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WilliamPitt (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Mon Aug-16-04 09:12 AM Original message |
Kerry's crew is about to deliver a long, rotten week to Bush & Co. |
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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 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. 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." 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. 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. 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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