… the Bush Administration is doing its darnedest to do everything it can to advance its agenda in the remaining days left to it. We won’t talk — yet — about the shredder trucks. Just using Executive Orders and adminstrative tools, the White House is trying to stamp its ugly legacy on everything it can touch before they get tossed out on the street.
Editorial – So Little Time, So Much Damage – NYTimes.com
While Americans eagerly vote for the next president, here’s a sobering reminder: As of Tuesday, George W. Bush still has 77 days left in the White House — and he’s not wasting a minute.
President Bush’s aides have been scrambling to change rules and regulations on the environment, civil liberties and abortion rights, among others — few for the good. Most presidents put on a last-minute policy stamp, but in Mr. Bush’s case it is more like a wrecking ball. We fear it could take months, or years, for the next president to identify and then undo all of the damage.
Here is a look — by no means comprehensive — at some of Mr. Bush’s recent parting gifts and those we fear are yet to come.
The DoJ is pushing out new guidelines to let the FBI collect still more covert informaton on Americans, whether or not there’s any probable cause of wrong-doing. The White House has announced it will ignore a provision in the bill that created DHS that requires an unedited report by the department’s privacy officer be given annually to Congress. The Interior Dept is busy removing requirements for scientific review of federal projects and their impact on endangered or threatened species, as well as pushing the gray wolf off the endangered species at. The EPA is working to weaken Clean Air Act restrictoins on coal plant upgrades, and to allow new plants to be located near national parks, and may give Interior a nod to let mining companies dump more wastes in streams and valleys. Expect to see new HHS rules to allow still more health care workers to refuse to provide assistance in areas like birth control and emergency contraception.
And there’s still more.
We suppose there is some good news in all of this. While Mr. Bush leaves office on Jan. 20, 2009, he has only until Nov. 20 to issue “economically significant” rule changes and until Dec. 20 to issue other changes. Anything after that is merely a draft and can be easily withdrawn by the next president.
Unfortunately, the White House is well aware of those deadlines.
And people thought stealing the “W”s off the typewriters was childish and destructive …