Trump, America’s CEO
Richard Fulton
Busy, busy, busy. President Trump has begun the processes needed to fulfill some of his more ambitious (and controversial) campaign promises.
His chosen means for doing this is his executive pen. By using executive orders and executive memoranda to administrative officials, Trump has set in motion activities in a variety of areas.
President Trump is the chief operational officer of the federal government, and as such can direct actions (if they follow the law) of nearly every federal agency.
Early in the week the president issued several executive directives covering: the oil pipelines held up by the Obama administration; the sweep of basic manufacturing regulations; infrastructure projects generally; a wall on the Mexican border; and some immigration issues.
Mind you, none of these decisions put into immediate operation the changes that Trump wants. Some are more symbolic than operational. Others are the first step in dealing with the issues at hand. All just begin a process.
One presidential memorandum deals with the sidelined Keystone XL pipeline. It invites Transcanada, the company that applied to build the pipeline, to reapply. Then it tells the Attorney General to issue an opinion on the safety of the pipeline within 60 days. And it better be favorable.
The other pipeline memorandum directs the Secretary of the Army to “review and approve in an expedited manner” the completion of the Dakota Access Pipeline. This is the one that native Americans stopped by demonstrating because of concerns for water safety and their sacred grounds.Trump supposedly just sold his interests in the pipeline company.
Lastly, in this vein, a Trump administrative order directed the Secretary of Commerce to require that American steel be used in the pipelines. America first is his theme. There may be problems with this order given the fact that the U.S. belongs to the World Trade Organization that does not allow states to exclude foreign bidders for government projects.
If a case is brought by China or India, who now provide steel piping for the projects, then these countries could institute retaliation legally.
A third document directs all federal agencies to review manufacturing regulations giving 60 days for public comment (as per the law) and then have 60 days to report to Trump. This is his attempt at a broad brush review of federal regulations that protect the health and safety of Americans.
Some regulations might well be dropped, but the interests behind this move are large businesses that care less about American safety and more about profits.Note the billions in fines brought on the basis of regulatory laws.
The environment took a hit by another executive order that fast tracks “high priority infrastructure projects.” What’s high priority? Any governor or cabinet official can request the White House Council on Environmental Quality and get to the front of the line for short circuiting the regulation process.
The environment comes after jobs and profits. Anybody want to guess whether or not environmental regulations will remain a safeguard?
Then Trump issued an executive order to begin the planning of the Mexican border wall. Where’s the money coming from? Not Mexico, though he says they will pay later. We shall see.Add the 5,000 border patrol agents requested and the cost will skyrocket. A congress that harps about the federal deficit may be more cautious.
There’s more to come — probably already has by the time you read this. A temporary ban on all refugees entering the U.S. is in the works. Americas intelligence communities could get sweeping new powers for detention and interrogation. After all, Trump has said that “torture works” and that he favored techniques “stronger than waterboarding.”
This president wants to get his priorities in place before any storm of opposition can prove effective. He should remember that he won the electoral vote but lost the popular vote. Though an executive order on that may come soon.
