While ranchers struggled with a sudden December cold snap and the nation was busy enjoying the holidays, the Obama administration was driving home dramatic regulations at the Department of the Interior and Environmental Protection Agency.
All together, the midnight regulations, which govern development on federal land and renewable fuel standards, will cost nearly $5.1 billion and require an estimated 350,000 hours in paper work.
Cattlemen are furious, according to Beef Magazine, which recently blasted Obama for the crony regulation and called on the Trump administration to reverse it.
Because most ranches are family operations, Troy Marshall writes that “the cost of regulation is disproportionately born by small business.” The rancher-turned-journalist explains that the big corporations don’t flinch at the rule changes. For smaller outfits, the ones passed down through generations, “the mountain of paperwork, regulatory constraints, and costs amount to a de-facto barrier to entry.”
Many of the last-minute rules will require congressional action to reverse. And though Republicans run the board in Washington, Marshall isn’t confident the GOP has the stomach for the job. After all, the Democrat minority can always stampede the majority with the threat of a government shutdown.
To keep the GOP from getting spooked, Marshall’s calling on a posse of cattlemen and cowboys. It’s nothing to trifle with, at least according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The beef industry is one of the largest segments of American agriculture, made up of more than half-a-million farmers, who generate nearly a trillion dollars of economic impact.
They’re calling on Republicans to roll back the regulatory trip wires and pitfalls left behind by the outgoing administration. So far Trump has adopted the rhetoric of every Republican who talks about cutting regulation and unbridling the economy. But while others hesitated in the Oval Office, perhaps the president-elect can make it happen.
Trump has the team necessary to lead Congress to repeal. Both his picks to lead the Department of Interior and EPA, Rep. Ryan Zinke and Scott Pruitt, come from the West. They’re familiar with the regulatory plight and could come to the industry’s aid.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
