The Biden administration is doing everything it can to impose its progressive will on Americans through the regulatory process, going beyond what could pass even the compliant Democrat-controlled Congress.
Student loans: Voters are rightly outraged over the Biden administration’s student loan “forgiveness” program that, with a stroke of a pen, will cost taxpayers more than $400 billion and force hardworking blue collar craftsmen and women to pay college expense of affluent students with woke culture degrees. And this with nary a vote by Congress, to whom the U.S. Constitution exclusively grants taxing and spending power.
Gig workers: Yesterday, the Biden administration issued a rule that would block millions of gig workers from having flexibility and options in their work lives. It imposed a stricter test to determine whether an independent contractor must be reclassified as an employee, requiring all the associated benefits.
Read Doug Holtz-Eakin’s newsletter today for more, including data showing that 84% of freelancers say they are living their preferred lifestyle, compared to only 54% of traditional employees. This rule is another Biden gift to labor unions, at the expense of gig workers (there are 57 million of them) and their preference to control their work lives.
Obamacare subsidies: And on Monday the White House ordered a big expansion of Obamacare, in explicit violation of the statute.
When does it end?
Galen scholars have argued for months that the “Affordable” Care Act statute explicitly blocks dependents of workers offered affordable health insurance at work from qualifying for subsidized Obamacare health insurance. Regardless, the Biden administration issued a proposed rule to allow these dependents to qualify anyway.
Brian Blase wrote a paper for us about this and also a piece this week in Forbes, and Doug Badger filed a comment letter detailing the many reasons this action would be illegal and damaging to current coverage. AEI’s Tom Millerand I also wrote responses.
We had a call scheduled with the White House office that must sign off on rules drafted by other government departments and agencies. Our call had been scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 28, with the four of us prepared to explain our reasoned opposition.
We all dialed in at the appointed time and heard nothing but hold music until we were disconnected. Our contact said in a subsequent email they were having Zoom problems so we rescheduled for this Wednesday. But on Monday, we were told that our second call was cancelled, i.e., the door had been slammed in our faces, because the rule already had been issued.
Brian wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal explaining that the illegal new rule “is expected to cost $45 billion over the next decade as it pushes people off their employer plans to obtain heavily subsidized exchange plans. Few currently uninsured people will get coverage.” It will also give a free rein to future administrations to write any rule of their pleasing, without listening to experts, the public, or Congress.
So again, where does this end? Trillions of dollars in federal spending, which taxpayers now see is fueling massive inflation, and a lawless administration run amok.
Let’s hope the voters see how dangerous this is to our republic and put on the brakes.
