRO-LIFE MEASURES l Promote pro-life workplace accommodations for mothers. .

2034. GDA-10602 Federal law should protect life and promote pro-family policies. .

2035. GDA-10606 Congress should pass a law requiring that to the extent an employer provides employee benefits for abortion, it must provide equal or greater benefits for pregnancy, childbirth, maternity, and adoption. .

2036. GDA-10607 That law should also clarify that no employer is required to provide any accommodations or benefits for abortion. .

2037. GDA-10610 Jackson Women's Health Organization decision6 that the longstanding doctrine of Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA)7 preemption should block individual states' efforts to prohibit employers from helping employees procure abortions via offering various kinds of coverage under employee-sponsored benefit plans. .

2038. GDA-10611 ERISA should not be allowed to trump states' ability to protect innocent human life in the womb. .

2039. GDA-10612 Congress and DOL should clarify that ERISA does not preempt states' power to restrict abortion, surrogacy, or other anti-life "benefits."� RELIGION l Provide robust protections for religious employers. .

2040. GDA-10615 The new Administration should enact policies with robust respect for religious exercise in the workplace, including under the First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA),8 Title VII, and federal conscience protection laws. .

2041. GDA-10617 The President should make clear via executive order that religious employers are free to run their businesses according to their religious beliefs, general nondiscrimination laws notwithstanding, and support participation of religious employees and employers as federal contractors and in federal activities and programs. .

2042. GDA-10619 Congress should clarify Title VII's religious organization exemptions to make it more explicit that those employers may make employment decisions based on religion regardless of nondiscrimination laws. .

2043. GDA-10623 Unless the Supreme Court overrules its bad precedent, Congress should clarify that undue hardship means "significant difficulty or expenses,"� not "more than a de minimis cost"� as the Court has previously held. .

2044. GDA-10626 EEOC should disclaim its regulatory pretensions and abide by the guidance reforms discussed below. .

2045. GDA-10627 l EEOC should disclaim its regulatory pretensions. .

2046. GDA-10629 EEOC should affirm as policy the Title VII requirement that it exercise substantive power via majority vote of Commissioners, not by unilateral Chair action or by delegation to staff. .

2047. GDA-10631 EEOC should disclaim power to enter into consent decrees that require employer actions that it could not require under the laws it enforces. .

2048. GDA-10633 EEOC should reorient its enforcement priorities toward claims of failure to accommodate disability, religion, and pregnancy (but not abortion). .

2049. GDA-10638 We must replace "woke"� nonsense with a healthy vision of the role of labor policy in our society, starting with the American family. .

2050. GDA-10641 l Congress should enact the Working Families Flexibility Act. .

2051. GDA-10644 l Congress should incentivize on-site childcare. .

2052. GDA-10646 l Congress should amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to clarify that an employer's expenses in providing on-site childcare are not part of an employee's regular rate of pay. .

2053. GDA-10647 l DOL should commit to honest study of the challenges for women in the world of professional work. .

2054. GDA-10649 l The Bureau should rededicate its research budget towards open inquiry, especially to disentangle the influences on women's workforce participation and to understand the true causes of earnings gaps between men and women. .

2055. 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. .

2056. GDA-10659 Metrics like marriage and fertility rates, the share of children living with both biological parents, the cost of a standard basket of middle-class essentials, and the share of families whose highest-income worker earns more than twice the poverty threshold should be measured and reported monthly and in real-time and incorporated in releases for other labor statistics. .

2057. GDA-10660 l Congress should establish an Assistant Commissioner for Family Statistics within the Bureau of Labor Statistics. .

2058. GDA-10661 l Congress should require the Bureau to establish a pilot survey with a sample comparable to the BLS Current Population Survey that would publish monthly estimates for measures of the American family's wellbeing, and appropriate sufficient funds for that purpose. .

2059. GDA-10662 l Congress should require that the Consumer Price Index market basket include measurable family-essential goods. .

2060. GDA-10665 Funding should be oriented towards improving the timeliness of annual family statistics. .

2061. GDA-10670 l Congress should encourage communal rest by amending the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)9 to require that workers be paid time and a half for hours worked on the Sabbath. .

2062. GDA-10674 While some conservatives believe that the government should encourage certain religious observance by making it more expensive for employers and consumers to not partake in those observances, other conservatives believe that the government's role is to protect the free exercise of religion by eliminating barriers as opposed to erecting them. .

2063. GDA-10679 l Congress should clarify that overtime for telework applies only if the employee exceeds 10 hours of work in a specific day (and the total hours for the week exceed 40). .

2064. GDA-10680 l DOL should clarify that an employee given the option to telework need only record time if the quantity of work assigned for that day exceeds the usual amount of work that employee performs so that the employee need not track every time he logs in and out and the employer need not do so either. .

2065. 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. .

2066. GDA-10682 DOL should likewise clarify that reimbursement for home office expenses is not part of an employee's regular rate, even if those reimbursements are repetitive (such as for internet or cell phone service). .

2067. GDA-10686 Our labor agenda must allow community institutions, including small businesses, schools and universities, religious organizations, and worker organizations, to thrive. .

2068. 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. .

2069. GDA-10698 l NLRB and DOL should return to their 2019 and 2021 independent contractor rules that provided much-needed clarity for workers and employers. .

2070. GDA-10699 l Congress should establish a bright-line test --- based on the level of control an individual exercises over his or her work --- to determine whether a payee is an employee or an independent contractor, across all relevant laws. .

2071. GDA-10701 l Congress should provide a safe harbor from employer-employee status for companies that offer independent workers access to earned benefits. .

2072. GDA-10710 l DOL and NLRB should return to the long-standing approach to defining joint employers based on direct and immediate control. .

2073. GDA-10711 l Congress should enact the Save Local Business Act, which would codify the long-standing definition that has existed outside the Obama-era and Biden-proposed rules. .

2074. GDA-10714 "Nonexempt workers"� (e.g., workers whose job duties fall within the law's power or whose total pay is low enough) must be paid overtime (150 percent of the "regular rate"�) for every hour over 40 in a workweek. .

2075. GDA-10715 Overtime requirements may discourage employers from offering certain fringe benefits such as reimbursement for education, childcare, or even free meals because the benefits' value may be included in the "regular rate"� that must be paid at 150 percent for all overtime hours. .

2076. 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. .

2077. GDA-10717 l DOL should maintain an overtime threshold that does not punish businesses in lower-cost regions (e.g., the southeast United States). .

2078. GDA-10721 l Congress should clarify that the "regular rate"� for overtime pay is based on the salary paid rather than all benefits provided. .

2079. GDA-10723 l Congress should provide flexibility to employers and employees to calculate the overtime period over a longer number of weeks. .

2080. GDA-10724 Specifically, employers and employees should be able to set a two- or four- week period over which to calculate overtime. .

2081. GDA-10730 l Labor agencies should provide compliance assistance to help businesses and workers better understand the agencies' position on their own rules and should do so in a way that makes it easier to follow those rules. .

2082. 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). .

2083. GDA-10740 Under this rule, agencies cannot treat guidance as legally binding and must make all guidance documents readily accessible on their searchable online databases. .

2084. GDA-10742 l DOL should reinstitute the PRO Good Guidance rule via notice and comment. .

2085. GDA-10743 l Congress should amend the Administrative Procedure Act11 to explicitly limit the use of guidance documents. .

2086. 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. .

2087. GDA-10749 l Congress should enact legislation increasing the revenue thresholds at which the National Labor Relations Board asserts jurisdiction over employers to match changes in inflation that have occurred since 1935 and better reflect the definition of "small business"� used by the federal government. .

2088. GDA-10750 l Congress (and DOL, in its enforcement discretion) should exempt small business, first-time, non-willful violators from fines issued by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. .

2089. GDA-10752 The next Administration should return to prior policy and implement an industry-recognized apprenticeship program separate from the Registered Apprenticeship Program (RAP) and explore how best to modernize, streamline, and eliminate duplication in the RAP. .

2090. GDA-10758 l Congress should expand apprenticeship programs outside of the RAP model, re-creating the IRAP system by statute and allowing approved entities such as trade associations and educational institutions to recognize and oversee apprenticeship programs. .

2091. GDA-10759 In addition, religious organizations should be encouraged to participate in apprenticeship programs. .

2092. 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. .

2093. GDA-10763 Both DOL and NLRB should facilitate religious organizations helping to strengthen working families via apprenticeship programs, worker organizations, vocational training, benefits networks, etc. .

2094. GDA-10768 With parental consent and proper training, certain young adults should be allowed to learn and work in more dangerous occupations. .

2095. 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. .

2096. GDA-10773 l Congress should create an employer grant worth up to $10,000 per year or pro-rated portion thereof for each worker engaged in on-the-job training, defined as some share of paid time spent in a formal training program. .

2097. GDA-10776 Funding for employer grants should come from existing higher education subsidies that are currently disadvantaging alternative education options. .

2098. GDA-10783 Today, federal civil service job descriptions must "be based on the specific skills and competencies required to perform those jobs,"� and may prescribe a "minimum educational requirement"� only if it is otherwise legally required. .

2099. GDA-10788 The President should direct the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy to adopt the civil service's skills-based hiring standards for federal contractors and issue waivers from degree-based staffing requirements in existing contracts. .

2100. GDA-10790 Congress should prohibit the inclusion of a BA requirement in job descriptions for all private sector employers, or the use of a BA requirement to screen applicants using algorithms, except where a BA from a particular type of institution or in a particular field is a bona fide requirement of the position. .

2101. GDA-10792 While the federal government has a duty to promote economy and efficiency in federal hiring and contracting, and thus should base decisions on skills as opposed to degrees, it is not the federal government's role to determine whether private employers may or may not include degree requirements in job descriptions and in their hiring decisions. .

2102. 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. .

2103. GDA-10799 The federal government should identify underperforming programs and eliminate or redirect that funding to programs with strong outcome-based metrics. .

2104. GDA-10801 In its reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA),14 Congress should evaluate and streamline the existing workforce development programs to ensure there is no overlap or fragmentation between programs. .

2105. GDA-10802 Congress should also ensure strong evidence-based outcomes for each program and tie federal funding for those programs to the outcomes achieved. .

2106. GDA-10804 DOL and other federal agencies with jurisdiction over employment and training programs should review their programs and utilize all available tools and authority to ensure these programs contain strong outcome-based metrics. .

2107. GDA-10805 To the extent that agencies have this authority, they should reevaluate funding for programs that do not meet those evidence-based and outcomes-based requirements. .

2108. GDA-10806 Finally, strong internal policies should be implemented to ensure bad-actor grantees are identified and sanctioned expeditiously. .

2109. GDA-10808 In the post-pandemic landscape, the federal government should restore the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program's purpose with a particular focus on reestablishing program integrity and accountability. .

2110. GDA-10812 l Congress should enact bipartisan commonsense UI program reforms, including statutory authority for the Labor Office of Inspector General (OIG) to access all state UI records for the purposes of investigation and requiring state agencies to crossmatch applicants with the National Directory of New Hires. .

2111. 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. .

2112. GDA-10814 l Congress should provide DOL with more reasonable enforcement tools for the UI system. .

2113. GDA-10816 l DOL should review all actual or planned procurements against the $2 billion (under the American Rescue Plan Act)17 for UI fraud detection, accessibility, and equity investments. .

2114. GDA-10818 DOL should also review and propose changes to improve state monitoring programs including developing evidence-based frameworks for evaluating the technical readiness and security postures of the state agencies; strengthen its relationship with the OIG and Government Accountability Office (GAO), and support continued development of fraud prosecution with DOJ, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the financial services community; ensure administrative and IT funding is outcome-based; and gather and publish best practices from state officials, industry partners, and other vendors who deliver UI services. .

2115. 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. .

2116. GDA-10826 l Congress should reintroduce and pass the Teamwork for Employees and Managers (TEAM) Act of 2022.18 The TEAM Act: 1. .

2117. GDA-10835 Private-sector unions must file detailed financial information with DOL --- on matters including union spending, income, loans, assets, membership information, and employee salary --- but unions composed entirely of state or local employees are exempt from this filing requirement. .

2118. GDA-10844 The substance of the Intermediate Bodies Rule should pass into law, either through rulemaking or through legislation. .

2119. GDA-10845 The T-1 Trust Annual Report annual filing requirement should be restored. .

2120. GDA-10847 Congress should expand the funding of the Office of Labor-Management Standards. .

2121. GDA-10850 l The NLRB should take enforcement or amicus action advancing the position that political conflicts of interest by union leadership can support claims for breach of the duty of fair representation in a manner analogous to financial conflicts of interest and analogous to breaches of the fiduciary duty of loyalty in other areas of law. .

2122. GDA-10853 l Reverse unreasonable interpretations of "protected concerted activity."� The NLRB should return to the 2019 Alstate Maintenance interpretation of what does and does not constitute protected concerted activity, including listing eight instances of lawful actions by employers. .

2123. GDA-10855 Within the confines of the more reasonable definition of protected concerted activity described above, the NLRB should increase its pursuit of reinstatement injunctions. .

2124. GDA-10861 The NLRB should increase its use of 10(j) and should articulate guidelines for situations in which it intends to seek injunctive relief; the board should delegate authority to pursue such injunctions to the general counsel and the general counsel should establish a policy of considering them expeditiously in all retaliation cases identified by regional offices. .

2125. GDA-10863 Under current law, both labor unions and unionized employers must file financial disclosures with DOL on an annual basis to ward off potential fraud and corruption of the sort that has been seen recently within the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW). .

2126. GDA-10866 DOL should investigate worker centers that look and act like unions and bring enforcement actions to require them to file the same financial disclosures. .

2127. GDA-10869 If OLMS has evidence that a union may be violating the law based on information available to the agency (such as annual financial disclosure reports, information developed during an audit of a union's books and records, or information obtained from other government agencies) it should be permitted to open an investigation. .

2128. GDA-10870 It should have the same enforcement tools available for both employers and unions. .

2129. GDA-10872 The Office of Labor-Management Standards should revise its investigation standards to authorize investigations without receiving a formal complaint. .

2130. GDA-10875 As a general matter, employers who hire lawyers or other consultants to advise employees about union issues must file disclosure forms with the department, as must the lawyers and consultants themselves. .

2131. GDA-10879 l DOL should rescind the persuader rule once again should the Biden Administration revive it. .

2132. GDA-10887 l Discard "card check."� Congress should discard "card check"� as the basis of union recognition and mandate the secret ballot exclusively. .

2133. GDA-10892 A typical consequence of these rules is that employees must often wait four years before they are allowed a chance at decertification. .

2134. GDA-10893 Employees then have only a 45-day window to file a decertification petition; if the employer and union sign a successor contract, then the contract bar comes into play once again --- meaning employees with an interest in decertification must wait another three years. .

2135. GDA-10895 NLRB should eliminate the contract bar rule so that employees with an interest in decertification have a reasonable chance to achieve their goal. .

2136. GDA-10900 l Congress should amend the NLRA to authorize collective bargaining to treat national employment laws and regulations as negotiable defaults. .

2137. GDA-10903 While some conservatives (including the author of this chapter) believe that it would be a mistake to antagonize unions' core interests, others argue that the next Administration should end Project Labor Agreement requirements and repeal the Davis-Bacon Act. .

2138. 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. .

2139. GDA-10908 The Davis-Bacon Act23 requires federally financed construction projects to pay "prevailing wages."� In theory, these wages should reflect going market rates for construction labor in the relevant area. .

2140. GDA-10913 Agencies should end all mandatory Project Labor Agreement requirements and base federal procurement decisions on the contractors that can deliver the best product at the lowest cost. .

2141. GDA-10915 Congress should enact the Davis-Bacon Repeal Act and allow markets to determine market wages. .

2142. GDA-10921 Americans take for granted that unemployment benefits must be administered by government agencies, but other Western market democracies feature effective and popular benefits administered by non-public worker organizations. .

2143. GDA-10922 The next conservative Administration should encourage UI innovation by capitalizing on a key feature of the system and principle of conservative policymaking: federalism. .

2144. GDA-10927 DOL should approve, pursuant to § 303(a)(2) of the Social Security Act, non- public worker organizations as administrators. .

2145. GDA-10929 DOL should offer waivers from the standard requirements imposed on unemployment compensation by § 303(a) and § 303(d) of the Social Security Act to states that propose suitable alternatives. .

2146. GDA-10931 DOL should establish as a precondition for receiving any public funds a requirement that an organization comply with restrictions on political spending as applied to 501(c)(3) charitable organizations. .

2147. GDA-10934 To modernize labor law, the Congress should: l Pass legislation allowing waivers for states and local governments. .

2148. GDA-10935 To encourage experimentation and reform efforts at the state and local levels, Congress should pass legislation allowing waivers from federal labor laws like the NLRA and FLSA under certain conditions. .

2149. GDA-10941 l Congress should ensure that interstate compacts for occupational license recognition that are federally funded do not require new or additional qualifications (that is, qualifications that do not originate from state governments themselves) for licensed professionals to participate. .

2150. GDA-10942 l Congress should ensure that well-qualified licensees are not locked out of the job market by restrictive government programs funded by the federal government. .

2151. GDA-10943 (For instance, medical doctors must complete residency training to practice, and because Medicare provides funding for significantly fewer residencies than there are doctors, sizable numbers of MDs are locked out of the job market every year.) Wagner-Peyser Staffing Flexibility. .

2152. GDA-10944 State agencies that administer unemployment benefits and workforce development programs should be able to hire the best people to do the job and should not be required to use state employees if a contractor can do the job better. .

2153. GDA-10945 Further, the federal government should not force a state to use non-union labor or union labor for these positions. .

2154. GDA-10946 l DOL should repromulgate the Trump-era staffing flexibility rule, and Congress should codify it. .

2155. GDA-10952 And while individual investors may prefer to invest in "green"� companies, "woke"� companies, or companies with greater board diversity, and may even be willing to sacrifice some financial gains to do so, the question relevant to DOL is whether, and under what conditions, fiduciaries should be permitted to follow this path as well. .

2156. GDA-10956 l DOL should prohibit investing in ERISA plans on the basis of any factors that are unrelated to investor risks and returns. .

2157. GDA-10957 l DOL should return to the Trump Administration's approach of permitting only the consideration of pecuniary factors in ERISA. .

2158. 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. .

2159. GDA-10959 l DOL should consider taking enforcement and/or regulatory action to subject investment in China to greater scrutiny under ERISA. .

2160. GDA-10963 Some conservatives believe that ERISA plan investments should be made solely on a pecuniary basis and the consideration of any non-pecuniary factor, ESG or otherwise, should be prohibited. .

2161. GDA-10969 l DOL should reverse efforts to politicize the TSP by removing "mutual fund"� windows that encourage ESG, and should clarify the fiduciary duties of the TSP. .

2162. GDA-10970 Recent efforts by congressional Democrats and the Biden Administration to politicize the TSP by offering selective "mutual fund"� windows that encourage ESG should be reversed by DOL, and the fiduciary duties of the TSP should be clarified by the department to preclude ESG investments absent individual stock selection by the participant. .

2163. GDA-10974 l The federal government should follow the lead of multiple state governments in removing their pension funds from fund managers such as BlackRock and State Street Global Advisers, and contract with a competitive, private-sector manager that will comply with its fiduciary duties. .

2164. GDA-10975 l DOL should also consider bringing enforcement actions against BlackRock and State Street Global Advisers for their violations of fiduciary duty while managing the TSP. .

2165. GDA-10976 l Congress should enact legislation authorizing the FRTIB to exercise its independent business judgment in exercising the proxy votes for its holdings of the TSP and provide clear proxy voting guidelines for the FRTIB to follow. .

2166. GDA-10978 If feasible, the new legislation should also offer a streamlined process for other proxy advisers to compete for the TSP's business. .

2167. GDA-10983 l DOL should exercise its oversight of the FRTIB to prohibit investments in China. .

2168. GDA-10984 l Congress should enact legislation prohibiting investment of the TSP in China. .

2169. GDA-10987 Residents of states that responsibly manage their public pension plans (pension plans for State and local government employees) should not be responsible for bailing out states that do not do so. .

2170. GDA-10989 Although the federal government does not impose funding rules on public pension plans, these plans should be required to disclose the fair market value of plan assets and liabilities (using the Treasury yield curve as the discount rate) on an annual basis. .

2171. GDA-10992 Congress should require public pension funds to disclose the fair market value of plan assets and liabilities (using the Treasury yield curve as the discount rate) on an annual basis. .

2172. GDA-10999 l Congress should reform multiemployer pensions to give participants in these plans the same protections as those in single-employer plans. .

2173. GDA-11000 Liabilities should be measured similarly to single-employer plans. .

2174. GDA-11001 Workers should be able to earn benefits at any employer in the plan, but liabilities should be divided amongst employers, instead of the current illusory joint and several liability under which no one is ultimately responsible for making up underfunding. .

2175. GDA-11002 Troubled plans should be prohibited from making new pension promises. .

2176. GDA-11003 More timely and detailed reporting should be imposed. .

2177. GDA-11006 l The PBGC's annual report must be submitted on time, and with timely data that uses fair-market value principles to calculate the PBGC's finances. .

2178. 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. .

2179. GDA-11012 l Congress should increase the variable rate premium on underfunding and eliminate the per-participant cap in order to appropriately take into account risk and limit the degree to which well-funded pension plans must subsidize underfunded plans. .

2180. GDA-11013 Reforms should proportionately reduce the fixed per-participant premium to ease the burden on well-funded plans and also increase premiums on multiemployer plans to match single-employer plans. .

2181. 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. .

2182. GDA-11025 While ESOPs can be a beneficial part of a worker's and family's savings, some conservatives believe that the government should not favor one form of investment over another or make it harder for families to have a diversified investment portfolio. .

2183. GDA-11026 PUTTING AMERICAN WORKERS FIRST A labor agenda focused on the strength of American families must put American workers first. .

2184. GDA-11027 As the family necessarily puts the interests of its members first, so too the United States must put the interests of American workers first. .

2185. GDA-11033 Congress should immediately cap this program at its current levels and establish a schedule for its gradual and predictable phasedown over the subsequent 10 to 20 years, producing the necessary incentives for the industry to invest in raising productivity, including through capital investment in agricultural equipment, and increasing employment for Americans in the agricultural sector. .

2186. GDA-11035 Congress should also encourage the establishment of an industry consortium of agricultural equipment producers and other automation and robotics firms interested in entering the sector and match funding invested by the industry, with intellectual property developed within the consortium freely available to all participants. .

2187. GDA-11039 Those who share this view argue that any plan to phase out the program should weigh the program's current costs (relatively low) and the program's current benefits (makes American farming more profitable and sustainable while keeping down food costs). .

2188. GDA-11042 Congress should immediately cap this program at its current levels and establish a schedule for its gradual and predictable phasedown over no more than 10 years. .

2189. GDA-11047 Any plan to phase out the program should weigh the program's current costs (relatively low) and the program's current benefits (makes seasonal business more feasible). .

2190. GDA-11049 When government purchases goods or services, if at all possible, not only should the company be an American company and the products be manufactured in America, but the companies should also be encouraged to hire American workers. .

2191. GDA-11050 Likewise, private employers should be free to prefer our own countrymen. .

2192. GDA-11051 l Congress should mandate that all new federal contracts require at least 70 percent of the contractor's employees to be U.S. .

2193. GDA-11053 l Congress must amend the law so that employers can again have the freedom to make hiring Americans a priority. .

2194. GDA-11056 This means that when the government spends money, it must find the most economical and effective way to do so. .

2195. GDA-11058 There may be good reasons to require a certain percentage of American workers on federal contracts, but those decisions should be based on economy and efficiency as opposed to arbitrary quotas. .

2196. GDA-11060 American businesses that commit visa fraud and hire illegal immigrants should not be the beneficiaries of federal spending. .

2197. GDA-11062 l To protect the American workforce from unscrupulous immigration lawyers, employers, and labor brokers, the department must follow the recommendations of the OIG and institute more robust investigations for suspected visa fraud and speedier debarments for those found guilty. .

2198. GDA-11070 For future FTAs, the USTR should replicate the labor provisions of USMCA, especially the provisions to: l Eliminate all forms of forced or compulsory labor. .

2199. GDA-11074 For future authorizations of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), the President should urge Congress to: l Create mechanisms for supply-chain transparency. .

2200. 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. .

2201. GDA-11082 l The next Administration should focus ILAB investigations on foreign labor violations that do the most to damage American workers' earning power, specifically regimes that engage in child and forced labor, fail to protect workers' organizing rights, and permit hazardous or otherwise exploitative working conditions. .

2202. GDA-11089 l Spending reductions should occur primarily in the Employment and Training Administration (ETA). .

2203. GDA-11094 The number of political appointees should be maximized in order to improve the political accountability of the department. .

2204. GDA-11097 The next Administration should do the same and expand on the Biden Administration's new precedent by refusing to acknowledge terms in other offices, where applicable, and installing acting or full new officers immediately. .

2205. GDA-11100 Office of Compliance Initiatives l DOL should fully staff the Office of Compliance Initiatives (OCI), which was reopened by the Trump Administration after the Obama Administration closed its predecessor down. .

2206. GDA-11104 l OFLC should be moved out of ETA and made directly accountable to the Secretary with a politically accountable Director. .

2207. GDA-11106 The longstanding tradition of a strong work ethic in American culture must be encouraged and strengthened by policies that promote family-sustaining jobs. .

2208. GDA-11109 The author alone assumes responsibility for the content of this chapter, and no views expressed herein should be attributed to any other individual. .

2209. GDA-11194 l If funding must be federal, it would be more efficient for the U.S. .

2210. GDA-11200 DOT's discretionary grant-making processes should be abolished, and funding should be focused on formulaic distributions to the states, which know best their transportation needs and are incentivized to think of the long-term maintenance costs. .

2211. GDA-11201 At a bare minimum, the number of grants should be consolidated. .

2212. GDA-11203 The Biden Administration unwisely moved away from this reform, and the next Administration should revive it without delay. .

2213. GDA-11207 Should the BAB continue to exist and potentially disintermediate the private financing sector, it must maintain underwriting discipline and continue best practices of requiring rigorous financial modeling and cushion for repayment of loans in a variety of economic scenarios. .

2214. GDA-11208 In addition: l The BAB should ensure that these loans do not become grants in another form by maintaining the requirement that all project borrowers be rated at least investment grade by the major ratings agencies and that project sponsors remain liable to ensure that all financing is repaid, even in periods of financial stress and economic downturns. .

2215. 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. .

2216. GDA-11210 l All projects should also be required to show repayment ability in various interest rate environments, and the BAB should ensure that long-term loans are structured appropriately with regard to the fixing of interest rates and hedging of interest rate risk on the part of the borrowers to avoid financial stress or default driven solely by rising interest rates. .

2217. GDA-11211 l Policymakers should maintain awareness and promote transparency regarding the continued existence of this loan program and whether private financiers are being disintermediated by the subsidized BAB lending that the private sector simply cannot match. .

2218. GDA-11212 l A cost-benefit analysis of the federal government's potential replacement and disintermediation of the private financing sector regarding infrastructure loans, which is not currently performed, should be conducted on a regular basis. .

2219. GDA-11215 In addition, the private partner is given the right either to collect fees from the users of the asset or to receive a periodic payment from the government conditioned on the asset's availability: If a highway is not open to traffic when it should be, for example, the government's payment to the private concessionaire is reduced. .

2220. GDA-11221 It should be noted that project funding and P3s are not synonymous. .

2221. GDA-11224 Like a loan, a P3 can be used to accelerate revenues and provide needed capital to help pay the upfront costs of a project, but also like a loan, the private P3 investors must be paid back for investors to realize a financial return. .

2222. GDA-11240 If a technology underperforms, the private sector should be liable, not the government. .

2223. GDA-11241 The department should ensure a tech-neutral approach to addressing any emerging transportation technology while keeping safety as the number one priority. .

2224. GDA-11242 As part of this, it should work to facilitate the safe and full integration of automated vehicles into the national transportation system. .

2225. 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). .

2226. 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. .

2227. GDA-11255 They should account for the potential for radio interference, and they should address security. .

2228. GDA-11264 The standards must be achievable using available ICE technologies running on gasoline, diesel fuel, or similar combustible fuels and must not be set so high as to prevent automakers from profitably producing new vehicles at sufficient volume to meet consumer demand. .

2229. 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. .

2230. GDA-11297 The standards issued by NHTSA must be reset at reasonable levels that are technologically feasible for ICE automobiles and consistent with an increase in domestic auto production and healthy growth in the sale of safer and more affordable new vehicles. .

2231. GDA-11298 To achieve these goals, the next Administration should: l Reduce proposed fuel economy levels. .

2232. GDA-11299 The Administration should consider returning to the minimum average fuel economy levels specified by Congress for model year 2020 vehicles: levels aimed at achieving a fleet-wide average of 35 miles per gallon. .

2233. GDA-11300 Consideration should be given to maintaining the standards at those levels for the near term in order to promote the objectives laid out by Congress. .

2234. 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. .

2235. GDA-11306 The federal government should therefore exercise its preemptive authority over CARB and take all steps necessary to invalidate any inconsistent fuel economy requirements imposed by CARB, including its ban on sales of internal combustion engines. .

2236. GDA-11311 In many cases, such projects should be the sole responsibility of local or state governments, not dependent on FHWA funding. .

2237. GDA-11317 Instead, the next Administration should: l Seek to refocus the FHWA on maintaining and improving the highway system. .

2238. GDA-11333 The Trump Administration reformed the process for issuing such "unfair and deceptive practices"� rules,9 but the Biden Administration promptly reversed those reforms.10 A new Administration should restore them. .

2239. GDA-11334 In general, the next Administration should focus its efforts on making air travel more affordable and abundant, increasing safety, increasing competition to benefit the flying public, and removing obstacles to the rapid deployment of emerging aviation technologies that hold the promise of improved safety, competition, opportunity, and growth. .

2240. GDA-11335 To achieve a more level playing field and increase options for the traveling public, the next Administration should: l Publicly indicate that a new Administration would support joint- venture efforts by smaller carriers (for example, Jet Blue and Spirit) to achieve scale necessary to reduce costs and compete more effectively with the larger carriers. .

2241. GDA-11340 should use the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) process to keep out nefarious foreign actors while allowing investment from investors in designated like-minded countries so long as U.S.-based investors maintain plurality ownership. .

2242. GDA-11356 The new Administration should remain committed to the laudatory goal of "Open Skies."� However, many of the largest emerging markets are not fully open, and our aviation policies should reflect that reality and ensure that U.S. .

2243. GDA-11360 should not allow foreign carriers serving markets in East Asia and South Asia to enjoy a competitive advantage by continuing to allow them to fly to the U.S. .

2244. GDA-11362 should not offer additional negotiations until the Chinese implement the agreements they have already signed. .

2245. GDA-11364 In addition to a New Entry Initiative, the new Administration should establish an interagency clearinghouse to drive consistent policies across the government on spectrum, drones, and advanced air mobility. .

2246. GDA-11381 It should get out of the R&D business and focus on testing, evaluating, and certifying private-sector innovation much more quickly than it does today. .

2247. GDA-11386 Organizations such as the FAA whose sole responsibility is public safety should be fully auditable and led by experts in their field or industry with oversight from DOT leadership. .

2248. GDA-11390 To regain America's global leadership in aviation, the next Administration should: l Separate the FAA from DOT or, at a minimum, separate the ATO from the FAA. .

2249. GDA-11429 Because Americans have demonstrated a strong preference for alternative means of transportation, rather than throwing good money after bad by continuing federal subsidies for transit expansion, there should be a focus on reducing costs that make transit uneconomical. .

2250. GDA-11431 At a minimum, a new conservative Administration should ensure that each CIG project meets sound economic standards and a rigorous cost-benefit analysis. .

2251. GDA-11445 FRA should be making decisions based on objective evidence of the most cost-effective way to accomplish the agency's safety goals. .

2252. GDA-11461 FRA should make its decisions on where to spend its research dollars solely on the merits of improving the safety and efficiency of the railroad industry. .

2253. GDA-11474 Merchant Marine Academy) should be transferred to the Department of Defense (if the Coast Guard is located there because DHS has been eliminated) or to the Department of Homeland Security. .

2254. GDA-11476 Serious consideration should be given to repealing or substantially reforming the Jones Act,16 which would require legislation. .

2255. GDA-11492 The Department of Transportation should be evaluating which aspects of transportation are contributing to the economic competitiveness of the United States and the well-being of Americans --- and that therefore should continue to be funded. .

2256. GDA-11494 These goals are not compatible with what should be DOT's purpose: to make travel easier and less expensive. .

2257. GDA-11495 That is what the American people want, and that is what DOT should provide. .

2258. GDA-11498 The author alone assumes responsibility for the content of this chapter, and no views expressed herein should be attributed to any other individual. .

2259. GDA-11560 The VA must continually strive to be recognized as a "best in class,"� "Veteran-centric"�1 system with an organizational ethos inspired by and accountable to the needs and problems of veterans, not subservient to the parochial preferences of a bureaucracy. .

2260. GDA-11601 Consequently, VA leaders in the next Administration must be wise and courageous political strategists, experienced managers to run day-to-day operations more effectively, innovators to address the changing veteran landscape, and agile "fixers"� to mitigate and repair systemic problems created or ignored by the present leadership team. .

2261. GDA-11616 If the makeup of Congress is favorable in 2025, the next Administration should rapidly and explicitly codify VA MISSION Act access standards in legislation to prevent the VA from avoiding or watering down the requirements in the future. .

2262. GDA-11619 l To strengthen Community Care, the next Administration should create new Secretarial directives to implement the VA MISSION Act properly. .

2263. GDA-11633 In 2018, Congress authorized an Asset Infrastructure Review (AIR) of national VHA medical markets to provide insight into where the VA health care budget should be responsibly allocated to serve veterans most effectively. .

2264. GDA-11635 The next Administration should seek out agile, creative, and politically acceptable operational solutions to this aging infrastructure status quo, reimagine the health care footprint in some locales, and spur a realignment of capacity through budgetary allocations. .

2265. GDA-11640 Additionally, authority should be given to reappoint this individual for a second five-year term both to allow for continuity and to protect the USH from political transition. .

2266. GDA-11662 The VA must improve timeliness of claim adjudication and benefits delivery: Veterans want the VBA to provide timely responses to requests for benefits support, render empathetic customer service and understandable explanations of those benefits, and deliver those benefits without frustrating delays (weeks, not months). .

2267. GDA-11679 l The next Administration should explore how VASRD reviews could be accelerated with clearance from OMB to target significant cost savings from revising disability rating awards for future claimants while preserving them fully or partially for existing claimants. .

2268. GDA-11680 l The VBA's Information Technology top-line budget should be reexamined and reassessed in light of the need for expanded automation across the enterprise. .

2269. GDA-11717 Congress and the Office of Personnel Management should be engaged on ways to provide authorities for a higher number of non-career PA positions. .

2270. GDA-11718 The White House PPO can be inclined to discount the VA's importance, but given the political attention that VA can generate for Congress and the media, PPO should understand the importance of finding talented political appointees to serve at VA. .

2271. GDA-11741 The author alone assumes responsibility for the content of this chapter, and no views expressed herein should be attributed to any other individual. .

2272. GDA-11764 Section Four THE ECONOMY The next Administration must prioritize the economic prosperity of ordinary Americans. .

2273. GDA-11775 Rather, he writes, "Federal Reserve research shows"� that the Trump Administration's steel tariffs, and the retaliatory tariffs levied by other nations in response, "have cost about 75,000 manufacturing jobs while creating only about 1,000 jobs in the steel industry."� Furthermore, he writes that "protectionism and similar progressive policies tend to weaken American security."� Lassman maintains that "trade creates peace,"� and if China weren't so reliant upon trade with the U.S., it would be "much more unstable and dangerous."� He thinks American influence in China --- "Internet memes, fashion, movies"� --- can "play a vital role in helping to turn China from an authoritarian threat into a freer and less hostile power."� Ultimately, Lassman believes that we should lower or repeal tariffs --- including eliminating "the destructive Trump-Biden tariffs"� --- in order to make goods more affordable for Americans. .

2274. GDA-11777 He writes, "Trade policy can and must play an essential role in an American manufacturing and defense industrial base renaissance,"� which he says is crucial to our country's future. .

2275. GDA-11779 Second, China's "economic aggression"� in the form of "tariffs, nontariff barriers, dumping, counterfeiting and piracy, and currency manipulation"� further weakens our "manufacturing and defense industrial base even as the fragility of globally dispersed supply chains has been brought into sharp relief by the COVID-19 pandemic."� In contrast to Lassman, Navarro thinks that "trade deficits matter a great deal."� He writes that "offshoring not only suppresses the real wages of American blue-collar workers and denies millions of Americans the opportunity to climb up the rungs of the ladder to the middle class,"� but it also "raises the specter of a manufacturing and defense industrial base that, unlike our experience in World Wars I and II, will not be able to provide the weapons and matériel that would be needed should America enter another major world war."� Also, China controls "much of the world's pharmaceutical production and supply chains."� It is therefore essential, he writes, that our trade policy be guided by "the principle of reciprocity,"� whereby we coax other countries into lowering their trade barriers if possible and raise ours as necessary. .

2276. GDA-11780 Moreover, he says we should "decouple"� our economy from China's. .

2277. GDA-11790 The bottom line, she says, "is that the Bank should be abolished."� In Chapter 21, former assistant secretary of commerce Thomas F. .

2278. GDA-11796 In addition, Gilman writes that a new Administration should ensure that the Bureau of Economic Affairs, also housed at Commerce, "conducts its statistical analysis in a consistent and objective manner."� Moreover, the International Trade Administration --- which "is centrally placed to craft and implement U.S. .

2279. GDA-11797 trade policy"� --- should counter "the malign influence of China and other U.S. .

2280. GDA-11802 The next Administration must act decisively to curtail activities that fall outside of Treasury's mandate and primary mission. .

2281. GDA-11803 Treasury must refocus on its core mission of promoting economic growth, prosperity, and economic stability. .

2282. 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. .

2283. GDA-11805 The Treasury Department should develop and promote tax reform legislation that will promote prosperity. .

2284. GDA-11806 To accomplish this, tax reform should improve incentives to work, save, and invest. .

2285. GDA-11809 The Treasury Department should also promote tax competition rather than supporting an international tax cartel. .

2286. GDA-11811 The chapter also explains how the interagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), chaired by Treasury, should realign its priorities to meet the United States' current foreign policy threats, especially from China. .

2287. 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. .

2288. GDA-11814 Its mission, and alternatives to the Fed, should be explored by a commission created for that purpose. .

2289. GDA-11815 And a central bank digital currency, which "would provide unprecedented surveillance and potential control of financial transactions,"� should be rejected. .

2290. GDA-11816 Even more ambitiously, Winfree suggests that the next Administration should think about proposing legislation that would "effectively abolish"� the Federal Reserve and replace it with "free banking,"� whereby "neither interest rates nor the supply of money"� would be "controlled by government."� Free banking would produce a "stable and sound"� currency and a "strong"� financial system, "while allowing lending to flourish."� Alternatively, Winfree writes, the next Administration should "consider the feasibility of a return to the gold standard."� 21 DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Thomas F. .

2291. GDA-11824 Any exercise in government-wide budgeting and reform should review the department with an eye toward consolidation, elimination, or privatization that examines the efficiency, effectiveness, and underlying philosophy of each individual component. .

2292. GDA-11825 Though not an exhaustive set of proposals, the next conservative President should consider whether: l The International Trade Administration (ITA) and parts of the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) should be streamlined and moved to the Office of the U.S. .

2293. GDA-11827 Trade and Development Agency; the Export- Import Bank; and other trade-related programs spread across the federal government --- as well as considering whether many of these programs should exist within the federal government; l The Economic Development Administration's grant programs, which are among a broad set of duplicative and overlapping federal economic development grant programs, should be consolidated with other programs and/or eliminated; l The Bureau of Economic Analysis and Census Bureau, as well as the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, should be consolidated into a more manageable, focused, and efficient statistical agency; l The U.S. .

2294. GDA-11828 Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) should be made into a performance-based organization under the Office of Management and Budget (OMB); l Alternatively, the USPTO should be consolidated with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in a new U.S. .

2295. GDA-11829 Office of Patents, Trademarks, and Standards, with all non-mission-critical research functions eliminated or moved to other, more focused, federal agencies; and l The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) should be dismantled and many of its functions eliminated, sent to other agencies, privatized, or placed under the control of states and territories. .

2296. GDA-11837 The Trump Administration began implementing key changes, such as updating financial management tools, but more must be done to digitize and modernize the department's processes to free resources for secretarial and presidential priorities. .

2297. GDA-11841 Department of Commerce leadership should also fight to restore direct funding and additional political appointee positions to OS and its constituent parts involved in implementing and communicating the Commerce Secretary's and President's policy priorities. .

2298. GDA-11846 Political appointees must also monitor internal CFO operations down to the operating division level to ensure that funds are not being diverted to programs that do not align with Administration priorities, as has regularly happened in years past. .

2299. GDA-11849 Upon entering office, all such committees should be reviewed regarding whether they are required by statute and abolished if they are not. .

2300. GDA-11850 Membership of the remaining committees should be reconstituted to ensure they are sources of genuine expert advice and productive contributions to the policy-making process. .

2301. GDA-11851 Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) compliance and awareness of any ways the committees have been written into regulations should be considered. .

2302. GDA-11862 In a conservative Administration, the ITA should operate with the following priorities: l Counter the malign influence of China and other U.S. .

2303. GDA-11866 Political leadership must manage accordingly. .

2304. GDA-11868 An incoming Administration should ensure that Assistant Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary positions are staffed by appointees as quickly as possible. .

2305. GDA-11878 Whatever the case, improvements to the current system must be made to both protect U.S. .

2306. GDA-11919 Going forward, I&A should be permanently restructured to perform supply-chain analysis on an ongoing basis for the U.S. .

2307. GDA-11921 Furthermore, permanent standing teams should be established and staffed by properly aligned political appointees and trusted career staff to analyze and spur action on the following priority policy issues: l Strategic decoupling from China; l Defense industrial base strength; l Critical supply chains (e.g., pharmaceuticals, medical devices, food); and l Emerging technologies (e.g., rare earth minerals, semiconductors, batteries, artificial intelligence, quantum computing). .

2308. GDA-11930 CS resources should be distributed according to the following set of priorities: l Value in countering the malign influence of adversaries, particularly China; l Value in fostering U.S. .

2309. GDA-11933 Ultimately, difficult decisions must be made about the value of CS posts and whether individual posts can be justified given current resources and the above criteria. .

2310. GDA-11934 If the State Department deems the diplomatic value of a permanent in-country CS post to be vital to the national interest, then State should bear more of the cost of maintaining that post. .

2311. GDA-11935 Global Markets should also consolidate and elevate the Advocacy Center and SelectUSA as relatively low-cost tools to drive large-scale export transactions and foreign direct investment (FDI). .

2312. GDA-11940 Given the value placed on senior-level engagement by many governments and companies, this consolidated Office of Trade and Investment Advocacy should be headed by a Deputy Assistant Secretary. .

2313. GDA-11941 The new office should also seek congressional authorization to utilize its FDI-promotion tools to encourage reshoring by U.S. .

2314. GDA-11950 Those reforms still present in the Department of Commerce's EAR must be reversed. .

2315. GDA-11953 export control regulations should be utilized to prevent theft of personally identifiable information and to encourage U.S. .

2316. GDA-11964 This mechanism should be improved. .

2317. GDA-11965 BIS should create an open, transparent rulemaking process by which any industry participant, private entity, or branch of the government may, at any time, submit nominations for emerging/foundational technologies for control. .

2318. GDA-11966 Then, on a quarterly basis, BIS should make public such recommendations (while holding the identity of the submitter confidential) for public input, followed by an explanation about its ultimate decision to control or not control the items, its reasons, the level of controls applied (stringent or permissive), and the relevant Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) under the Commerce Control List. .

2319. GDA-11967 Commerce should also institute a mechanism whereby its decisions can be challenged, including on a confidential basis. .

2320. GDA-11970 The Assistant Secretary does not need to lead the dispute resolution, and this process should be revised by giving lead authority to BIS's Under Secretary, who is better able to account for diverging views. .

2321. GDA-11971 Moreover, BIS's authority to overrule other agency votes should be changed. .

2322. GDA-11972 Each agency should have one equal vote and, if a licensing dispute remains unresolved, the final decision should be elevated to the National Security Advisor and the Secretaries of Defense, State, Commerce, and Energy. .

2323. GDA-11973 Additionally, to improve congressional oversight of BIS's license adjudication process, BIS should provide specific congressional committees with data from the Automated Export System on a quarterly basis. .

2324. GDA-11974 Electronic files should contain U.S. .

2325. GDA-11981 BIS must deny export licenses to countries that do not permit adequate end-use checks (e.g., China/Russia) by U.S. .

2326. GDA-11983 BIS should also strengthen the forensic audit capabilities of its Export Enforcement officers through improved and frequent training so they are able to detect export-control violations. .

2327. GDA-11992 export control policies must be updated to reflect these realities and the associated threats to national security. .

2328. GDA-11993 Key priorities for EAR modernization for countries of concern should be: l Eliminating the "specially designed"� licensing loophole; l Redesignating China and Russia to more highly prohibitive export licensing groups (country groups D or E); l Eliminating license exceptions; l Broadening foreign direct product rules; l Reducing the de minimis threshold from 25 percent to 10 percent --- or 0 percent for critical technologies; l Tightening the deemed export rules to prevent technology transfer to foreign nationals from countries of concern; l Tightening the definition of "fundamental research"� to address exploitation of the open U.S. .

2329. GDA-11997 Many believe that a Cold War has already begun; if so, then strategic decoupling from China is necessary and, fundamentally, any exports of goods, software, and technology to countries of concern, whether directly or indirectly, should be prohibited or controlled in the absence of good cause (e.g., humanitarian and medical aid, food aid). .

2330. GDA-12000 Given China's Civil-Military Fusion Strategy and Russia's massive war efforts facilitated by a broad range of the Russian economy, BIS must add more entities to the Entity List and apply a license review "policy of denial"� that prohibits exports to these entities. .

2331. GDA-12001 Entity List parties that violate export controls should be placed on the BIS Denied Persons List (and thereby lose export privileges) and, if the violations are significant enough, they should also be sanctioned by the Department of Treasury. .

2332. GDA-12003 Department of Commerce leadership should work across government agencies to address privacy and data concerns arising out of "big tech"� from national security and export control perspectives. .

2333. 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. .

2334. 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. .

2335. GDA-12007 BIS should additionally designate app providers (such as WeChat and ByteDance/ TikTok) known for undermining U.S. .

2336. GDA-12018 It should be broken up and downsized. .

2337. GDA-12023 Studies have found that the forecasts and warnings provided by the private companies are more reliable than those provided by the NWS.2 The NWS provides data the private companies use and should focus on its data-gathering services. .

2338. GDA-12024 Because private companies rely on these data, the NWS should fully commercialize its forecasting operations. .

2339. 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. .

2340. GDA-12028 The NWS should be a candidate to become a Performance-Based Organization to better enforce organizational focus on core functions such as efficient delivery of accurate, timely, and unbiased data to the public and to the private sector.3 Review the Work of the National Hurricane Center and the National Environmental Satellite Service. .

2341. GDA-12031 Data collected by the department should be presented neutrally, without adjustments intended to support any one side in the climate debate. .

2342. GDA-12039 NOS' expansion of the National Marine Sanctuaries System should also be reviewed, as discussed below. .

2343. GDA-12044 The goals of these two agencies should be streamlined. .

2344. GDA-12054 The Department of Commerce and the Council on Environmental Quality should collaborate to reduce this redundancy. .

2345. GDA-12058 The preponderance of its climate-change research should be disbanded. .

2346. GDA-12060 These operations should be reviewed with an aim of consolidation and reduction of bloat. .

2347. GDA-12062 The Office of Marine and Aviation Operations, which provides the ships and planes used by NOAA agencies, should be broken up and its assets reassigned to the General Services Administration or to other agencies. .

2348. GDA-12066 Multiple competitions should take place in cities to attract a variety of innovators and investors to propel innovation forward in a way that benefits the needs of NOAA. .

2349. GDA-12069 Particular attention must be paid to appointments in this area. .

2350. GDA-12073 This office should be the vehicle for a new Administration to set a robust and unified whole-of-government commercial space policy that cements U.S. .

2351. GDA-12076 OSC is, by law, the Department of Commerce's lead on space policy and must therefore link directly to all the bureaus and other organizations within the department. .

2352. GDA-12083 The President should, by executive order, direct the Office of Space Commerce, working with the National Space Council, to establish a whole-of-government policy for licensing and oversight of commercial space operations. .

2353. GDA-12088 As the office charged with providing policy direction and oversight for BEA and the Census Bureau, new leadership should take an early and active role within both bureaus. .

2354. GDA-12095 A new Administration should ensure that BEA conducts its statistical analysis in a consistent and objective manner, with the Undersecretary for Economic Affairs taking a strong interest in BEA's operations and data products. .

2355. GDA-12096 A new Administration should also study the feasibility of merging all statistical agencies (Census Bureau, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, etc.) under one bureau to increase efficiency and better coordinate cross-departmental issues. .

2356. GDA-12098 An incoming conservative Administration should focus on three areas: day-to- day management, the decennial census, and other programs. .

2357. GDA-12104 To move bureaucracy on key priorities, appointed staff should be in place at the Bureau as early as feasible after a new President takes office. .

2358. GDA-12107 The new Administration must immediately conduct a review to identify ways to better control costs and reverse recent failures of investments intended to upgrade the financial management, information technology, and human resources systems of the Census Bureau. .

2359. GDA-12109 The Census Bureau should focus on continuing to incorporate technology into its day-to-day operations, as well as the execution of its surveys, to reduce costs and provide more accurate and timely data to the American public. .

2360. GDA-12114 An incoming Administration should immediately audit the lifecycle cost estimate (LCCE) for the 2030 census and conduct a new LCCE if necessary. .

2361. GDA-12121 A new Administration should work to actively engage with conservative groups and voices to promote response to the decennial census. .

2362. GDA-12126 Any successful conservative Administration must include a citizenship question in the census. .

2363. GDA-12128 By law, the Census Bureau must deliver the decennial census subjects/ topics to Congress three years before Census Day (in this case, by April 1, 2027). .

2364. GDA-12129 Questions must be presented to Congress two years before Census Day (April 1, 2028). .

2365. GDA-12132 A new conservative Administration should take control of this process and thoroughly review any changes. .

2366. GDA-12134 Government data should be unbiased and trusted --- and an incoming conservative Administration should ensure that is the case. .

2367. GDA-12135 This work must be coordinated with the Office of Management and Budget, which governs federal data collection standards via its statistical directives. .

2368. GDA-12138 Overly intrusive questions or less crucial data should either be moved to another survey or removed from Census programs entirely. .

2369. GDA-12141 As with the decennial census, each question should be carefully reviewed to ensure the data are useful and that the questions are not overly intrusive. .

2370. GDA-12142 There should be collaboration with other departments that use the information collected on these surveys (e.g., the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, etc.) to determine how to optimize the use and collection of particular information. .

2371. GDA-12147 As with the decennial census and ACS, it should be carefully examined to ensure the Economic Census is not overly intrusive. .

2372. GDA-12148 Additionally, the Census Bureau should work with other federal agencies to determine when data collection can be supplemented by industry and other federal business indicators. .

2373. GDA-12154 The Census Bureau should review the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) to consider whether it provides an accurate measure for use by the Council of Economic Advisers and others. .

2374. GDA-12155 The findings from this review should also be taken into consideration when constructing the Current Survey and other supplemental surveys, so that the SPM can be better tracked on a trend basis and support better policy decisions over time. .

2375. GDA-12160 The NAC should immediately be abolished by the incoming Administration. .

2376. GDA-12163 The new Administration should also reevaluate and potentially abolish all non-statutory standing committees within the Census Bureau, including the Census Scientific Advisory Committee. .

2377. 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. .

2378. GDA-12199 As such, a conservative Administration must constantly work to strengthen IP rights and combat the incorrect view that strong IP rights somehow limit innovation. .

2379. GDA-12200 Political leadership in a new conservative Administration should: l Support like-minded countries as candidates for leadership in the World Intellectual Property Organization and build strong relationships with international partners to strengthen intellectual property rights. .

2380. 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. .

2381. GDA-12210 Beyond this, an incoming Administration should: l Privatize the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership. .

2382. GDA-12215 The next Administration should propose legislation to zero out this $150 million program and fully privatize existing MEP centers. .

2383. GDA-12219 Maintenance and operation of the program should be entirely handed over to the Baldridge Award Foundation to be run by non-government staff via fees. .

2384. GDA-12221 NIST should reinvigorate the Technology Transfer and ROI (return on investment) initiatives begun under the Trump Administration. .

2385. GDA-12225 NIST should explore ways to incentivize broader U.S. .

2386. GDA-12227 Standards are set to facilitate trade in countries that utilize those standards: Countries that do not allow open access to their markets should not be setting the standards for markets that do allow open access. .

2387. GDA-12228 The incoming Administration should consider increased government-sponsored participation by private companies and government employees with relevant expertise. .

2388. GDA-12231 NTIS's functions should be moved to NIST and consolidated with the Tech Transfer and ROI initiatives. .

2389. GDA-12246 Strong representation at the International Telecommunication Union should protect the interests of both private and government users of spectrum. .

2390. GDA-12250 NTIA should work with the U.S. .

2391. GDA-12259 While many of the department's functions fall outside the remit of the federal government, its unique authorities in diverse areas provide critical tools that can and should be brought to bear in implementing a conservative governing philosophy that keeps Americans safe and provides opportunity for all. .

2392. GDA-12262 The author alone assumes responsibility for the content of this chapter, and no views expressed herein should be attributed to any other individual. .

2393. 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. .

2394. GDA-12292 These goals should be accomplished through: executive action (primarily treasury orders and treasury directives) and departmental reorganization; rulemakings; promoting constructive policies in Congress; actions in international organizations; and treaties. .

2395. 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. .

2396. GDA-12301 The next Administration must act decisively to curtail activities that fall outside Treasury's mandate and primary mission. .

2397. GDA-12302 Treasury must refocus on its core missions of promoting economic growth, prosperity, and economic stability. .

2398. GDA-12307 It states: No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.6 The Treasury Department was established by statute in 1789. .

2399. GDA-12356 The Treasury Department should develop and promote tax reform legislation that will promote prosperity. .

2400. GDA-12357 To accomplish this, tax reform should improve incentives to work, save, and invest. .

2401. 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. .

2402. GDA-12362 l First, the tax system should raise the revenue necessary to fund a limited government for constitutionally appropriate activities. .

2403. 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. .

2404. GDA-12364 l Second, the tax system should minimize its adverse impact on the family and the core institutions of civil society. .

2405. GDA-12365 l Third, the tax system should be applied consistently --- with special privileges for none --- and respect taxpayer due process and privacy rights. .

2406. GDA-12367 The incoming Administration should promote immediate intermediate reforms to the existing system. .

2407. GDA-12368 It should then pursue fundamental tax reform. .

2408. 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. .

2409. 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. .

2410. GDA-12372 The corporate income tax rate should be reduced to 18 percent. .

2411. 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. .

2412. 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. .

2413. 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. .

2414. 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. .

2415. 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). .

2416. GDA-12380 USAs should be highly flexible to allow Americans to save and invest as they see fit, including, for example, investments in a closely held business. .

2417. GDA-12384 To encourage entrepreneurship, the business loss limitation should be increased to at least $500,000. .

2418. GDA-12385 Businesses should also be allowed to fully carry forward net operating losses. .

2419. GDA-12386 Extra layers of taxes on investment and capital should also be eliminated or reduced. .

2420. GDA-12387 The net investment income surtax and the base erosion anti-abuse tax should be eliminated. .

2421. 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. .

2422. GDA-12389 Deductions related to educational expenses should be repealed. .

2423. GDA-12390 Special business tax preferences, such as a special deduction for energy-efficient commercial building properties, should be eliminated.24 Wages vs. .

2424. 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. .

2425. 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. .

2426. 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. .

2427. GDA-12404 Treasury should support legislation instituting a three-fifths vote threshold in the U.S. .

2428. GDA-12412 should not outsource its tax policy to international organizations. .

2429. GDA-12416 should end its financial support and withdraw from the OECD. .

2430. 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. .

2431. 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. .

2432. GDA-12434 A Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support with strong IT management skills should be appointed by the IRS Commissioner or the President (once the position is made a presidential appointment). .

2433. GDA-12435 The various subordinates to the Deputy Commissioner should be replaced. .

2434. GDA-12436 A thorough review of IT contracts should be conducted. .

2435. GDA-12437 The Integrated Modernization Business Plan41 should be systematically reviewed and a version of it cost-effectively implemented. .

2436. GDA-12438 An oversight board composed of private sector IT experts should be established and given the authority to conduct meaningful, contemporaneous oversight. .

2437. 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. .

2438. 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. .

2439. 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. .

2440. 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. .

2441. GDA-12447 Congress and the Treasury Department must undertake a serious review of the information reporting regime and reduce the burden on the public --- especially small businesses. .

2442. GDA-12451 The operating budget of the IRS should be held constant in real terms. .

2443. GDA-12452 The resources allocated to the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate should be increased by at least 20 percent (about $44 million). .

2444. GDA-12453 The Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion should be closed. .

2445. 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. .

2446. GDA-12457 The new Administration should also oppose the multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information.49 International organizations such as the OECD, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund espouse economic theories and policies that are inimical to American free market and limited government principles. .

2447. GDA-12463 The Treasury Department plays an important role in these international institutions and should force reforms and new policies. .

2448. GDA-12464 The U.S., however, should withdraw from both the World Bank and the IMF and terminate its financial contribution to both institutions. .

2449. GDA-12466 is to provide economic assistance or humanitarian aid to other nations, it should do so unilaterally --- not through the pass-throughs of international aid organizations, non-governmental organizations, or other nations. .

2450. GDA-12470 FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY Treasury should make balancing the federal budget a mission-critical objective. .

2451. GDA-12472 The budget should be balanced by driving down federal spending while maintaining a strong national defense and not raising taxes. .

2452. GDA-12473 To reduce interest payments on the debt, Treasury should lock in current relatively low interest rates by issuing longer duration bonds, and even consider creating a 50-year treasury bill. .

2453. GDA-12477 To promote transparency of finances, each year Americans should receive a financial statement of the U.S. .

2454. GDA-12479 The statement should also include this individual family's pro-rata share of the debt based on family size. .

2455. GDA-12480 INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS The Treasury must act more assertively in international financial institutions to protect and advance U.S. .

2456. GDA-12482 It should employ a carrot-and-stick approach by increasing its activity and commitment to those financial institutions that are willing and able to adjust to this new approach and by zeroing out or potentially exiting those institutions that rely on U.S. .

2457. GDA-12485 l A major emphasis of effecting this change must be the addition of a large new cadre of U.S. .

2458. GDA-12488 must insist on the hiring and support of this human capital as a condition to future funding. .

2459. GDA-12490 should also examine increasing or decreasing its ownership levels in these institutions in order to achieve maximum leverage. .

2460. GDA-12492 The interagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States should realign its priorities to meet the United States' current foreign policy threats, especially from China. .

2461. GDA-12497 Given these issues, the next steps for CFIUS should be to develop a more coherent --- and transparent --- mitigation monitoring program to complement the enforcement guidelines, give CFIUS agencies in charge of national security concerns an equal voice at the table, and petition Congress to amend the law to cover Chinese greenfield investments. .

2462. GDA-12498 CFIUS should publish a penalty schedule for violations of CFIUS reporting and mitigation requirements. .

2463. GDA-12505 Congress should make the Department of Defense (DOD) a CFIUS co-chair with the Department of Treasury. .

2464. GDA-12509 This hampers DOD, IC, and sometimes even State Department representatives from full participation in the process or from advocating national security interests as well as they should. .

2465. GDA-12511 Congress should close the loophole on greenfield investments and require CFIUS review of investments in U.S.-based greenfield assets by Chinese-controlled entities to assess any potential harm to U.S. .

2466. GDA-12514 Greenfield investments by Chinese SOEs pose a unique threat, and they should be met with the highest scrutiny by all levels of government. .

2467. GDA-12522 Treasury should examine creating a school of financial warfare jointly with DOD. .

2468. GDA-12524 is to rely on financial weapons, tools, and strategies to prosecute international defensive and offensive objectives, it must create a specially trained group of experts dedicated to the study, training, testing, and preparedness of these deterrents. .

2469. GDA-12527 Treasury must also seriously evaluate U.S. .

2470. GDA-12529 Particular focus should be paid to investments in CCP or other state-owned enterprises, investments that result in technology transfers from the U.S. .

2471. 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. .

2472. 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. .

2473. GDA-12537 banking law remains stuck in the 1930s regarding which functions financial companies should perform. .

2474. GDA-12541 This underlying principle should guide U.S. .

2475. 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. .

2476. 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. .

2477. GDA-12549 It gives such companies access to subsidized funding and creates incentives for management to overleverage and expand high-risk investments.55 Congress should repeal each of these provisions to guard against bailouts and too-big-to-fail problems.56 Treasury plays a role in funding the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. .

2478. GDA-12550 It should work to end the conservatorships and move toward privatization of these massive housing finance agencies. .

2479. GDA-12552 Direct government ownership has worsened the risks that government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) pose to the mortgage market, and stock sales and other reforms should be pursued. .

2480. GDA-12553 Treasury should take the lead in the next President's legislative vision guided by the following principles: l Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (both GSEs) must he wound down in an orderly manner. .

2481. GDA-12554 l The Common Securitization Platform57 should be privatized and broadly available. .

2482. GDA-12555 l Barriers to private investment must be removed to pave the way for a robust private market. .

2483. GDA-12556 l The missions of the Federal Housing Administration and the Government National Mortgage Association ("Ginnie Mae") must he right-sized to serve a defined mission. .

2484. GDA-12561 Congress must require FinCEN to annually publish data regarding: l The number of SARs filed; l The number of CTRs filed;65 l The number of AML-CFT prosecutions, disaggregating those in which the AML-CFT prosecution is stand-alone and in which the prosecution is an add-on count connected to other predicate crime;66 l The number of AML-CFT convictions (similarly disaggregated); l The number and aggregate amount of AML-CFT fines imposed and the type of institution upon which the fine was imposed; and l Annual estimates of the aggregate costs imposed on private entities by the AML-CFT regime.67 Without this data, it is impossible for policymakers to make an informed judgment about the effectiveness of the AML-CFT regime. .

2485. GDA-12562 Congress should also require both FinCEN and the Government Accountability Office to undertake separate evaluations regarding which aspects of the AML-CFT regime are effective and which are not. .

2486. 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. .

2487. GDA-12565 Congress should repeal the Corporate Transparency Act, and FinCEN should withdraw its poorly written and overbroad beneficial ownership reporting rule. .

2488. GDA-12568 All these should be eliminated. .

2489. GDA-12572 The casual acceptance and rapid spread of racist policymaking in the federal government must be forcefully opposed and reversed. .

2490. GDA-12573 The next conservative Administration should take affirmative steps to expose and eradicate the practice of critical race theory and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) throughout the Treasury Department. .

2491. GDA-12578 The Administration should eliminate the 25-member Treasury Advisory Committee on Racial Equity. .

2492. GDA-12580 The next Administration should eliminate the Climate Hub Office and withdraw from climate change agreements that are inimical to the prosperity of the United States. .

2493. GDA-12585 federal government must work alongside our domestic and international partners to respond ambitiously to tackle the challenges of climate change, adapt to an already changing climate, mitigate the risks, and position the global economy for clean and sustainable growth.72 Yet history shows that economic growth and technological/scientific advance through human ingenuity are by far the best ways to prevent and mitigate extreme weather events. .

2494. GDA-12590 To that end, the next conservative Administration should withdraw the U.S. .

2495. GDA-12593 The next Administration should use Treasury's tools and authority to promote investment in domestic energy, including oil and gas. .

2496. GDA-12594 It should reverse support for international public- (and private-) based efforts promoting Environmental, Social, and Governance75 and Principles for Responsible Investment,76 both of which have badly damaged U.S. .

2497. GDA-12598 Congress should examine whether to return the Treasury's former in-house law enforcement capabilities via the return of the United States Coast Guard and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. .

2498. GDA-12603 Congress should eliminate the U.S. .

2499. GDA-12620 The authors alone assume responsibility for the content of this chapter, and no views expressed herein should be attributed to any other individual. .

2500. GDA-12670 16. In formal terms, tax policy should seek to minimize the excess burden or deadweight loss of the tax system. .

2501. 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. .

2502. GDA-12691 Business deductions that were suspended by the 2017 tax bill (other than those related to depreciation) should also be extended. .

2503. GDA-12693 The 2017 tax bill's modifications to the deduction for personal casualty and theft losses should be made permanent. .

2504. GDA-12694 The Pease limitation on itemized deductions should be permanently eliminated. .

2505. GDA-12695 24. Bonus depreciation provisions applied to specific industries should be maintained. .

2506. GDA-12696 25. Employer-provided childcare expenses should also count toward the limitation on benefit deductions. .

2507. GDA-12720 Robers et al., "Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): What America Should Do,"� Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. .

2508. GDA-12831 75. "What Is ESG?"� ESG Hurts, https://esghurts.com/ (accessed March 22, 2023), and Samuel Gregg, "Why Business Should Dispense with ESG,"� American Institute for Economic Research, December 4, 2022, https:// www.aier.org/article/why-business-should-dispense-with-esg/ (accessed March 22, 2023). .

2509. 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. .

2510. GDA-12845 The Bank should be abolished. .

2511. 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. .

2512. 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. .

2513. GDA-12998 l All transactions must have "reasonable assurance of repayment,"� which is why EXIM has an exceptionally low default rate, historically hovering around 0.5 percent --- a default rate that is the envy of private banking. .

2514. GDA-13036 12. Veronique de Rugy, Nita Ghei, and Michael Wilt, "Should the US Export-Import Bank Be Reauthorized?"� Mercatus Center at George Mason University Policy Brief, July 28, 2015, https://www.mercatus.org/research/ policy-briefs/should-us-export-import-bank-be-reauthorized (accessed February 23, 2023). .

2515. GDA-13107 To protect the Federal Reserve's independence and to improve monetary policy outcomes, Congress should limit its mandate to the sole objective of stable money. .

2516. 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. .

2517. GDA-13124 Such a reform should be given plenty of lead time so that banks can self-correct lending practices without disrupting a financial system that has grown accustomed to such activities. .

2518. GDA-13130 Federal Reserve balance sheet purchases should be limited by Congress, and the Federal Reserve's existing balance sheet should be wound down as quickly as is prudent to levels similar to what existed historically before the 2008 global financial crisis.15 l Limit future balance sheet expansions to U.S. .

2519. GDA-13132 The Federal Reserve should be prohibited from picking winners and losers among asset classes. .

2520. GDA-13139 The Fed's mortgage-related activities are a paradigmatic case of what monetary policy should not do. .

2521. GDA-13147 The flood of capital from the Federal Reserve into MBSs increased the amount of capital available for real estate purchases while lower interest rates on mortgage borrowing --- driven down in part by the Federal Reserve's MBS purchases --- induced and enabled borrowers to take on even larger loans.21 The Federal Reserve should be precluded from any future purchases of MBSs and should wind down its holdings either by selling off the assets or by allowing them to mature without replacement. .

2522. GDA-13150 This amounts to a transfer to Wall Street at the expense of the American public and has driven such excess reserves to $3.1 trillion, up seventyfold since 2007.22 The Federal Reserve should immediately end this practice and either sell off its balance sheet or simply stop paying interest so that banks instead lend the money. .

2523. GDA-13151 Congress should bring back the pre-2008 system, founded on open-market operations. .

2524. GDA-13193 However, manipulation of money and credit is limited because new dollars are not costless to the federal government: They must be backed by some hard asset like gold. .

2525. GDA-13207 Beyond full backing, alternate paths to gold backing might involve gold-convertible Treasury instruments29 or allowing a parallel gold standard to operate temporarily alongside the current fiat dollar.30 These could ease adoption while minimizing disruption, but they should be temporary so that we can quickly enjoy the benefits of gold's ability to police government spending. .

2526. GDA-13231 Speculative booms and destructive busts caused by swings in total spending should be avoided. .

2527. GDA-13239 How much money must be created each year depends on how fast money demand is growing. .

2528. GDA-13241 It says the Fed should raise its policy rate when inflation and real output growth are above trend and lower its policy rate when inflation and real output growth are below trend. .

2529. GDA-13244 These rules state that the Fed should neutralize demand shocks but not respond to supply shocks, which means that it should "see through"� demand shocks by tolerating higher (or lower) inflation. .

2530. GDA-13251 Capable elected officials must persuade the public that the advantages of NGDP targeting and the Taylor Rule, especially in terms of supporting labor markets, outweigh the disadvantages. .

2531. GDA-13252 MINIMUM EFFECTIVE REFORMS Because Washington operates on two-year election cycles, any monetary reform must take account of disruption to financial markets and the economy at large. .

2532. 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. .

2533. GDA-13258 There should be no more "flexible average inflation targeting,"� which amounts to ex post justification for bad policy. .

2534. GDA-13260 Elected officials must clamp down on the Fed's incorporation of environmental, social, and governance factors into its mandate, including by amending its financial stability mandate. .

2535. GDA-13267 The chapter reflects input from all the contributors, however, no views expressed herein should be attributed to any specific individual. .

2536. GDA-13330 24. Reforms should also strengthen the incentives of bank depositors (customers) and bank shareholders (owners) to monitor bank portfolios. .

2537. GDA-13411 Entrepreneurs believe the SBA is fairly archaic in its operations and programming and must be transformed to serve small businesses in the modern economy effectively.33 Therefore, a restructured and reformed SBA would end the long-term deficiencies, practices, and problems that have prolonged the decades-long cycle of waste, fraud, and mismanagement. .

2538. GDA-13426 As a future Administration evaluates agency structure and the particulars of how the SBA is spending appropriated funds, it should immediately require actions and procedures to compel a culture of accountability and performance. .

2539. GDA-13428 As noted in an October 2022 IG report, failure to adopt procedures that would reliably capture data and information for various programs, coupled with significant challenges and weaknesses regarding IT investments, systems development, and security controls, presents significant risks to program integrity and increased risk of waste, fraud, and abuse.34 Addressing these shortcomings and risks should be a priority challenge and action item for the next Administration. .

2540. GDA-13436 RFA economic analysis should be expanded to include indirect costs along with direct costs. .

2541. GDA-13437 In addition, the next Administration should require other agencies to seek Advocacy's input. .

2542. GDA-13439 Congress should presumptively exempt small businesses from new agency rules to force agencies to seek Advocacy's input and permit new rules to apply to small businesses only with Advocacy signoff under specified criteria. .

2543. 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. .

2544. GDA-13444 A major immediate priority for the next Administration should be a final accounting and accelerated cleanup of fraudulent COVID-19 loan and grant activity. .

2545. GDA-13445 As noted by the SBA IG, "managing COVID-19 stimulus lending is the greatest overall challenge facing SBA, and it may likely continue to be for many years as the agency grapples with fraud in the programs"�."�40 The next Administration should: l Consider bringing in private-sector support and expertise to close out these programs. .

2546. GDA-13446 Forgiveness and fraud must be dealt with as swiftly as possible, and law enforcement officials must pursue fraud vigorously. .

2547. GDA-13447 Entities receiving PPP loans that did not meet eligibility for forgiveness must be required to pay back the money. .

2548. GDA-13451 If it does have that authority, the SBA should reverse the forgiveness decisions for the subject loans, reiterate its preliminary determinations of ineligibility, investigate the matter more thoroughly, and take all appropriate action when its investigation concludes. .

2549. GDA-13452 Regardless of whether it reverses its forgiveness, if its investigation uncovers evidence that Planned Parenthood affiliates or any other loan recipients knowingly misrepresented their eligibility in their applications, the SBA should make appropriate referrals to the Department of Justice. .

2550. GDA-13459 In view of the challenges the SBA has experienced in its administration of this program, as well as the fraud and abuse in the EIDL COVID-19-related program and the IG's concern that the systemic problems within this lending program undermine the SBA's work, the next Administration should: l Work with Congress to assess the extent to which disaster loans should be offered by another agency rather than the SBA and explore private-sector channels for administering the loans. .

2551. GDA-13468 The next Administration should immediately: l Notify Congress under 28 U.S. .

2552. GDA-13473 The SBA "coordinates and monitors the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs for all federal agencies with extramural budgets for research or research and development (R/R&D) in excess of the expenditures established in sections 9(f) and 9(n) of the Small Business Act."�56 The SBIR and STTR Extension Act of 2022 extended these programs from September 30, 2022, through September 30, 2025.57 SBIR requires that 3.2 percent of spending by agencies with extramural R&D budgets of $100 million or more must be directed to small businesses. .

2553. GDA-13475 The next Administration should: l Continue the SBIR and SBTT programs as they successfully fund the next wave of technological innovation to compete with Big Tech. .

2554. GDA-13477 l Ensure the enactment of stricter rules requiring that SBIR funds must be expended on capital investments in the United States. .

2555. GDA-13488 The SBA's existing programs should be reformed to expand the private market for capital in small-manufacturer expansion. .

2556. GDA-13489 The next Administration should: l Ask Congress to make available a category of Section 7(a) loans with a larger available principal that is used to finance manufacturing facility construction and equipment upgrading. .

2557. GDA-13494 However, the program largely duplicates private-sector venture capital to the extent that the sector receiving much of its support is software and information technology, which already receive the lion's share of venture capital investment.65 In addition, Congress should reform the SBIC program to make its financing more favorable to capital-intense investments and small manufacturers. .

2558. GDA-13501 The next Administration should: l Encourage Congress to create a "medium-sized business"� classification with its eligibility for programs confined to access to capital programs from projects for which credit elsewhere does not exist. .

2559. GDA-13509 SBREFA panel requirements should be extended to all federal agencies. .

2560. GDA-13513 The position of Administrator should not be considered a symbolic or messaging-related position as some past Administrations have viewed it. .

2561. GDA-13514 Rather, the Administrator should have the requisite experience, skills, and knowledge to ensure that the SBA fulfills its statutory authorities. .

2562. 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. .

2563. GDA-13517 The SBA Administrator and leadership team must share the President's mission and vision and execute the Administration's policies effectively. .

2564. GDA-13518 Budget The next Administration should undertake a comprehensive review of the effectiveness of its various loan and grant programs and provide a report to Congress within six months. .

2565. GDA-13519 The report should rank programs by cost-effectiveness. .

2566. GDA-13520 In the interim, the roughly $1 billion overall agency budget should be held constant until the report is considered, after which Congress should terminate ineffective programs, consolidate duplicative functions, and reallocate resources to more effective programs (such as the Office of Advocacy) or consider reducing the SBA budget. .

2567. GDA-13523 Various IG reports have noted that the lack of skilled employees within the SBA has fueled fraud and mismanagement in COVID-19 lending programs, and congressional leaders have expressed alarm about these "changes that haphazardly overextend the SBA's responsibilities at a time when they are devastated by fraud and underperforming on their core mission of serving the nation's 33 million small businesses."�74 A conservative Administration should rein in these idealistic and impractical efforts, get current programs under control and properly staffed with people who can manage and perform competently, and outsource efforts where private-sector expertise is appropriate and more efficient. .

2568. GDA-13526 The author alone assumes responsibility for the content of this chapter, and no views expressed herein should be attributed to any other individual. .

2569. GDA-13615 See also press release, "Small Business Committee Republicans: The SBA Should Stay Out of Elections and Focus on Our Small Businesses,"� Small Business Committee Republicans, Committee on Small Business, U.S. .

2570. GDA-13705 63. Sridhar Kota and Tom Mahoney, "Innovation Should Be Made in the U.S.A.,"� The Wall Street Journal, November 15, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/innovation-should-be-made-in-the-u-s-a-11573833987 (accessed February 18, 2023). .

2571. GDA-13746 Trade policy can and must play an essential role in an American manufacturing and defense industrial base renaissance. .

2572. GDA-13749 According to the MFN rule, WTO members must apply the lowest tariffs that they apply to the products of any one country to the products of every other country.3 However, WTO members can charge higher tariffs if they apply these nonreciprocal tariffs to all countries. .

2573. GDA-13767 Such offshoring not only suppresses the real wages of American blue-collar workers and denies millions of Americans the opportunity to climb up the rungs of the ladder to the middle class, but also raises the specter of a manufacturing and defense industrial base that, unlike our experience in World Wars I and II, will not be able to provide the weapons and matériel that would be needed should America enter another major world war or seek to assist a major ally like Europe, Japan, or Taiwan. .

2574. GDA-13781 Under its most favored nation (MFN) rule, each WTO member must apply the lowest tariffs it applies to the products of any one country to the products of every other WTO country. .

2575. GDA-13849 If the USRTA were enacted, a President would likely have to prioritize which countries he should negotiate with first. .

2576. GDA-13911 Xi has promised that the deed will be done by 2049, the 100-year anniversary of the Communist takeover of the Mainland.19 In light of Communist China's broader geopolitical and military agenda, the American President who takes office in January 2025 must view the U.S.-China trade relationship and associated policy reforms within the context of the broader existential threat posed by Communist China. .

2577. GDA-13912 The question is whether that next President should seek to decouple economically and financially from Communist China as America's first best response to China's unrelenting aggression or continue efforts to negotiate with an authoritarian country and brutal dictatorship with a well-established reputation for failing to abide by any agreements it enters. .

2578. 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. .

2579. GDA-13961 Since 2012, CB Insights has catalogued more than 600 high-technology investments in the United States worth close to $20 billion --- with artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, and robotics receiving a particular focus --- by Communist China-based investors.30 All of these behaviors raise the question of whether Communist Chinese nationals should be granted visas to penetrate our universities, think tanks, and research institutions and whether Communist Chinese capital should be allowed to invest in America's cutting-edge technology firms. .

2580. GDA-13963 It should be clear from this review that Communist China's economic aggression is both widespread and systemic. .

2581. GDA-13966 The question: How should the next American President address this aggression? Policy responses range from further attempts to negotiate with the CCP to strategically decoupling economically and financially from Communist China. .

2582. GDA-13985 The next American President should strongly consider adopting all of them as a package: l Strategically expand tariffs to all Chinese products and increase tariff rates to levels that will block out "Made in China"� products, and execute this strategy in a manner and at a pace that will not expose the U.S. .

2583. GDA-14022 He was right then, and whoever is the next President in 2025 should heed this critical principle whenever the flag of free trade is waved to prevent the adoption of needed reforms. .

2584. GDA-14025 Rather, it is over whether our borders should be open or secure and whether it is prudent to offshore our manufacturing and defense industrial base and associated supply chains. .

2585. GDA-14051 The national security argument that trade deficits matter begins with America's national-income accounting double-entry system and this accounting identity: Any deficit in the current account caused by imbalanced trade must be offset by a surplus in the capital account, meaning foreign investment in the U.S. .

2586. GDA-14076 The next Administration should make every effort to find someone with that understanding and that commitment to fill this position. .

2587. GDA-14083 Under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962,40 the President has the authority, through tariffs or other means, to reduce imports from other countries "if the President determines that such reduction or elimination would threaten to impair the national security."� As a practical matter, the Secretary of Commerce spearheads any Section 232 cases, but in order to proceed with a Section 232 case, Commerce must obtain signoff from the Secretary of Defense. .

2588. GDA-14092 AUTHOR'S NOTE: The author alone assumes responsibility for the content of this chapter, and no views expressed herein should be attributed to any other individual. .

2589. GDA-14100 Policymakers should be modest about what they can accomplish through trade policy and need to exercise constant vigilance against abuses. .

2590. GDA-14112 Conservatives should be similarly skeptical of recent attempts on the Right to use progressive trade policy to punish political opponents, remake manufacturing, or accomplish other objectives for which it is not suited. .

2591. GDA-14120 A conservative trade policy should limit trade-unrelated provisions in trade agreements. .

2592. GDA-14121 This does not mean that conservatives should ignore international negotiations on labor, environment, intellectual property, and other non-trade issues. .

2593. GDA-14123 A conservative trade policy must also take seriously the reality that in a democracy, the other side holds power about half of the time, but progressives run most agencies almost all of the time. .

2594. GDA-14129 It should be used to strengthen alliances to help counter China, Russia, and other threats while making economic and cultural inroads inside them. .

2595. GDA-14130 The next American President should use this aspect of trade to the nation's advantage. .

2596. GDA-14150 A conservative approach to economic policy should treat value as value, whether it is created on a farm, in a factory, or in an office. .

2597. GDA-14187 Displaced workers should receive the same benefits regardless of the reason. .

2598. GDA-14208 When people try something repeatedly and it still doesn't work, they should stop doing it --- especially when the consequences turn out to be just what conservative economists have long predicted they would be.49 With tariffs, the proper reform is not only to get rid of the individual tariffs that have backfired, but also to build institutional safeguards against future abuse. .

2599. GDA-14241 The next President should ignore special interests and populist ideologues who want government to do the opposite through industrial policy, trade protectionism, and other failed progressive policies. .

2600. GDA-14252 Conservative leaders should draw on this history to position America for continued success. .

2601. GDA-14291 When people see better opportunities, they should be allowed to pursue them. .

2602. GDA-14294 These include: l Less restrictive zoning and permit rules; l Occupational licensing reform; l Automatic sunsets for new regulations; and l A presidentially appointed Regulatory Reduction Commission that would examine the Code of Federal Regulations each year and send repeal packages to Congress that include old, obsolete, redundant, and harmful regulations.67 People who need help should be able to get it. .

2603. GDA-14299 A conservative Administration should approach trade adjustment assistance with caution and use it as a last-resort political bargaining tool and not as a first-resort policy. .

2604. GDA-14301 A better approach to trade adjustment assistance, if it must be expanded, is direct cash transfers. .

2605. GDA-14304 Major life decisions should be made by individuals for themselves, not for them in Washington. .

2606. GDA-14305 Trade adjustment assistance should treat workers who lose their jobs to international trade the same as workers who lose their jobs for any other reason are treated. .

2607. GDA-14308 Nor should they. .

2608. GDA-14310 Trade-displaced workers should be eligible for the same benefits for which anyone else is eligible, no more and no less. .

2609. GDA-14319 Instead they must buy from a single producer, which guarantees producers large market shares in states where they win contracts. .

2610. GDA-14334 Factories will get contaminated, and health inspectors will not always be as thorough as they should be. .

2611. GDA-14337 It should not be that way, and the next President can change it. .

2612. GDA-14357 Given the recent interest in increased antitrust enforcement, conservatives should embrace policies like mutual recognition that have the double benefit of increasing market competition while decreasing government's regulatory footprint. .

2613. GDA-14359 should enact mutual recognition agreements for a wide variety goods with the United Kingdom, European Union, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and other governments with high standards comparable to our own. .

2614. GDA-14364 ports must be U.S.-built, U.S.-owned, and U.S.-crewed. .

2615. GDA-14377 The next conservative Administration should unleash American potential by unilaterally enacting Jones Act exemptions wherever allowed, as currently happens most years during hurricane season, and working with Congress to repeal the Jones Act. .

2616. GDA-14379 The post-COVID inflation spike may be over long before the next Administration takes office, but keeping it under control should remain a high priority. .

2617. GDA-14380 Free traders should not oversell their case by saying that liberalization would solve inflation. .

2618. GDA-14387 The next Administration should keep this in mind as it tries to cope with this politically volatile issue. .

2619. GDA-14390 Policymakers should therefore: l Negotiate multilateral and bilateral trade agreements. .

2620. GDA-14401 Anyone who thinks Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping and the government in Beijing are bad actors now --- which they are --- should consider what would happen if the Chinese convinced liberal countries like the United States to decouple from them, leaving them free to pursue whatever policies they wish without the significant counterweight that America can provide. .

2621. GDA-14411 The President should work with Congress to renew TPA to rationalize negotiations for upcoming trade agreements with the United Kingdom, the European Union, and others. .

2622. GDA-14412 Both supporters and critics have questions regarding TPA's implications for the constitutional separation of powers, and policymakers should take those questions seriously. .

2623. GDA-14428 If governments are to negotiate these issues, they should do so in separate agreements so they do not torpedo efforts to liberalize and engage with allies. .

2624. GDA-14429 Trade agreements should lighten burdens, not create new ones by attempting to address non-trade issues. .

2625. GDA-14443 More than 20 years ago, a Heritage Foundation senior fellow proposed that America and other free economies should form a Global Free Trade Alliance that is open to all countries that adhere to a truly free market system with appropriate safeguards such as property rights, lack of corruption, and enforcement of contracts.74 Alongside a general agreement on low to zero tariffs, the alliance would move to reduce the effect of nontariff barriers (such as the previously noted baby formula ingredient and labeling barriers) by basing trade around the principle of mutual recognition. .

2626. GDA-14446 When China joined the WTO in 2001, it was granted developing-nation status, which it continues to use to dodge rules that should apply to it. .

2627. GDA-14457 Congress must renew it periodically, or else the agency will permanently close. .

2628. GDA-14486 Closing EXIM should be one of the next Administration's easiest decisions. .

2629. GDA-14489 It should be comprehensive and flexible. .

2630. GDA-14492 While the facts on the ground should inoculate the next Administration against the most strident China fearmongering circulating in the media and in Washington, that does not mean that the government in Beijing is no threat to American interests. .

2631. GDA-14493 The question is: What should we do about it? A serious China policy will require American policymakers to integrate doctrines, institutional prerogatives, expertise, and realistic objectives. .

2632. GDA-14497 An effective China policy must also allow for adaptation because the CCP will not sit idly by. .

2633. GDA-14502 The next Administration should: l End China's developing-nation status in the WTO and other international organizations. .

2634. GDA-14503 China is an advanced manufacturing economy and should be treated as such, even if its political and legal institutions remain those of a developing nation, to prevent it from exploiting its status to gain special privileges. .

2635. GDA-14505 There should be actions against Chinese firms that are known to have engaged in unfair trade practices such as intellectual property theft. .

2636. GDA-14506 Rather than blanket tariffs or non-tariff barriers aimed at entire Chinese industry sectors, firms that act in bad faith should be targeted individually. .

2637. GDA-14514 Rejoining this alliance should be a top priority in the next conservative Administration's China policy. .

2638. GDA-14545 At the very least, Washington should stay out of the way as much as possible when regular people want to contact each other across national, language, and cultural divides. .

2639. GDA-14550 American policy must therefore be prepared to face any contingency. .

2640. GDA-14559 No views herein should be attributed to any other individual or institution. .

2641. GDA-14738 77. Luis Martinez, "How Much Should We Trust the Dictator's GDP Growth Estimates?"� Becker-Friedman Institute for Economics at the University of Chicago, Working Paper No. .

2642. GDA-14748 Under a new chairman, he writes, "[t]he FCC needs to change course and bring new urgency to achieving four main goals: [r]eining in Big Tech; [p]romoting national security; [u]nleashing economic prosperity; and [e]nsuring FCC accountability and good governance."� "The FCC,"� writes Carr, "has an important role to play in addressing the threats to individual liberty posed by corporations that are abusing dominant positions in the market."� Nowhere is that clearer "than when it comes to Big Tech and its attempts to drive diverse political viewpoints from the digital town square."� Carr writes that the FCC should require more transparency from Big Tech, which today "offers a black box."� And it should issue "an order that interprets Section 230"� --- which provides protection from legal liability to online computer services that moderate content in good faith --- "in a way that eliminates the expansive, non-textual immunities that courts have read into the statute."� In addition to taking unilateral action, Carr says, the FCC should work with Congress on legislative changes to ensure that "Internet companies no longer have carte blanche to censor protected speech while maintaining their Section 230 protections."� Carr writes that during the Trump Administration, the FCC took an "appropriately strong approach to the national security threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party."� The FCC put Huawei on its Covered List of entities --- its list of those posing "an unacceptable risk"� to U.S. .

2643. GDA-14751 national security, while providing "Beijing with an opportunity to run a foreign influence campaign by determining the news and information that the app feeds to millions of Americans,"� and the next Administration should ban it. .

2644. GDA-14754 entities from directly or indirectly contributing to China's malign AI goals ."� Former Federal Election Commissioner Hans von Spakovsky writes in Chapter 29 that while "the authority of the President over the actions of"� the Federal Election Commission "is extremely limited,"� the President "must ensure that the [Justice Department], just like the FEC, is directed to only prosecute clear violations"� of the Federal Election Campaign Act. .

2645. GDA-14755 "The department must not construe ambiguous provisions"�in a way that infringes on protected First Amendment activity,"� he writes. .

2646. GDA-14757 DOJ should not "prosecute an individual for supposedly violating the law when the FEC has previously determined that a similarly situated individual has not violated the law,"� writes von Spakovsky. .

2647. GDA-14758 Moreover, he writes that the "President should vigorously oppose all efforts"� --- such as the language in the "For the People Act of 2021"� --- "to change the structure of the FEC"� so that it would have an "odd number"� of members. .

2648. GDA-14760 Burton writes that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) "should be reducing impediments to capital formation, not radically increasing them"� by pushing a costly "climate change"� agenda, as it is doing under the Biden Administration. .

2649. GDA-14767 The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should be reducing impediments to capital formation, not radically increasing them. .

2650. GDA-14768 The SEC and Congress should fundamentally reform the securities laws governing issuers, broker-dealers, exchanges, and other market participants. .

2651. GDA-14769 Among other things, they should establish a simplified and rationalized securities disclosure system with: l Three basic categories of firm: private firms, an intermediate category of smaller firms,4 and public firms; l Reasonable, scaled disclosure requirements; and l Specified secondary markets for the securities of these firms.5 The SEC needs to be reformed to achieve its important core functions more effectively, to improve transparency and due process, and to reduce unnecessary regulatory impediments to capital formation.6 Under current law, the SEC Chairman has the authority to make almost all of the necessary changes.7 Unfortunately, financial regulators, particularly the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), are poorly managed and organized. .

2652. GDA-14771 To reduce costs and improve transparency, due process, congressional oversight, and responsiveness, PCAOB and FINRA should be abolished, and their regulatory functions should be merged into the SEC. .

2653. GDA-14772 Furthermore, Congress should establish an independent board or commission and charge it with producing a detailed report within 18 months that examines the degree to which the regulatory functions of the various other so-called self-regulatory organizations (SROs), which are no longer self-regulatory in any meaningful sense, should be moved to the SEC.8 Discrimination based on immutable characteristics has no place in financial regulation. .

2654. GDA-14773 Offices at financial regulators that promote racist policies (usually in the name of "diversity, equity, and inclusion"�) should be abolished, and regulations that require appointments on the basis of race, ethnicity, sex, or sexual orientation should be eliminated. .

2655. GDA-14774 Equal protection of the law, equal opportunity, and individual merit should govern regulatory decisions.9 Congress has given the SEC broad "general exemptive authority,"�10 but the SEC has used this authority only rarely. .

2656. GDA-14775 It should use this authority significantly more often to reduce the regulatory burden on issuers, particularly smaller entrepreneurs. .

2657. GDA-14776 ENTREPRENEURIAL CAPITAL FORMATION Financial regulators should remove regulatory impediments to entrepreneurial capital formation.11 In the absence of the fundamental reform outlined above, the SEC should: l Simplify and streamline Regulation A (the small issues exemption)12 and Regulation CF (crowdfunding)13 and preempt blue sky registration and qualification requirements for all primary and secondary Regulation A offerings.14 l Either democratize access to private offerings by broadening the definition of accredited investor for purposes of Regulation D or eliminate the accredited investor restriction altogether.15 l Allow traditional self-certification of accredited investor status for all Regulation D Rule 506 offerings. .

2658. GDA-14780 Congress should: l Amend the Internal Revenue Code to disregard crowdfunding and Regulation A shareholders for purposes of the 100-shareholder limit for Subchapter S corporations.18 BETTER CAPITAL MARKETS To improve capital markets, the SEC should: l Preempt blue sky registration, qualification, and continuing reporting requirements for securities traded on established securities markets (including a national securities exchange or an alternative trading system).19 l Terminate the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) program.20 l Abolish Rule 144 and other regulations that restrict securities resales and instead require a company that has sold securities to provide sufficient current information to the market to permit reasonable investment decisions and secondary sales. .

2659. GDA-14781 Congress should: l Prohibit the SEC from requiring issuer disclosure of social, ideological, political, or "human capital"� information that is not material to investors' financial, economic, or pecuniary risks or returns. .

2660. GDA-14784 SEC ADMINISTRATION To enable it to achieve its core mission more effectively, the SEC should:23 l Publish better data on securities offerings, securities markets, and securities law enforcement and publish an annual data book of time series data on these matters. .

2661. GDA-14790 Alternatively, respondents should be allowed to elect whether an adjudication occurs in the SEC's administrative law court or an ordinary Article III federal court.24 l End the practice of delegating the decision to initiate an enforcement case. .

2662. GDA-14792 Government Accountability Office (GAO) --- should study whether other Commission delegation of authority to staff should be narrowed and whether sunsetting of such delegation of authority should be required. .

2663. GDA-14793 Congress should: l Require an Inspector General's (or possibly a GAO) report regarding SEC information technology spending and contracting. .

2664. GDA-14797 With adequate management processes, the SEC should not need more than two years even for complicated matters. .

2665. GDA-14798 The SEC Chairman should: l Dramatically reduce the number of direct reports to the SEC Chairman. .

2666. GDA-14801 CFTC ADMINISTRATION AND IMPROVED COMMODITIES AND DERIVATIVES MARKETS Congress should: l Modernize the definition of commodity (which is now largely a laundry list of agricultural commodities)25 and clarify the treatment of digital assets. .

2667. GDA-14808 The CFTC should: l Allocate more resources to core agency functions rather than ancillary and support operations. .

2668. GDA-14819 The SEC and CFTC should clarify the treatment of digital assets (coins or tokens). .

2669. GDA-14820 Specifically, they should: l Promulgate a joint regulation providing that a holder of digital assets may not be deemed a party to an investment contract or an investor in a common enterprise unless, while the enterprise is a going concern, the holder is entitled to a share of the earnings or profits of the common enterprise or a defined flow of payments from the common enterprise in consideration of the investment or unless, upon liquidation, the holder has rights against the assets of the common enterprise. .

2670. GDA-14821 Otherwise, the digital asset shall be deemed a commodity to be regulated by the CFTC, not the SEC. .

2671. GDA-14823 In the absence of regulatory action, Congress should enact legislation that achieves these goals. .

2672. GDA-14824 IMPROVED REGULATION OF THE INDUSTRY AND SROS Congress and the SEC need to conduct more robust oversight of self-regulatory organizations, and SROs need to be reformed; otherwise, as discussed above, SRO regulatory functions should be merged into the SEC. .

2673. GDA-14825 The SEC, FINRA itself, or Congress should: l In the absence of merging FINRA into the SEC as recommended, require that: 1. .

2674. GDA-14830 5. FINRA arbitration and disciplinary hearings should be open to the public and reported. .

2675. GDA-14832 These written FINRA arbitration decisions should be subject to SEC review and limited judicial review. .

2676. GDA-14833 l Require that all SRO fines, including those imposed by FINRA, should go either to a newly established investor reimbursement fund or to the Treasury. .

2677. GDA-14834 SROs should not have a financial interest in imposing fines. .

2678. GDA-14838 Congress should: l Conduct annual oversight hearings on SROs. .

2679. GDA-14844 The author alone assumes responsibility for the content of this chapter, and no views expressed herein should be attributed to any other individual. .

2680. GDA-14859 Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the CFPB's "perpetual insulation from Congress's appropriations power, including the express exemption from congressional review of its funding, renders the Bureau 'no longer dependent and, as a result, no longer accountable' to Congress and, ultimately, to the people"�48 and that "[b]y abandoning its 'most complete and effectual' check on 'the overgrown prerogatives of the other branches of the government' --- indeed, by enabling them in the Bureau's case --- Congress ran afoul of the separation of powers embodied in the Appropriations Clause."�49 The Court further remarked that the CFPB's "capacious portfolio of authority acts 'as a mini legislature, prosecutor, and court, responsible for creating substantive rules for a wide swath of industries, prosecuting violations, and levying knee-buckling penalties against private citizens.'"�50 On February 27, 2023, the Supreme Court granted the petition for a writ of certiorari.51 The Court should issue its final decision by 2024. .

2681. GDA-14861 Congress should abolish the CFPB and reverse Dodd-Frank Section 1061, thus returning the consumer protection function of the CFPB to banking regulators53 and the Federal Trade Commission. .

2682. GDA-14862 Provided the Supreme Court affirms the Fifth Circuit holding in Community Financial Services Association of America, the next conservative President should order the immediate dissolution of the agency --- pull down its prior rules, regulations and guidance, return its staff to their prior agencies and its building to the General Services Administration. .

2683. GDA-14863 Until this can be accomplished, however, Congress should: l Ensure that any civil penalty funds not used to recompense wronged consumers go to the Department of the Treasury. .

2684. GDA-14864 The funds should not be retained by the Bureau to be dispensed at the pleasure of the Director --- potentially to political actors. .

2685. GDA-14865 Moreover, the CFPB should not have a financial incentive to impose penalties. .

2686. GDA-14908 8. The board or commission should evaluate the regulatory functions of the National Securities Exchanges, Registered Securities Future Product Exchanges, Registered Clearing Agencies (such as the Depository Trust Company (DTC), the National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) and the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC)), the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) and the National Futures Association (NFA). .

2687. GDA-14909 This board or commission should have a broad composition and permit minority reports. .

2688. GDA-14947 Burton, "Congress Should Increase Access to Private Securities Offerings,"� Heritage Foundation Issue Brief No. .

2689. GDA-15028 Congress specified that the amount transferred to the CFPB "shall not exceed"� 12 percent "of the total operating expenses of the Federal Reserve System"�in fiscal year 2013, and in each year thereafter."� Ibid., § 5497(2)(A)(iii). .

2690. GDA-15050 Those functions performed by the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) prior to Dodd-Frank should be transferred to the OCC since OTS has merged with OCC. .

2691. GDA-15057 28 FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Brendan Carr MISSION STATEMENT The FCC should promote freedom of speech, unleash economic opportunity, ensure that every American has a fair shot at next-generation connectivity, and enable the private sector to create good-paying jobs through pro-growth reforms that support a diversity of viewpoints, ensure secure and competitive communications networks, modernize outdated infrastructure rules, and represent good stewardship of taxpayer dollars. .

2692. GDA-15074 For instance, Section 230 is codified in the Communications Act,13 and the FCC has authority to interpret that law and thus provide courts with guidance about the proper application of the statutory language.14 The FCC has addressed "net neutrality"� rules and the regulatory framework that should apply to broadband offerings. .

2693. GDA-15075 Any merger that involves a wireless company, broadcaster, or similar entity that holds an FCC license must obtain FCC approval (assuming that the merger will involve the transfer of the FCC license). .

2694. GDA-15091 That is why a new Administration should support FCC action on several fronts. .

2695. GDA-15092 Specifically, the FFC should: l Eliminate immunities that courts added to Section 230. .

2696. GDA-15093 The FCC should issue an order that interprets Section 230 in a way that eliminates the expansive, non-textual immunities that courts have read into the statute. .

2697. GDA-15094 As one of the FCC's previous General Counsels noted, the FCC has authority to take this action because Section 230 is codified in the Communications Act.16 The FCC's Section 230 reforms should track the positions outlined in a July 2020 Petition for Rulemaking filed at the FCC near the end of the Trump Administration.17 Any new presidential Administration should consider filing a similar or new petition. .

2698. GDA-15099 In contrast, the FCC should clarify that the more limited Section 230(c)(2) protections apply to any covered platform's decision to restrict access to material provided by someone else. .

2699. GDA-15108 Under the FCC's rule, broadband providers must provide detailed disclosures about practices that would shape Internet traffic --- from blocking to prioritizing or discriminating against content. .

2700. GDA-15109 The FCC could take a similar approach to Big Tech, and it should look to Section 230 and the Consolidated Reporting Act as potential sources of authority.19 In acting, the FCC could require these platforms to provide greater specificity regarding their terms of service, and it could hold them accountable by prohibiting actions that are inconsistent with those plain and particular terms. .

2701. GDA-15110 Within this framework, Big Tech should be required to offer a transparent appeals process that allows for the challenging of pretextual takedowns or other actions that violate clear rules of the road. .

2702. GDA-15112 The FCC should work with Congress on more fundamental Section 230 reforms that go beyond interpreting its current terms. .

2703. GDA-15113 Congress should do so by ensuring that Internet companies no longer have carte blanche to censor protected speech while maintaining their Section 230 protections. .

2704. GDA-15114 As part of those reforms, the FCC should work with Congress to ensure that antidiscrimination provisions are applied to Big Tech --- including "back-end"� companies that provide hosting services and DDoS protection. .

2705. GDA-15121 The FCC and Congress should work together to formulate rules that empower consumers. .

2706. GDA-15123 As Congress takes up reforms, it should therefore be mindful of how we can return to Internet users the power to control their online experiences. .

2707. GDA-15125 The FCC should also work with Congress to ensure stronger protections against young children accessing social media sites despite age restrictions that generally prohibit their use of these sites. .

2708. GDA-15126 It should be noted at this point that the views expressed here are not shared uniformly by all conservatives. .

2709. GDA-15127 There are some, including contributors to this chapter, who do not think that the FCC or Congress should act in a way that regulates the content-moderation decisions of private platforms. .

2710. GDA-15136 To put the FCC's universal service program on a stable footing, Congress should require Big Tech companies to start contributing an appropriate amount. .

2711. GDA-15137 Conservatives are not unanimous in agreeing that the FCC should expand the USF contribution base. .

2712. GDA-15138 Instead, some argue that Congress should revisit the program's entire funding structure and determine whether to continue subsidizing the provision of service. .

2713. GDA-15139 Future funding decisions, the argument goes, should be made by Congress through the normal appropriation process through which the USF program can compete for funding with other national initiatives. .

2714. GDA-15140 These decisions should be made with an eye to right-sizing the federal government's existing broadband initiatives in light of both technological advances and the recent influx of billions of dollars in new appropriations that can be used to support efforts to end the digital divide. .

2715. GDA-15146 There are, however, additional strong actions that the FCC can and should take to address the CCP's malign campaign. .

2716. GDA-15151 If that inaction persists, or if the Administration allows TikTok to continue to operate in the U.S., a new Administration should ban the application on national security grounds. .

2717. GDA-15156 However, the FCC must do a better job of ensuring that its Covered List stays up to date and accounts for changes in corporate names and forms. .

2718. GDA-15157 Therefore, a new Administration should create a more regular and timely process for reviewing entities with ties to the CCP's surveillance state. .

2719. GDA-15164 A new Administration should work with the FCC to close this loophole. .

2720. GDA-15167 As part of the FCC's ongoing work to secure our networks from entities that would do the bidding of our foreign adversaries, the FCC should do more to shine the light of transparency on the scope of the problem. .

2721. GDA-15168 To this end, the FCC should compile and publish a list of all entities that hold FCC authorizations, licenses, or other grants of authority with more than 10 percent ownership by foreign adversarial governments, including the governments of China, Russia, Iran, Syria, or North Korea. .

2722. GDA-15172 A new Administration should ensure that the program is fully funded and should look first at repurposing and applying unused COVID-era emergency funds for this purpose. .

2723. GDA-15200 Therefore, the FCC and a new Administration should work together to develop a national spectrum strategy that both identifies the specific airwaves that the FCC can free for commercial wireless services and sets an aggressive timeline for agency action. .

2724. GDA-15204 These disputes are often framed in zero-sum terms as commercial wireless and federal agency stakeholders argue over the appropriate types and amount of airwaves that the government should allocate for various purposes. .

2725. GDA-15207 On the other hand, we must ensure that America's national security and other federal agencies have access to the spectrum resources that they need to carry out their vital missions. .

2726. GDA-15214 The White House should work with Congress to establish a spectrum coordination process that will work for both commercial and federal users. .

2727. GDA-15228 The FCC should now explore similar action for the deployment of other wired infrastructure by imposing limits on the fees that local and state governments can charge for reviewing those wireline applications and time restrictions on the government's decision-making process. .

2728. GDA-15229 The next Administration should also work to address the delays that continue to persist when it comes to building Internet infrastructure on federal lands. .

2729. GDA-15230 This is an area where the FCC itself has very little jurisdiction, so a new Administration should redouble efforts to require timely reviews and final actions by agencies with jurisdiction over federal lands, including the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. .

2730. GDA-15236 The FCC should expedite its work to support this new technology by acting more quickly in its review and approval of applications to launch new satellites. .

2731. GDA-15245 Congress should therefore hold the agencies accountable so that taxpayer money is used effectively to promote broadband connectivity across the nation. .

2732. GDA-15246 To that end, the next Administration should instruct the various departments and agencies that are administering broadband infrastructure funds to direct those resources to communities without adequate Internet infrastructure instead of to places that already enjoy broadband connectivity. .

2733. GDA-15249 A new Administration should eliminate government-funded overbuilding of existing networks. .

2734. GDA-15260 Similarly, the next Administration should ask the FCC to launch a review of its existing broadband programs, including the different components of the USF, with the goal of avoiding duplication, improving efficiency of existing programs, and saving taxpayer money. .

2735. GDA-15263 Its history of regulation tends to reflect the view that the federal government should impose heavy-handed regulation rather than relying on competition and market forces to produce optimal outcomes. .

2736. GDA-15275 The FCC should engage in a serious top-to-bottom review of its regulations and take steps to rescind any that are overly cumbersome or outdated. .

2737. GDA-15276 The Commission should focus its efforts on creating a market-friendly regulatory environment that fosters innovation and competition from a wide range of actors, including cable-based, broadband-based, and satellite- based Internet providers. .

2738. GDA-15279 While this chapter identifies certain issues on which the contributors did not all agree, the author alone assumes responsibility for the content of this chapter, and no views expressed herein should be attributed to any other individual. .

2739. GDA-15372 Weintraub (D) --- April 30, 2007 During their terms, the three Republican commissioners have demonstrated with their votes and their public statements that they believe the FEC should not overregulate political activity and act beyond its statutory authority, construe ambiguous and confusing provisions against candidates and the public instead of the government, and infringe on protected First Amendment activity. .

2740. GDA-15373 l The President assuming office in 2025 must ensure, if the three Republican commissioners do not wish to remain on the FEC past their terms, that nominees for these positions share the views of those commissioners. .

2741. GDA-15374 l Also, to the extent that the President has the ability to negotiate with the Democratic Party leader in the Senate, he should try to temper any choice of the opposition party to ensure that this individual does not have extreme views on aggressive overenforcement that would severely restrict political speech and protected party, campaign, and associational activities. .

2742. GDA-15381 l The President must ensure that the DOJ, just like the FEC, is directed to only prosecute clear violations of FECA. .

2743. GDA-15382 The department must not construe ambiguous provisions against the public instead of the government or apply FECA in a way that infringes on protected First Amendment activity. .

2744. GDA-15383 It should be but is not always obvious to overzealous government prosecutors that if a federal law is confusing, it would be unjust to prosecute individuals who are unable to determine if they are violating the law. .

2745. GDA-15384 l The President should direct the DOJ and the attorney general not to prosecute individuals under an interpretation of the law with which the FEC --- the expert agency designated by Congress to enforce the law civilly and issue regulations establishing the standards under which the law is applied --- does not agree. .

2746. GDA-15385 l In making prosecution decisions, DOJ should be instructed to consult and consider all official actions by the FEC that interpret the law including prior enforcement actions, regulatory pronouncements, and advisory opinions, just as private practitioners, the public, and political actors must do. .

2747. GDA-15387 Furthermore, this rule should apply even when there is a tied or three-to-three vote by the FEC commissioners whether in an enforcement action or an advisory opinion since under the statute, the FEC cannot take any action unless there are four affirmative votes. .

2748. GDA-15389 The DOJ should not engage in criminal prosecutions that stretch legal theories and defy FEC interpretations and regulations. .

2749. GDA-15400 l The President should direct the attorney general to defend the FEC in all litigation when there is a failure of the commissioners to authorize the general counsel of the agency to defend it. .

2750. GDA-15402 l As a legislative matter and given this abuse, the President should seriously consider recommending that Congress amend FECA to remove the agency's independent litigating authority and rely on the Department of Justice to handle all litigation involving the FEC. .

2751. GDA-15406 l The President should request that the commissioners on the FEC prepare such guidance. .

2752. GDA-15407 l In the event that the FEC fails to act, the President should direct the attorney general to prepare a guidance document from the Department of Justice for the public that outlines all of the FECA statutory provisions and FEC regulations that have been changed, amended, or voided by specific court decisions. .

2753. GDA-15411 l The President should prioritize nominations to the FEC once commissioners reach the end of their terms and should be assisted by legislative language either eliminating or limiting overstays to a reasonable period of time to permit the vetting, nomination, and confirmation of successors. .

2754. GDA-15412 l The President should vigorously oppose all efforts, as proposed, for example, in Section 6002 of the "For the People Act of 2021,"�14 to change the structure of the FEC to reduce the number of commissioners from six to five or another odd number. .

2755. GDA-15416 There are numerous other changes that should be considered in FECA and the FEC's regulations. .

2756. GDA-15419 Contribution limits should generally be much higher, as they hamstring candidates and parties while serving no practical anticorruption purpose. .

2757. GDA-15421 CONCLUSION When taking any action related to the FEC, the President should keep in mind that, as former FEC Chairman Bradley Smith says, the "greater problem at the FEC has been overenforcement,"� not underenforcement as some critics falsely allege.15 As he correctly concludes, the FEC's enforcement efforts "place a substantial burden on small committees and campaigns, and are having a chilling effect on some political speech"�squeezing the life out of low level, volunteer political activity."�16 Commissioners have a duty to enforce FECA in a fair, nonpartisan, objective manner. .

2758. GDA-15422 But they must do so in a way that protects the First Amendment rights of the public, political parties, and candidates to fully participate in the political process. .

2759. GDA-15457 13. It should be noted, however, that the constitutional authority of a President to, among other things, remove appointees and direct the actions of independent agencies is a hotly contested and increasingly litigated issue. .

2760. GDA-15487 Republican Senator John Sherman explained to Congress in support of his eponymous legislation: If we will not endure a king as a political power, we should not endure a king over the production, transportation, and sale of any of the necessaries of life. .

2761. GDA-15488 If we would not submit to an emperor, we should not submit to an autocrat of trade, with power to prevent competition and to fix the price of any commodity.6 Similarly, identifying the institutional threats that market concentration can pose, the former Republican President and future Supreme Court Justice William Howard Taft wrote at the time, The federal antitrust law is one of the most important statutes ever passed in this country. .

2762. GDA-15508 The FTC must consider, therefore, the role of government itself in maintaining market concentration in areas ranging from pharmaceuticals and healthcare to avionics, banking, and real estate brokerage. .

2763. GDA-15513 Nor should it. .

2764. GDA-15515 11 Of course, the consumer welfare standard must guide FTC action, but, in appropriate situations and with strong evidence, this standard must be expanded to include more factors than just price. .

2765. GDA-15516 Further, a similar standard of proof used to establish that a practice challenged by the Commission causes harm to competition must also apply in demonstrating the efficiencies that justify the practices. .

2766. GDA-15521 NEEDED REFORMS Should the FTC Enforce Antitrust --- or Even Continue to Exist? Some conservatives think that antitrust enforcement should be invested solely in the Department of Justice (DOJ). .

2767. GDA-15532 The FTC should set up an ESG/DEI collusion task force to investigate firms --- particularly in private equity --- to see if they are using the practice as a means to meet targets, fix prices, or reduce output. .

2768. GDA-15533 l Congress should investigate ESG practices as a cover for anticompetitive activity and possible unfair trade practices. .

2769. GDA-15544 While such decisions are often justified on public relations, marketing, or branding grounds --- and normally such decisions, reflecting business judgment, should and would receive deference, this presumption is harder to make in a highly partisan, ideologically divided America. .

2770. GDA-15547 Businesses, particularly those that enjoy certain government privileges or relationships and/ or market power, should not replace democratic decision-making with their own judgment on controversial matters. .

2771. GDA-15562 l The FTC should examine platforms' advertising and contract- making with children as a deceptive or unfair trade practice, perhaps requiring written parental consent. .

2772. GDA-15566 However, l The FTC can and should institute unfair trade practices proceedings against entities that enter into contracts with children without parental consent. .

2773. GDA-15567 Personal parental responsibility is, of course, key, but the law must respect, not undermine, lawful parental authority. .

2774. GDA-15582 The FTC should consider returning authority to these offices. .

2775. GDA-15585 Endorsing the federal government as a premier job creator runs counter to decades of conservative opinion that holds that New Deal agencies and subsequent government bodies should never have been created in the first place, and that their red tape and interference is a dominant cause of economic inefficiency. .

2776. GDA-15629 As Judge Frank Easterbrook famously suggested, regulators should look at the cost of error in their judgments. .

2777. GDA-15634 More broadly, the utility benefits of many online platforms and services are obscure and may be significantly overstated, as the most recent evidence suggests.29 The FTC must become more sophisticated in measuring consumer surplus. .

2778. GDA-15635 In addition, the FTC should be open to behavioral explanations, such as habit and small hedonic differences, as keys to how platforms create and keep market power.30 CONCLUSION Conservative approaches to antitrust and consumer protection continue to trust markets, not government, to give people what they want and provide the prosperity and material resources Americans need for flourishing, productive, and meaningful lives. .

2779. GDA-15640 The author alone assumes responsibility for the content of this chapter, and no views expressed herein should be attributed to any other individual. .

2780. GDA-15774 Former Navy Secretary and Ambassador Bill Middendorf added that there must be a better way to prepare for real change in a more conservative direction in the political environment in Washington. .

2781. GDA-15808 But no time must be lost in taking the first decisive steps on the road to recovery. .

2782. GDA-15813 This is why it is so often said that "people are policy."� The Cabinet secretaries, deputy secretaries, undersecretaries, assistant secretaries, deputy assistant secretaries, administrators, agency heads, and on and on that a new President chooses to place throughout the executive branch must be principled individuals already aligned with the President's conservative vision. .

2783. GDA-15814 And they must be willing to execute it on the President's behalf. .

2784. GDA-15816 Presidential appointees not only are critical to implementing the policy agenda, but also must serve to "watch the watchers"� in the departments and agencies they oversee. .

2785. GDA-15817 They must ensure accountability as well as provide a check on the inherent nature of the administrative state to overreach its authority. .

2786. GDA-15818 For example, they must rein in the Environmental Protection Agency, which declared backyard streams navigable waterways that then fall under its authority. .

2787. GDA-15819 They must rein in the Internal Revenue Service, including its 87,000 new employees hired to pick through every detail of what Americans make and how they spend their money. .

2788. GDA-15820 They must rein in agencies such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which the Biden Administration weaponized to attempt to force COVID-19 vaccine mandates on 84 million Americans through their workplaces. .

2789. GDA-15833 While we may achieve tremendous successes under conservative leaders, the Left is always working to chip away at them, which is why we must constantly be prepared for the next fight. .

2790. GDA-15837 One final note: As most readers know, this section of a book is usually called the "Afterword,"� but we have decided to title it "Onward!"� In all the decades that I served as The Heritage Foundation's founder and president --- and to this day as a member of its Board of Trustees --- I have ended my communications with the exhortation "Onward!"� This has been my charge to encourage friends, colleagues, and allies that we must always be advancing. .

2791. GDA-15838 There are always new battles and new opportunities ahead to challenge us to do even more, and we must be ready for them, willing to engage, and use them to work for the betterment of this nation and her people. .

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Total Lines: 2799
Blank Lines:
Non Blank Lines: 2799
Imperatives: 2799
Shalls: 31
Wills: 71
IsReq:

Message: These metrics are what allow you to compare different documents and different analysis runs. Consider moving the numbers into a spreadsheet for visualization. Counts of Shalls, Wills, IsReq, and Imperatives are hardcoded into the tool. You have the ability to enter a Norm value, which can be surfaced after multiple analysis sessions.

Item Risk Count Children % lines % imperative % shall % will % isreq % Norm

COVID-19 s20s

25

0.89

0.89

80.64

35.21

Certifications s21s

8

0.28

0.28

25.8

11.26

China s18s

72

2.57

2.57

Civil Service s18s

6

0.21

0.21

19.35

8.45

Climate Change s18s

21

0.75

0.75

67.74

29.57

Communist s18s

13

0.46

0.46

41.93

18.3

Constitution s19s

38

1.35

1.35

53.52

Corporations s19s

25

0.89

0.89

80.64

35.21

Defense s21s

60

2.14

2.14

84.5

Deregulation s19s

196

7

7

Discrimination s22s

25

0.89

0.89

80.64

35.21

Education s21s

89

3.17

3.17

Eliminate Repeal s18s

148

5.28

5.28

Elites s22s

4

0.14

0.14

12.9

5.63

Epidemics s20s

9

0.32

0.32

29.03

12.67

Illegal Activities s19s

15

0.53

0.53

48.38

21.12

Infrastructure s21s

27

0.96

0.96

87.09

38.02

Liberal s22s

7

0.25

0.25

22.58

9.85

Marxist s18s

2

0.07

0.07

6.45

2.81

Medicare s17s

12

0.42

0.42

38.7

16.9

Middle Class s22s

2

0.07

0.07

6.45

2.81

Monopoly s19s

11

0.39

0.39

35.48

15.49

Must s23s

507

18.11

18.11

NATO s18s

5

0.17

0.17

16.12

7.04

NAZI Fascist s18s

Needs s23s

35

1.25

1.25

49.29

Non Elites s22s

Poor s22s

6

0.21

0.21

19.35

8.45

President s18s

304

10.86

10.86

Privatize s18s

6

0.21

0.21

19.35

8.45

Promise s24s

Revolution s18s

Rich s22s

Russia s18s

24

0.85

0.85

77.41

33.8

Section Titles s24s

1

0.03

0.03

3.22

1.4

Self Certifications s19s

1

0.03

0.03

3.22

1.4

Shalls s23s

22

0.78

0.78

70.96

30.98

Should s23s

2304

82.31

82.31

Social Security s17s

3

0.1

0.1

9.67

4.22

Socialist s18s

2

0.07

0.07

6.45

2.81

Sustainability s18s

2

0.07

0.07

6.45

2.81

Tax s19s

113

4.03

4.03

Taxpayers & Citizens s23s

78

2.78

2.78

Ukraine s18s

4

0.14

0.14

12.9

5.63

Unconstitutional s19s

1

0.03

0.03

3.22

1.4

Unions s18s

64

2.28

2.28

90.14

Ventilation s20s

Woke Labeling s18s

17

0.6

0.6

54.83

23.94

z Mined Objects

2791

99.71

99.71

Rules Total 49
Rules Triggered 43
Rules Not Triggered 6
Percent of Rules Triggered 87%

Reading Level Hide

Disabling the noise filter may reduce the reading level. Re-run the report to capture metrics for both instances.

Accessed Unique Words:
Accessed Unique Syllables:
Words with 3+ Syllables:
Polysyllabic Count: 0
Reading Level: No reading level is available. Select any rule option and check: Count Accessed Words or use a Reading Level Service which has checked: Count Accessed Words.

Document Shape Hide

The number of children at a particular level translate to a document shape. There are diffrent document shapes and each have implications. The document shapes are: random, rectangle, pyramid, inverted pyramid, trapazoid and diamond.

There are no child counts. Try disabling all services except for the service that has checked: Count Accessed Words.

Services and Triggered Rule Comments Hide

Retirees:

. . . 1. Medicare No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Medicare Color: GREEN Access Object: Medicare Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 2. Social Security No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Social Security Color: RED Access Object: Social Security Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

Government Changes:

. . . 1. China No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: China Color: PURPLE Access Object: China|Taiwan Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 2. Civil Service No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Civil Service Color: GREEN Access Object: Civil Service Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 4. Communist No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Communist Color: NAVY Access Object: Communis\w+ Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 5. Eliminate Repeal No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Eliminate Repeal Color: RED Access Object: Eliminate\w*|Repeal\w*|abolish\w* Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 6. Marxist No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Marxist Color: MAROON Access Object: Marx\w+ Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 7. NATO No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: NATO Color: BLUE Case Sensitive : CHECKED Access Object: NATO Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 8. NAZI Fascist No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: NAZI Fascist Color: FUCHSIA Access Object: Fascis\w+ Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 9. President No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: President Color: PURPLE Access Object: President Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 10. Privatize No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Privatize Color: BLUE Access Object: Privatize\w* Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 11. Revolution No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Revolution Color: ORANGE Access Object: Revolution\w* Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 12. Russia No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Russia Color: RED Access Object: Russi\w+ Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 13. Socialist No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Socialist Color: OLIVE Access Object: Socialist|Socialism Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 14. Sustainability No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Sustainability Color: BROWN Access Object: Sustainab\w+|unsustainab\w+ Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 15. Ukraine No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Ukraine Color: GREEN Access Object: Ukrain\w+ Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 16. Unions No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Unions Color: MAROON Access Object: deunionize\w*|union\w*|worker\w* Reject Object: soviet|european|\.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 17. Woke Labeling No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Woke Labeling Color: NAVY Case Sensitive : CHECKED Access Object: \b[wW]oke\w*\b|Left[^\s]|[fF]eckless\w*|[Aa]nti.[aA]merican|[Bb]iased|[Pp]olitically [Bb]iased|unbiased Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

Corporations Deregulation:

. . . 1. Constitution No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Constitution Color: Maroon Access Object: \bConstitution\w* Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 2. Corporations No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Corporations Color: RED Access Object: \bCorpor\w+ Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 3. Deregulation No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Deregulation Color: GREEN Access Object: Deregulat\w+|Regulation|regulat\w+ Reject Object: \.\.\.|Section Five Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 4. Illegal Activities No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Illegal Activities Color: Olive Access Object: Illegal|Pardon Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 5. Monopoly No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Monopoly Color: PURPLE Access Object: Monopoly|oligopoly|Anti-Trust|Antitrust Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 6. Self Certifications No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Self Certifications Color: NAVY Access Object: self.certification\w* Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 7. Tax No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Tax Color: BLUE Access Object: Tax\w* Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 8. Unconstitutional No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Unconstitutional Color: FUCSHIA Access Object: unconstitutional\w* Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

Health:

. . . 1. COVID-19 No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: COVID-19 Color: GREEN Access Object: COVID-19|COVID Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 2. Epidemics No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Epidemics Color: RED Access Object: Epidemic|Pandemic Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 3. Ventilation No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Ventilation Color: BLUE Access Object: ventilation Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

Taxpayer Needs:

. . . 1. Certifications No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Certifications Color: GREEN Access Object: Certification\w* Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 2. Defense No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Defense Color: RED Access Object: Defense Reject Object: \.\.\.|Section \w+ THE COMMON DEFENSE Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 3. Education No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Education Color: PURPLE Access Object: Education Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 4. Infrastructure No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Infrastructure Color: BLUE Access Object: Infrastructure Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

Classism:

. . . 1. Discrimination No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Discrimination Color: MAROON Access Object: discrimination Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 2. Elites No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Elites Color: RED Access Object: highly educated|managerial elite|highly educated|elite\w* Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 3. Liberal No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Liberal Color: FUCHSIA Access Object: liberal nonprofits|Liberal\w* Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 4. Middle Class No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Middle Class Color: PURPLE Access Object: Middle Class Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 5. Non Elites No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Non Elites Color: GREEN Access Object: humble|patriotic|working families who make up the majority|fly-over country Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 6. Poor No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Poor Color: BLUE Access Object: \bPoor\b|\bPoorest\b Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 7. Rich No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Rich Color: NAVY Access Object: \bRich\b|richest|billionaire\w*|millionaire\w* Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

Imperatives Needs:

. . . 1. Must No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Must Color: PURPLE Access Object: \bmust\b Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 2. Needs No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Needs Color: RED Access Object: Needs Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 3. Shalls No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Shalls Color: BLUE Access Object: \bshall\b Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 4. Should No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Should Color: NAVY Access Object: should Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 5. Taxpayers & Citizens No Comment Text in this rule.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Taxpayers & Citizens Color: GREEN Access Object: \bTaxpayers?\b|\bCitizens?\b Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

Sections:

. . . 1. Promise Must use parse option to capture the sections. A different search rule is needed for non-parse option.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Promise Color: BLACK Case Sensitive : CHECKED Access Object: PROMISE \#\d+ Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

. . . 2. Section Titles Must use parse option to capture the sections. A different search rule is needed for non-parse option.
. . . . . . Rule Summary Name: Section Titles Color: BLACK Case Sensitive : CHECKED Access Object: Section \w+ TAKING THE REINS OF GOVERNMENT|Section \w+ THE COMMON DEFENSE|Section \w+ THE GENERAL WELFARE|Section \w+ THE ECONOMY|Section \w+ INDEPENDENT REGULATORY AGENCIES Reject Object: \.\.\. Count Accessed Patterns: CHECKED

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Fascis\w+
Socialist	unsustainab\w+	Global Warming	solar and wind	wind energy	wind turbines
[fF]eckless\w*	[Pp]olitically [Bb]iased	Revolution\w*	Anti-Trust	Pardon	ventilation
managerial elite	highly educated	humble	patriotic	working families who make up the majority	fly-over country
\bPoorest\b	\bRich\b	richest	billionaire\w*	millionaire\w*	liberal nonprofits
Section \w+ THE COMMON DEFENSE	Section \w+ THE GENERAL WELFARE	Section \w+ INDEPENDENT REGULATORY AGENCIES	PROMISE \#\d+

Item	Risk	Count	Children	% lines	% imperative	% shall	% will	% isreq	% Norm
COVID-19 s20s		25		0.89	0.89	80.64	35.21
Certifications s21s		8		0.28	0.28	25.8	11.26
China s18s		72		2.57	2.57
Civil Service s18s		6		0.21	0.21	19.35	8.45
Climate Change s18s		21		0.75	0.75	67.74	29.57
Communist s18s		13		0.46	0.46	41.93	18.3
Constitution s19s		38		1.35	1.35		53.52
Corporations s19s		25		0.89	0.89	80.64	35.21
Defense s21s		60		2.14	2.14		84.5
Deregulation s19s		196		7	7
Discrimination s22s		25		0.89	0.89	80.64	35.21
Education s21s		89		3.17	3.17
Eliminate Repeal s18s		148		5.28	5.28
Elites s22s		4		0.14	0.14	12.9	5.63
Epidemics s20s		9		0.32	0.32	29.03	12.67
Illegal Activities s19s		15		0.53	0.53	48.38	21.12
Infrastructure s21s		27		0.96	0.96	87.09	38.02
Liberal s22s		7		0.25	0.25	22.58	9.85
Marxist s18s		2		0.07	0.07	6.45	2.81
Medicare s17s		12		0.42	0.42	38.7	16.9
Middle Class s22s		2		0.07	0.07	6.45	2.81
Monopoly s19s		11		0.39	0.39	35.48	15.49
Must s23s		507		18.11	18.11
NATO s18s		5		0.17	0.17	16.12	7.04
NAZI Fascist s18s
Needs s23s		35		1.25	1.25		49.29
Non Elites s22s
Poor s22s		6		0.21	0.21	19.35	8.45
President s18s		304		10.86	10.86
Privatize s18s		6		0.21	0.21	19.35	8.45
Promise s24s
Revolution s18s
Rich s22s
Russia s18s		24		0.85	0.85	77.41	33.8
Section Titles s24s		1		0.03	0.03	3.22	1.4
Self Certifications s19s		1		0.03	0.03	3.22	1.4
Shalls s23s		22		0.78	0.78	70.96	30.98
Should s23s		2304		82.31	82.31
Social Security s17s		3		0.1	0.1	9.67	4.22
Socialist s18s		2		0.07	0.07	6.45	2.81
Sustainability s18s		2		0.07	0.07	6.45	2.81
Tax s19s		113		4.03	4.03
Taxpayers & Citizens s23s		78		2.78	2.78
Ukraine s18s		4		0.14	0.14	12.9	5.63
Unconstitutional s19s		1		0.03	0.03	3.22	1.4
Unions s18s		64		2.28	2.28		90.14
Ventilation s20s
Woke Labeling s18s		17		0.6	0.6	54.83	23.94
z Mined Objects		2791		99.71	99.71