The swamp has overflowed, with lobbyists employed by Trump quintupling over two years. Boeing, American Airlines and 31 other corporate entities landed at least five former lobbyists apiece. Public Citizenreportedthat, five months into the administration, nearly 70 percent of top nominees had corporate ties.
In Trump’s broader corporatocracy, aformer oil-industry lobbyistacts as interior secretary, a former pharmaceutical executive is health and human services secretary, and a former coal lobbyist runs the Environmental Protection Agency. Fully 350 former lobbyists work, have worked or have been tapped to work in the administration, The Post’s Philip Bumpreported, using data from the liberal group American Bridge 21st Century. The 24 at the Transportation Department lag behind only the 31 at HHS and 47 in the executive office of the president.
Trump facilitates the corporate takeover by running his administration on autopilot. A disproportionate number of “acting” officials — theyhold the FAA’s top three positions,run the Pentagon and Interior Department, and serve as Trump’s chief of staff and budget director — reduces congressional oversight and weakens enforcement.
In addition, the billions of dollars that corporate executives invest in lobbying and campaign contributions have generated healthy returns: a corporate tax cut, an assault on regulations and unrelenting efforts to shrink enforcement. The president, who previously attempted toprivatize 30,000 FAA jobs, again proposed slashing the FAA in his budgetthisweek.
Corporate victories keep coming. The Los Angeles Times just obtained emails showing that EPA officialsmoved to block NASAfrom monitoring pollution levels. Politico recently obtained data that showed that the Interior Department gave oil drillers nearly1,700 waiversof safety rules implemented after BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
Like millions of Americans, I long trusted that the federal government tried to protect food, air, water and safety. Trump’s corporatocracy broke that trust.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...ccfeec87a61_story.html?utm_term=.521cf026c3e8
In Trump’s broader corporatocracy, aformer oil-industry lobbyistacts as interior secretary, a former pharmaceutical executive is health and human services secretary, and a former coal lobbyist runs the Environmental Protection Agency. Fully 350 former lobbyists work, have worked or have been tapped to work in the administration, The Post’s Philip Bumpreported, using data from the liberal group American Bridge 21st Century. The 24 at the Transportation Department lag behind only the 31 at HHS and 47 in the executive office of the president.
Trump facilitates the corporate takeover by running his administration on autopilot. A disproportionate number of “acting” officials — theyhold the FAA’s top three positions,run the Pentagon and Interior Department, and serve as Trump’s chief of staff and budget director — reduces congressional oversight and weakens enforcement.
In addition, the billions of dollars that corporate executives invest in lobbying and campaign contributions have generated healthy returns: a corporate tax cut, an assault on regulations and unrelenting efforts to shrink enforcement. The president, who previously attempted toprivatize 30,000 FAA jobs, again proposed slashing the FAA in his budgetthisweek.
Corporate victories keep coming. The Los Angeles Times just obtained emails showing that EPA officialsmoved to block NASAfrom monitoring pollution levels. Politico recently obtained data that showed that the Interior Department gave oil drillers nearly1,700 waiversof safety rules implemented after BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
Like millions of Americans, I long trusted that the federal government tried to protect food, air, water and safety. Trump’s corporatocracy broke that trust.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...ccfeec87a61_story.html?utm_term=.521cf026c3e8
