Bush Administration Pushes For
Pre-Emption
Taking Power from the Citizenry in Favor of Corporate
America
InuryBoard.com , October 22, 2008
go to original
See Article III.2
Violating the Public Trust
| |
Image from a PSA 
about the importance of using seatbelts. In
its waning days, the Bush administration is
seeking to please its corporate friends by
cutting back on consumer safety laws.
Source: Geekologie.com
|
In their last weeks in office, Bush administration
officials are urging about fifty federal rules be
rewritten to include changes or additions that could
block product-safety lawsuits filed by consumers and
states. These new rules govern motorcycle brakes to
pain medication and will not be able to be undone
quickly by the next administration due to a lengthy
review process; for example changing rules at the
FDA may take a year or more. Depending on the decision
involving the issue of pre-emption by the Supreme
Court next month, this effort could be one of the
Bush administration’s lasting legacies. One
concern of the administration is the high number of
lawsuits based upon the state “failure to warn”
rules, in which some state consumer safety laws are
stricter than and conflict with their federal counterpart,
which can lead to life-threatening inconsistencies.
This move exemplifies the Bush administration’s
efforts to protect business interests, even as trial
lawyers and consumer groups point out the danger this
will cause. Already this year, lawsuit protection
language has been added to ten regulations. Last week,
for example, a new regulation issued by the Department
of Transportation limits the number of seatbelts car
manufacturers are forced to install, while also prohibiting
lawsuits filed by passengers injured after not being
able to wear one. The United States Chamber of Commerce’s
Institute for Legal Reform describes their support
of pre-emption as a means to eliminate excessive and
frivolous lawsuits filed by plaintiff trial lawyers
who are given too much influence over the legal and
political systems. However, the American Association
for Justice, the trial lawyer’s lobby, is trying
to formulate a strategy that will combat this dangerous
policy. Though the administration denies any sort
of top-down plan to end lawsuits via regulatory changes,
a former top official did admit the administration
decided to go this route as opposed to pressing the
issue in Congress, where they might lose. Next month,
the Supreme Court will hear Wyeth v. Levine and decide
on the issue of pre-emption.
Here we go again with excessive meddling and intervention
by the Bush Administration in matters that should
be left alone or left to the states. These “rules”
or regulations are nothing more than attempts to protect
big business (do we really need more of that given
the current state of our economy and country?) from
being held accountable for its bad, and sometimes
egregious, decisions that sacrifice safety for corporate
profits. What happened to “personal (or Corporate)
responsibility”? It seems as if the Bush Administration
and its supporters (the Chamber of Commerce, for one),
while preaching “federalism” and “less
government” out of one side of their mouth,
do not mind creating more federal government intervention
when it suits their collective wallets. Enough already!
Have not Mr. Bush and his supporters learned from
the ravages forced upon our economy, and our country,
by their excessive pro-business policies? Our citizens
are not looking for favored status, but merely are
looking for a level playing field. That playing field
has been tilted more and more in favor of Corporate
America over the past 8 years, and Mr. Bush wants
to ensure he flips it even more in his last several
months. I favor capitalism as much as anybody, but
I do not favor giving unfair advantages to those that
already have an advantage, at the expense of the average
citizen in our country who is harmed unnecessarily.
The so-called "frivolous lawsuits" the Chamber
of Commerce repeatedly talks about are, in this writer's
humble opinion, mythical; if any such lawsuits are
filed, they are mostly taken care of by our judiciary
quite summarily. For every "frivolous lawsuit"
filed there are more "frivolous defenses"
put forth by negligent defendants. The Chamber never
talks about the latter. Let’s pray Mr. Bush's
changes do not take place.
