Received via email from the campaign:
===
George W. Bush has turned his back on the middle class and has put
America up for sale.
First, we find out that Bush has shifted America's tax burden to the
middle class. Then, he floats the idea of raising taxes on the middle
class by imposing a 20% national sales tax. Now we find out he's been
weakening our health, environmental and safety regulations by placing
campaign contributors and corporate interests atop the agencies in
charge of protecting Americans.
For the last two weeks, the Bush-Cheney campaign has been on the
defensive, struggling to explain why the Bush policies have failed to
create a single new job and why the president is trying to raise taxes
on the middle-class. This week, it's going to have to explain why
George W. Bush been doing the bidding of his top donors.
When you've got a federal regulatory structure staffed by people who
used to work for corporate interests and tons of campaign cash coming
into your coffers, you get policies that help those corporate interests
and not the public interest. As a result, regulations aimed at
preventing the trucking industry from forcing drivers to sit behind the
wheel for hours on end get relaxed and before you know it, there's a
story on the news about a car accident involving an eighteen-wheeler and
a family.
This week, the Kerry-Edwards campaign is going to draw attention to the
fact that the Bush White House has led an unprecedented effort to get
rid of these kinds of rules in an effort to help their friends in the
boardroom. Indeed, the White House has taken the most aggressive
anti-regulatory posture in memory.
On Monday, John Edwards is going to go after George Bush's anti-family
agenda during a stop in Missouri where he will call out the Bush
administration for the favors it is doing for special interests. At the
same time, the Kerry-Edwards campaign will release a new report on links
between special interest donations, appointments of industry figures
within the Administration and regulations that have been rolled back or
eased at the behest of corporations.
In addition, Democrats throughout the country will spend the week
holding events and news conferences in key battleground states to
highlight the fact that the Bush administration has pursued an agenda
that is totally at odds with working families. They will keep drawing
attention to the fact that the only policy proposal the Bush White House
has come up with so far in this campaign is a plan to raise taxes on the
middle class and ask the White House to disclose the kinds of contacts
it has had with the lobbyists representing the industries from which it
has received contributions and for which it has done favors.
While the White House will no doubt claim that its efforts to ease these
regulatory rules are aimed at spurring job growth, it bears noting that
not a single job has been created yet by these actions but literally
thousands of lives have been put at risk by the regulatory policies
pursued by George W. Bush.
The public has been on to the fact that the Bush Administration isn't on
their side for some time. When asked if George W. Bush cares more about
protecting the interests of ordinary working people, or more about
protecting the interests of large business corporations, a whopping 63
percent say he is on the side of big business (LA Times, 3/27). When
asked which of the candidates in the 2004 race cares about the needs of
people like "you," Bush trails Kerry by 15 points, in the
CNN/USATODAY/GALLUP poll (7/30-7/31).
The bottom line is that if you're an average American, it's pretty hard
to get heard by George Bush and get ahead in today's economy. But if
you're a big contributor--or a powerful corporate interest--you get
heard loud and clear.
John Kerry and John Edwards have a vision to build an America stronger
at home and respected in the world. They will restore integrity in the
White House, and put in place policies that protect all Americans.
GEORGE W. BUSH: UNDERMINING THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF WORKERS AND
FAMILIES
George W. Bush has rolled back and eliminated a series of important
regulations designed to protect the health of families and workers. The
Bush Administration has taken the most aggressive anti-regulatory
posture in memory, fighting back against important rules to side with
business interests. He's not only trying to raise taxes on middle-class
families, he's trying to undermine important protections that save
lives.
OSHA Under Bush Has "Embrace
a More Business-Friendly Posture." The
Bush Administration has altered the rule-making power of the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration to promote the interests
of business over workers. "In the past 3 1/2 years, OSHA, the branch of
the Labor Department in charge of workers' well-being, has eliminated
nearly five times as many pending standards as it has completed. It has
not started any major new health or safety rules, setting Bush apart
from the previous three presidents, including Ronald Reagan."
IGNORING THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF WORKERS:
RULE: Bush Eliminated Protections for Mine Workers. The Bush
administration has eliminated protections for coal workers. "The
reintroduction of the coal dust measure came after the federal agency
had abandoned a series of Clinton-era safety proposals favored by coal
miners while embracing others favored by mine owners...In all, the mine
safety agency has rescinded more than a half-dozen proposals intended to
make coal miners' jobs safer, including steps to limit miners' exposure
to toxic chemicals."
* INTEREST: Coal Mining Industry Gave Hundreds of Thousands to
Bush Campaigns. George Bush has received hundreds of thousands of
dollars in campaign contributions from the coal mining industry. So far,
Bush-Cheney has received over $300,000 from the mining industry. Also,
David Larrikin, currently the head of the Mine Safety and Health
Administration, who, as an executive of a mining company, proposed the
same weaker regulations he implemented as a Bush official.
RULE: Bush Endangered Pregnant Women When He Stopped Regulating
Chemicals Used in Semiconductors. George Bush endangered pregnant women
in his deregulation of semiconductor production. "In August 2001...the
agency stopped efforts to regulate chemicals used in making
semiconductors and suspected of causing miscarriages in workers...a
month after the semiconductor decision, OHSA eliminated a proposal
dating to the Reagan administration, that would have updated lists of
the amounts of industrial chemicals to which workers could be exposed."
* INTEREST: Chemical Industry Gave Over $1.5 Million to Bush and
the RNC. The chemical industry has been large donors to the Bush-Cheney
campaign and the RNC. They have given over $1.5 million while five
members of the industry are Bush Pioneers and Rangers.
RULE: Bush Eliminated Overtime for 6 Million Workers. The Bush
Administration's Labor Department has provided guidance to employers on
how they can reduce overtime pay to workers. They posted options on
their website, including cutting wages so that additional overtime
payments equal the worker's original salary. The Bush Administration's
overtime regulation, which will take effect on August 23rd, expands the
number of employees exempt from overtime protection. It will deny
existing overtime protections to 6 million hard-working men and women,
including registered nurses, cooks, clerical workers, nursery school
teachers, and many others. <http://www.epinet.org/> ]
RULE: Bush Eliminated Rules to Protect Workers from Tuberculosis. The
Bush Administration quietly eliminated proposed rules that would have
protected thousands of workers from tuberculosis. "By the time
President Bush moved into the White House, the tuberculosis rules, first
envisioned in 1993, were nearly complete. But the new administration did
nothing on the issue for the next three years. Then, on the last day of
2003, in an action so obscure it was not mentioned in any major
newspaper in the country, the administration canceled the rules."
EASING RULES FOR INDUSTRY WHILE IGNORING THE RISKS FOR FAMILIES:
RULE: Bush Rolled Back Mercury Regulations. According to the New York
Times, the White House staff deleted or modified language in the mercury
emissions proposal to minimize the health risks posed by the toxic
chemical. Science panel members "were concerned because the White House
almost uniformly minimized the health risks in instances where there
could be disagreement." George Bush further caved to industry pressure
and proposed to defer controls on mercury emissions by power plants for
at least a decade.
* INTEREST: Coal Mining Industry Gave Hundreds of Thousands to
Bush Campaigns. George Bush has received hundreds of thousands of
dollars in campaign contributions from the coal mining industry. So far,
Bush-Cheney has received over $300,000 from the mining industry.
According to a Washington Post analysis, "a side-by-side comparison of
one of the three proposed rules and the memorandums prepared by Latham &
Watkins, one of Washington's premier corporate environmental law firms,
shows that at least a dozen paragraphs were lifted, sometimes verbatim,
from the industry suggestions." Washington Post, 1/31/04]
RULE: Bush Eased New Source Regulations to Protect Polluters. Rather
than enforce the law and force utilities and other sources to reduce
harmful emissions, George Bush has gutted the Clean Air Act by creating
a huge new loophole that will enable dirty, old plants to continue to
operate without controlling emissions. The Baltimore Sun reported,
"Yesterday, the Bush administration essentially sided with industry and
handed power plants and other facilities the flexibility they have
sought. The EPA said it was clarifying 'routine maintenance' so
facilities could spend up to 20 percent of the value of their primary
equipment in any single renovation, without triggering new source
review."
* INTEREST: 61 Pioneers Were From The Energy and Natural
Resources Industry. 61 Pioneers, each of whom pledged to raise $100,000
for Bush's 2000 campaign were from the Energy and Natural Resources
industry. Five of these Pioneers, including Edison Electric Institute
President Thomas Kuhn, were appointed to Bush's energy transition team.
<http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/ContributorsAndPaybacks/pioneer_profil
e.cfm?pioneer_ID=129> ]
RULE: Bush Eased Logging Regulations and Eliminated Environmental
Reviews. George Bush eased rules for lumber and paper companies to log
in federal forests. "The administration at the request of lumber and
paper companies, gave Forest Service managers the right to approve
logging in federal forests without the usual environmental reviews."
* INTEREST: Lumber and Timber Industry Gave Millions to Bush.
The lumber and timber industry have been substantial donors to the
Bush-Cheney campaigns. They gave over $3 million to the 2004 effort and
$1 million in 2000. Additionally, Mark Rey, Under Secretary of
Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment, was a lobbyist for
the paper and logging Industries. Post-Intelligencer, 8/21/03]
RULE: Bush Extended Truck Driving Hours. The Bush administration
extended the hours that truck drivers are allowed to drive at a stretch.
"The change would increase allowable driving time from 10 hours without
a break to 11 hours...Trucking companies said they were satisfied with
the rule while truck drivers deplored it, saying the added hours of
driving time would increase driver fatigue."
* INTEREST: Leaders of the Trucking Industry Support GOP. Walter
B. McCormack, of the American Trucking Association, which gave $836,511
to GOP candidates and committees in 1999-2000 - $526,985 to GOP
candidates and $309,526 to GOP committees - served on the Bush
Administration's Transportation Department transition team.
www.johnerry.com <http://www.johnerry.com/>
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