Carly Fiorina, former HP Chief Executive Officer turned GOP presidential hopeful, talked government policy at the Nov. 10 GOP debate, hosted in Milwaukee, Wis., by Fox Business News.
Fiorina vowed to enact her own version of a government shutdown to “fix” it because it adapts so well. The same “fix” would also give Congress incentives to sit on their collective asses and attack Obamacare.
Dangling The Carrot
Fiorina’s word salad started with her praise for the government. It “is too nimble and capable of adapting to new challenges,” she said, according to Think Progress.
Fiorina slipped in a proverbial carrot that stinks worse than Limburger, and it’s known as the Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2015 (REINS Act), or H.R. 427. She then proceeded to dangle that carrot under the collective noses of Big Business on live television.
Resurrecting REINS To Reign In Obamacare
Congress has passed REINS multiple times, but the Senate‘s been sitting on it since 2013. Translated, REINS means, “We hate President Obama and Obamacare so much that we have to scrutinize his regulations and executive actions at all costs.”
Resurrecting REINS is an obvious choice for Fiorina as a campaign promise. Siding with Big Business is exactly what CEOs and ex-CEOs do, don’t you know. Besides, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports REINS, and allows Fiorina to court small business owners, too.
As President, I will sign the REINS Act. Here’s why: https://t.co/hB0pXRNNO6
— Carly Fiorina (@CarlyFiorina) November 11, 2015
Unfortunately, many a viewer missed her statement on REINS, but if she’d been truthful about the act’s purpose, they might have perked up a bit more when she said:
“We need to pass the REINS Act so Congress is in charge of regulation, not nameless, faceless bureaucrats accountable to no one.”
That is patently false, and though Fiorina further explained REINS and her reasons in a Facebook post, she still didn’t mention that it attacks Obamacare.
Fiorina said of REINS:
“It would require Congress to approve all regulations with an economic impact of over $100 million annually.”
REINS cuts off the head of government departments that make regulations, but REINS’ text proves it’s a sneak attack on Obamacare. If that’s not bad enough, Congress has to approve regulations within 70 days.
According to Think Progress:
“If Congress does not act “by the end of 70 session days or legislative days … such rule shall not take effect.”
If Congress doesn’t approve regulations or decides to let the 70 days expire, the same or similar regulations can not be reintroduced.
This is why Fiorina’s unspoken promise to the Big Business gods to reign in the government is so scary.
What A REINS-Empowered Congress Looks Like
Giving our Congress these powers might sound like a good idea, it isn’t. For instance, Obamacare is not an agency, but REINS specifically attacks the healthcare law. Congress has total power over its progress and future. This is the same Congress that:
- Repealed Obamacare 55 times, defunded Planned Parenthood, and tried to make abortion illegal;
- Consistently votes to kill women’s healthcare, but sits on a 9/11 Veterans healthcare bill;
- Sits on immigration bills, and admits the Benghazi Select Committee exists to politically crucify Hillary Clinton.
The Environmental Protection Agency bases its regulations on science, but would our already non-functioning, science denying, single digit approval rating GOP-led Congress, whose members are known for their frequent temper tantrums do so?
No, they would quickly forget science in favor of their own delusional realities.
Imagine Congress making medical licensing requirements, or making Planned Parenthood TRAP national laws, or even deciding what Big Pharma could put in medicine and on whom it could experiment.
Lets see what a GOP-led REINS-powered Congress beholden to Big Oil thinks about how many toxic chemicals you should drink.
No wonder Big Business, small business owners, and the Chamber of Commerce all support REINS. Wonder if Fiorina realizes it would reign in her actions, too.
Let’s make sure Carly Fiorina can’t initiate a REINS powered government shutdown in 2017. We the People need to make sure the wolf in sheep’s clothing called REINS stays buried, that Obamacare stays the law of the land.
Featured Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr / With a CC By-SA 2.0 License
