FREE to

PROSPER

A Pro-Growth Agenda for the 115th Congress

Free to Prosper A Pro-Growth Agenda for the 115th Congress Edited by Ivan Osorio and Gregory Conko

Competitive Enterprise Institute

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Copyright © 2016 by Competitive Enterprise Institute

Table of Contents

Introduction | by Kent Lassman   vii 1. Regulatory Reform and Agency Oversight   1 Improve Regulatory Oversight and Accountability   6 Rein in Overregulation and Regulatory “Dark Matter”    10 Strengthen Disclosure with a “Regulatory Report Card”    15 Implement a Regulatory Reduction Commission and Sunset Procedures  18 Require Votes on Major or Controversial Rules   20 Implement a Regulatory Cost Budget   22 Restrain the Runaway Administrative State by Reining in Chevron Deference  24 2. Banking and Finance   26 Bring Accountability to the Unaccountable Consumer Financial Protection Bureau  29 Oppose Regulatory Overreach in Financial Services   31 Allow Financial Service Providers to Offer Consumers Innovative New Services through the Growth of FinTech and Crowdfunding   34 Address Too-Big-to-Fail  37

iv    Free to Prosper: A Pro-Growth Agenda for the 115th Congress

3. Labor and Employment   40 Reform the Fair Labor Standards Act    41 Reverse the Department of Labor’s Overtime Rule   43 Reform the Worker Classification Process    45 Improve Oversight of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division   48 Reform the National Labor Relations Act and National Labor Relations Board  50 Outlaw Union Violence  53 Prevent Implementation of the NLRB’s Ambush Election Rule   54 Prevent Implementation of the NLRB’s New Joint Employer Standard  55 Protect Worker Pensions by Reforming the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s Multiemployer Program   57 Protect State and Local Taxpayers by Promoting Better Public Pension Governance  61 4. Energy and Environment   64 Repudiate the Paris Climate Agreement    66 Defund the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change  68 Overturn or at Least Defund the EPA’s Clean Power Plan   70 Repeal the EPA’s Purloined Power to Legislate Climate Policy   72 Repeal the EPA’s Carbon Dioxide Standards for New Fossil-Fuel Power Plants  74 Oppose Carbon Taxes  77 Prohibit Use of Social Cost of Carbon as a Justification for Regulating Emissions  79 Freeze and Sunset the Renewable Fuel Standard   82 Require all Agencies to Meet Rigorous Scientific Standards   85 Address Unaccountable Environmental Research Programs   87 5. Environmental Protection on Private and Public Lands   89 Reform Environmental Regulation of Private Lands   91 Shrink the Federal Estate   95

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Unlock Federal Lands   97 Restore Resource Production on Federal Lands   99 Remove Bogus Climate Planning from Federal Land Policy   102 6. Technology and Telecommunications  105 Protect Internet Freedom against Burdensome Net Neutrality Mandates  107 Oppose Taxation of Internet Access and E-Commerce   112 Protect Privacy and Cybersecurity by Securing Private Information from Undue Government Prying   113 Empower the Market to Protect Cybersecurity   116 Oppose Burdensome Internet Sales Taxes   118 Modernize Regulation of Television and Media    122 Update Copyright for the Internet Age   125 7. Transportation  128 Modernize America’s Air Travel Infrastructure in the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization  130 Reform Surface Transportation  134 8. Food, Drugs, and Consumer Freedom   136 Protect Consumer Freedom by Ensuring Access to Genetically Engineered Foods  138 Streamline Regulation of Genetically Engineered Plants and Foods  142 Repeal the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard   146 Protect Consumer Food Choice by Opposing FDA Overregulation of Food Additives  150 Protect Consumer Fo