President Biden Is on an Out-of-Control Regulatory Spending Spree
- BY FGA
Congress can tame inflation by restoring a constitutional balance of power and reining in President Biden’s spending spree.
Strengthening congressional oversight on bureaucrats would make it more difficult to create new costly rules, but easy to eliminate them.
12 of the WORST Biden Administration Actions
These actions could have been prevented if congressional approval were needed for costly executive actions.
1. PRESIDENT BIDEN’S STUDENT LOAN BAILOUT
In 2022, the Biden administration unilaterally and unlawfully announced it was “canceling” $519 billion in student loans. It also extended the loan repayment “pause” and proposed a new rule to change income-based repayment. Altogether, these actions will cost taxpayers more than $1 trillion.
2. BANS ON OIL AND GAS SALES
In 2021, the Biden administration canceled pending oil and gas lease sales, postponed lease sales, canceled public hearings, and withdrew public review of lease sales in 12 states.
3. FEDERAL TAKEOVER OF ELECTIONS EXECUTIVE ORDER
In 2021, the Biden administration issued Executive Order 14019 to ignite a federal takeover
of elections, transforming agencies into voter registration and “outreach” hubs. The Biden administration has refused to release the strategic plans developed to implement the order, despite freedom of information requests, congressional oversight requests, and litigation.
4. WEAKENING MEDICAID PROGRAM INTEGRITY
In 2012, the Obama administration issued new rules that weakened program integrity in the Medicaid program by limiting how frequently states could check eligibility for some groups to no more than once per year. In 2022, the Biden administration doubled down on this plan and proposed a new rule to apply those same restrictions to all eligibility groups.
5. THE FOOD STAMP BONUS
In 2021, the Biden administration unilaterally and unlawfully adopted new agency standards that increased food stamp benefits by 25 percent. Taxpayers are on track to spend $115 billion on food stamps in 2022—more than twice the 2019 levels and nearly 60 percent more than 2020 levels.
6. THE MEDICAID HANDCUFF GUIDANCE
During the public health emergency, states can receive additional federal Medicaid funding if they agree not to remove ineligible enrollees. In 2022, the Biden administration issued new guidance encouraging states to take up to a full year to process and even longer to remove ineligible enrollees once the public health emergency expires. The taxpayer cost to cover these ineligible enrollees totals nearly $16 billion per month.
7. THE ILLEGAL EXPANSION OF OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES
In 2022, the Biden administration proposed a unilateral eligibility change for ObamaCare subsidies. Under the law, employees are only eligible for ObamaCare subsidies if the cost of self- only coverage from their employers exceeds certain thresholds. This illegal expansion of subsidies will cost taxpayers more than $45 billion.
8. RISKING RETIREMENT RETURNS WITH ESG
Prior regulations require retirement plans to focus on financial returns and participant interest when making investment-related decisions. In 2021, the Biden administration proposed a rule that would allow retirement plans to consider climate change and other environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in those decisions.
9. MANDATED “CLIMATE RISK” DISCLOSURES
In 2022, the Biden administration proposed a new rule mandating that publicly traded companies provide climate-related information in their registration statements and annual reports.
10. DENY, DENY, DENY THE PIPELINES
In 2022, the Biden administration issued new guidance that will more heavily base approval or denial of new natural gas pipelines in part on the “environmental justice” impact of the projects.
11. EXPANDED EMERGENCY ALLOTMENTS
In 2021, the Biden administration issued new guidance that unlawfully increased “emergency allotments” for food stamps by an additional $95 per month for households already receiving the maximum benefit allowed by law. The cost of these emergency allotments spiked by roughly 30 percent immediately after the new guidance was adopted. Taxpayers now spend approximately $2.9 billion per month on emergency allotments.
12. FEWER OPPORTUNITIES FOR FLEXIBLE WORK
The Biden administration rescinded existing regulations and proposed new rules to change classification rules for independent contractors and employees. These changes complicate labor law, make it more difficult for entrepreneurs and independent workers to find potential clients, create regulatory uncertainty, and prolong worker-status litigation.
