Just hours after Donald Trump was inaugurated as President of the United States, his new government moved quickly to obstruct all efforts by the federal government to provide protections to American children, communities and workers.
Trump’s White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus sent out a memo ordering all agencies to “send no regulation to the Office of the Federal Register,” and “with respect to regulations that have been sent to the OFR but not published in the Federal Register, immediately withdraw them from the OFR”. The Priebus memo further ordered agencies to delay the implementation of new regulations that had been scheduled to take effect.
Federal regulations protect American children from dangers such as lead poisoning. They protect American workers from unsafe conditions on the job, and from bosses who try to cheat them out of their pay. They protect American communities from threats such as pollution in the air and water.
One of the very first actions of the Trump White House has been to thwart efforts to protect Americans from the threats in their midst. That’s not a good sign.
It’s also a violation of Republicans’ promise to protect Americans from abusive executive actions.