1
00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,840
Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

2
00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:07,600
Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you should know

3
00:00:08,200 --> 00:00:12,600
Speaker 1: from House Stuffworks dot Com? Hey, and welcome to the podcast.

4
00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:15,920
Speaker 1: I'm Josh Chuck's here. I am as always. How's it going?

5
00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:19,239
Speaker 1: You're the Andy Richter to your Conan O'Brien, as I

6
00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:23,520
Speaker 1: like to say, I look a little more like Andy Richter. Right,

7
00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:28,520
Speaker 1: there's no con in amongst No, no tall seven foot tall, blanky,

8
00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:33,760
Speaker 1: redheaded headed irishman. Yeah, pale man, it man, it's pale um. Yes.

9
00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:35,519
Speaker 1: But okay, so this is stuff you should know if

10
00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:38,880
Speaker 1: you couldn't tell by now. Um, and uh, we're gonna

11
00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:41,400
Speaker 1: talk about midnight regulation today, Chuck, what do you think?

12
00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:43,760
Speaker 1: I think that's a great, great topic. Okay, So Chuck,

13
00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:46,160
Speaker 1: let me paint a scene for you, right, Okay, anytime

14
00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:49,239
Speaker 1: a president is is leaving the White House and a

15
00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:52,440
Speaker 1: new one's coming in, there are transition teams set up

16
00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:56,840
Speaker 1: right right. Um, Basically, you have a bunch of people

17
00:00:56,880 --> 00:00:59,960
Speaker 1: who have been doing their jobs, you know, directing federal agents.

18
00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:04,559
Speaker 1: He's carrying out new policy, talking about new policy ideas, um,

19
00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:07,560
Speaker 1: and they basically need to pass this information onto the

20
00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:11,800
Speaker 1: next administration, so that you know, there's a smooth transition

21
00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:15,600
Speaker 1: of power. Ideal, ideally, this is what happened. They don't

22
00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:17,360
Speaker 1: just put it in a folder called how to be

23
00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:19,160
Speaker 1: the President and leave it on the tusk of No,

24
00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:22,720
Speaker 1: that would be really really bad. Um. And uh, you know,

25
00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:25,760
Speaker 1: some some transition teams are more successful in others. A

26
00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:29,440
Speaker 1: president Bill Clinton had a terrible terrible time with it

27
00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:33,240
Speaker 1: when he came into power. Um, when he was leaving, though,

28
00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:37,480
Speaker 1: he gained a little more confidence. Uh when he left.

29
00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:40,960
Speaker 1: George W. Bush, the second Bush, took over, and when

30
00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:44,800
Speaker 1: his transition team showed up, they found, um surprisingly that

31
00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:48,520
Speaker 1: most most of the keyboards in the in the White

32
00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:52,040
Speaker 1: House offices, the letter W had been removed. I love that.

33
00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:54,960
Speaker 1: I think that's h It really is hysterical, just just

34
00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:57,520
Speaker 1: the thought of and not politically speaking, but just the

35
00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:00,600
Speaker 1: thought of a president playing practical joke on on then yeah,

36
00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:02,280
Speaker 1: and all of his aids and yeah, and there was

37
00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:04,800
Speaker 1: a whoopie cushion left in the chair of his office

38
00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:08,200
Speaker 1: chair right yeah, kick me sign right. Um. So so

39
00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:13,320
Speaker 1: that was awaiting President Bush when he took over. And um,

40
00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:16,040
Speaker 1: there was a lot of other stuff awaiting him as

41
00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:21,359
Speaker 1: well in the form of midnight regulations. Uh. Clinton actually

42
00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:26,399
Speaker 1: published twenties six thousand pages of new regulations. Yep, that's

43
00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:30,440
Speaker 1: the number that we're waiting for his successor, and every

44
00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:35,680
Speaker 1: last one of them ran contrary to Bush's policies. So, um, well,

45
00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:38,000
Speaker 1: before we get into that, how about what what are

46
00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:42,040
Speaker 1: midnight regulations? What's what's the definition? Uh well, I'm just

47
00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:44,280
Speaker 1: going off my brain here. I don't have a definition

48
00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:48,560
Speaker 1: to read, but it's basically, um legislation that a president

49
00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:52,720
Speaker 1: leaving president will try and uh slip through in the

50
00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:56,360
Speaker 1: waning months of their of their tenure, during their midnight period,

51
00:02:56,440 --> 00:02:58,720
Speaker 1: during their midnight period, which is from the time that

52
00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:02,920
Speaker 1: the election is held November until they leave office, basically

53
00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:06,840
Speaker 1: until the inauguration. And every every presidency has a midnight

54
00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:09,679
Speaker 1: right there's there's the end of a presidency, and it's

55
00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:12,880
Speaker 1: those last few months. Um. But some are way worse

56
00:03:12,919 --> 00:03:17,839
Speaker 1: than others. Usually the worst midnight periods, the worst transitions

57
00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:21,680
Speaker 1: come when one party is losing control of the White

58
00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:24,680
Speaker 1: House to another party and they just they do everything

59
00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:28,520
Speaker 1: they can to sabotage one another. So it's kind of roughs.

60
00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:32,520
Speaker 1: It's so unfriendly and Uh, it's hostile. Yeah, it is.

61
00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:36,040
Speaker 1: It's a little disheartening, yeah, but not surprisingly. And basically,

62
00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:39,720
Speaker 1: you know, if you if you if you leave thousands

63
00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:44,040
Speaker 1: of pages of new regulations, Um, basically, what you're doing

64
00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:49,320
Speaker 1: is you're you're either extending your influence as president beyond

65
00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:52,640
Speaker 1: the time that you leave the White House. Um, you

66
00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:56,240
Speaker 1: could be doing it to hamstring your handicap the next

67
00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:59,960
Speaker 1: in the next administration, basically tying their hands, especially when

68
00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:02,440
Speaker 1: it's you know, when a Democrats taking over from a

69
00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:05,640
Speaker 1: Republican or vice versa. You know, the views run so

70
00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:10,200
Speaker 1: contrary supposedly that um, you know, you want to keep

71
00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:15,240
Speaker 1: the policy making going, and when it's actually with a

72
00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:20,240
Speaker 1: midnight regulation, it's actually exceedingly difficult to um reverse We'll

73
00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:22,680
Speaker 1: get to that in a minute. Many times it's it's

74
00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:26,919
Speaker 1: actually your legacy as a president has a lot to

75
00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:29,640
Speaker 1: do with these midnight regulations. Yeah. Yeah, a lot of

76
00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:32,960
Speaker 1: times it's the it represents the more radical fringes of

77
00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:35,760
Speaker 1: a presidential agenda. Just amazing that the last two months

78
00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:38,280
Speaker 1: of an eight year tenure can have more of an

79
00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:41,760
Speaker 1: impact than the previous ye know, seven and uh, seven

80
00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:43,720
Speaker 1: years and ten months. Yeah, and well, the weird thing

81
00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:46,480
Speaker 1: is it's it's you can sit there and watch midnight

82
00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:51,200
Speaker 1: regulation going on right um there there, But it's not

83
00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:57,040
Speaker 1: an openly acknowledged activity, okay. UM, So to prove that

84
00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:02,080
Speaker 1: it exists, some political scientists have actually, um done studies

85
00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:04,839
Speaker 1: on the Federal Register. The Federal Register is the complete

86
00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:10,160
Speaker 1: comprehensive guide to federal regulation, and um they published actually

87
00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:13,479
Speaker 1: they publish addendums to it every day. So UM, some

88
00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:17,880
Speaker 1: p some political scientists went back and looked at when

89
00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:20,480
Speaker 1: you know, the amount of pages published in the Federal

90
00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:24,120
Speaker 1: Register per quarter, per quarter, um, and they found that

91
00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:28,640
Speaker 1: in the midnight of a presidency, especially during um, the

92
00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:32,200
Speaker 1: transition of power from one party to another, the pages

93
00:05:32,279 --> 00:05:36,000
Speaker 1: the page volume increases like sevent So it's odd to

94
00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:37,720
Speaker 1: think that you would have to go prove it, but

95
00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:40,039
Speaker 1: you know, the president's like, well, I'm just going about

96
00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:43,159
Speaker 1: my midnight regulation right now. It's it's it's such a

97
00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:51,120
Speaker 1: cynical and sinister, democratically speaking tool, um, because the president

98
00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:53,800
Speaker 1: is no longer accountable and so many people don't even

99
00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:57,440
Speaker 1: realize what's going on, and uh, it's it's going on

100
00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:00,880
Speaker 1: right now. I know you have a couple of things

101
00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:03,680
Speaker 1: you wanted to mention, right, Yeah, I mean I've got

102
00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:07,039
Speaker 1: a list. Uh, there's actually a great website called pro

103
00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:11,720
Speaker 1: Publica dot org. That's p r O dash publica dot

104
00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:14,440
Speaker 1: org and you can get a full list there of

105
00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:18,080
Speaker 1: the Midnight regulations at President Bush is trying to get

106
00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:21,800
Speaker 1: through and UM not drawn judgment on any of them.

107
00:06:21,839 --> 00:06:23,680
Speaker 1: It's up to you to decide. But that's a good

108
00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:26,160
Speaker 1: website you can go to to actually read them and

109
00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:29,080
Speaker 1: get a status on whether or not it's UM open

110
00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:32,480
Speaker 1: for comment or close for comment or under review or

111
00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:35,479
Speaker 1: approved or finalized or in effect. And we'll get to

112
00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:39,200
Speaker 1: the comment part in a little bit too, right, Yeah, yeah,

113
00:06:39,200 --> 00:06:42,760
Speaker 1: we well let's let's let's talk about how it works. Right. So, basically,

114
00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:48,640
Speaker 1: the legislative branch identifies a problem UM and says, well,

115
00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:53,120
Speaker 1: we we could create this agency to address that problem,

116
00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:57,760
Speaker 1: say the Environmental Protection Agency or the Securities and Exchange

117
00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:01,320
Speaker 1: Commission or whatever, the FDA, it doesn't matter. All of

118
00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:04,840
Speaker 1: those were created by congressional mandate, right, But it's up

119
00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:07,760
Speaker 1: to the executive branch, the president's side, to make sure

120
00:07:07,839 --> 00:07:11,560
Speaker 1: that these these these mandates are being carried out. And

121
00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:14,400
Speaker 1: how that's carried out is left pretty much of the

122
00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:18,440
Speaker 1: discretion of the president. Congress can threaten to withhold funding

123
00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:21,480
Speaker 1: or something like that. Um. They can also repeal laws.

124
00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:24,160
Speaker 1: We'll get to that in a second too, But for

125
00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:28,280
Speaker 1: the most part, the president issues regulations or the executive

126
00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:34,840
Speaker 1: branch issues rules and regulations on how federal agency should act. Right. So,

127
00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:39,840
Speaker 1: if you have a really pro business president, they're probably, um,

128
00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:43,760
Speaker 1: not going to give the SEC a lot of power. Um.

129
00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:47,720
Speaker 1: And if you have somebody who's very much pro consumer,

130
00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:51,640
Speaker 1: the SEC will likely you know, look out for investors

131
00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:54,760
Speaker 1: more through these regulations. Right. And it's it's a lot

132
00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:58,000
Speaker 1: more than just investors. I mean, just about every aspect

133
00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:04,640
Speaker 1: of our lives as Americans is impacted by these regulatory agencies,

134
00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:07,640
Speaker 1: you know. I mean like the the the e p A,

135
00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:10,720
Speaker 1: the you and I have to go get um admissions

136
00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:13,920
Speaker 1: tests every year before we get a new tag. That's

137
00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:17,600
Speaker 1: e p A. That's a federal you know regulation. Um.

138
00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:21,480
Speaker 1: We can't run around, you know, shooting heroin between our toes.

139
00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:24,880
Speaker 1: D A looks out for that kind of thing. Um.

140
00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:28,520
Speaker 1: And then there's just a lot more like profanity on television.

141
00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:33,320
Speaker 1: That's the uh f CC. So we're impacted in many,

142
00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:37,600
Speaker 1: many ways. This isn't like just some high up hierarchy

143
00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:41,600
Speaker 1: thing that's going on politically speaking, it's federal agencies are

144
00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:44,920
Speaker 1: actually where the government and the public touch. Okay, that's

145
00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:47,480
Speaker 1: good way to say it. Thanks, thanks a lot that

146
00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:51,319
Speaker 1: so okay, So we're impacted by this, and a president's

147
00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:56,520
Speaker 1: views will direct how much we're impacted. Okay. Um, So

148
00:08:56,760 --> 00:09:02,840
Speaker 1: these new rules are created, Uh, the the Office of Information,

149
00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:07,240
Speaker 1: Information and Regulatory Affairs, they review these things right exactly,

150
00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:10,800
Speaker 1: especially if it's big money involved. Yeah, hundred million dollar

151
00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:14,559
Speaker 1: impact or more on the economy annually. Right, that's when

152
00:09:14,559 --> 00:09:17,280
Speaker 1: they get you know, special attention, right right. Um, So

153
00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:20,480
Speaker 1: the the o I r A is supposed to look

154
00:09:20,480 --> 00:09:24,280
Speaker 1: at these things, these new proposals, these proposed rules, and

155
00:09:24,360 --> 00:09:26,439
Speaker 1: they're also supposed to well, they're supposed to look if

156
00:09:26,679 --> 00:09:29,480
Speaker 1: to see if these things are cost with a cost

157
00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:33,160
Speaker 1: benefit analysis. Um. They're supposed to look if the rules

158
00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:36,760
Speaker 1: even needed, if there's any way to um, you know,

159
00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:40,040
Speaker 1: use market forces to stimulate the change that these rules

160
00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:43,400
Speaker 1: are meant to address, and any competing theories that may

161
00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:47,000
Speaker 1: actually be better competing alternatives to the proposed rule. So

162
00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:50,000
Speaker 1: you can imagine for each proposed new regulation. This is

163
00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:53,000
Speaker 1: just supposed to take a lot of time. If the

164
00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:56,720
Speaker 1: O I R A signs off on the thing, um uh,

165
00:09:56,800 --> 00:10:00,360
Speaker 1: an announcement gets published, and they actually publish an anouncement

166
00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:03,280
Speaker 1: in the Federal Register when they're first considering it. Then

167
00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:06,760
Speaker 1: they publish another announcement saying what the outcome was once

168
00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:10,040
Speaker 1: they once the O I R A signs off on it,

169
00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:13,120
Speaker 1: and it's published in the Federal Register either thirty days

170
00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:16,600
Speaker 1: for kind of smaller things, sixty days for big regulation,

171
00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:20,960
Speaker 1: it becomes law. And that's sixty day time period is

172
00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:25,120
Speaker 1: pretty important because what a president will do when they're

173
00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:27,480
Speaker 1: leaving office. If they hit their deadlines and get these

174
00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:30,600
Speaker 1: uh through quick enough, the sixty days is up before

175
00:10:30,600 --> 00:10:32,560
Speaker 1: the next president comes in, and it makes it a

176
00:10:32,559 --> 00:10:36,400
Speaker 1: lot harder to undo what they've done. Yeah. Yeah, Once

177
00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:40,200
Speaker 1: it's become law, you the process to repeal it is

178
00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:43,040
Speaker 1: pretty much the reverse of the process to have it

179
00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:46,600
Speaker 1: become law. You have to provide studies. Um, you have

180
00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:49,600
Speaker 1: to provide alternatives that the president doesn't just come in

181
00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:55,120
Speaker 1: and wave his or her magic wand and say everything

182
00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:59,120
Speaker 1: my predecessor just said is wrong and it's gone right. Good.

183
00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:01,840
Speaker 1: Try but now and that's actually been a proposal to

184
00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:06,600
Speaker 1: solve midnight regulation is to allow incoming presidents to repeal

185
00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:10,800
Speaker 1: any law passed in the in the midnight period. Um.

186
00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:14,400
Speaker 1: This is this is not necessarily the case. Um. This

187
00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:17,439
Speaker 1: has never been entertained as far as I know. Seriously,

188
00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:21,520
Speaker 1: there are some things you can do as an incoming president, right,

189
00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:27,679
Speaker 1: um too to stop this regulation what you got so

190
00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:30,920
Speaker 1: once it's uh, the the new administrations in, they have

191
00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:35,120
Speaker 1: to show that why repealing it, um is a good idea,

192
00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:37,360
Speaker 1: And a lot of times you have to provide an

193
00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:41,800
Speaker 1: alternative form of legislation. And then um. Congress actually has

194
00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:45,400
Speaker 1: a tool as well, called the Congressional Review Act. And

195
00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:49,440
Speaker 1: this came about, which is ironic because the president that

196
00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:53,440
Speaker 1: signed that bill into law was the most prolific midnight

197
00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:57,280
Speaker 1: regulator of all time, Bill Clinton correct. Um, he had

198
00:11:57,360 --> 00:12:00,839
Speaker 1: like twenty six thousand pages published in the regis. Second

199
00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:05,200
Speaker 1: to him was Jimmy Carter, whose presidency the term was

200
00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:09,400
Speaker 1: coined after, um because he he just took this old

201
00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:13,520
Speaker 1: fashioned tool to a brand new level. Um. But yeah,

202
00:12:13,640 --> 00:12:16,800
Speaker 1: Clinton signed the c r A in the law right right,

203
00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:22,440
Speaker 1: which basically repeals new regulations, allows Congress to repeal these

204
00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:25,440
Speaker 1: new regulations with the simple majority in the House and Senate,

205
00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:28,960
Speaker 1: and it still requires the president's signature though, so so

206
00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:31,720
Speaker 1: it only works sometimes. And the only time that it

207
00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:37,360
Speaker 1: works is when the president and Congress are controlled by

208
00:12:37,360 --> 00:12:40,880
Speaker 1: the same party, right, um, Because if you have a

209
00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:44,400
Speaker 1: president who is coming in and Congress is of an

210
00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:46,920
Speaker 1: opposite party, Congress isn't going to take up the c

211
00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:50,720
Speaker 1: r A to repeal anything because they were with the

212
00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:54,280
Speaker 1: old president, right right. And then if you have a

213
00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:57,079
Speaker 1: president who's carrying on the same party from the old

214
00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:00,960
Speaker 1: president and Congress is new and of the their party,

215
00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:04,319
Speaker 1: they may take up, you know, moves to repeal anything,

216
00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:06,720
Speaker 1: and the president is not going to sign off on it, right,

217
00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:10,199
Speaker 1: And which explains partially why it hasn't been used that often. Um,

218
00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:12,040
Speaker 1: even though in two thousand one that was the case,

219
00:13:12,080 --> 00:13:14,680
Speaker 1: I think it was only used one time officially to

220
00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:20,880
Speaker 1: repeal one of Billy Boys. Yeah, to repeal a regulations

221
00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:26,720
Speaker 1: that would prevent repetitive workplace stress injuries. Interesting, yeah, um.

222
00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:28,160
Speaker 1: I think one of the things that I thought was

223
00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:31,400
Speaker 1: interesting when I was reading this was one of the reasons,

224
00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:33,559
Speaker 1: because I thought, you know, why is it so easy

225
00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:35,960
Speaker 1: to get these laws pushed through with the final you know,

226
00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:39,040
Speaker 1: final minute. And that's exactly why. It's because this uh

227
00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:42,120
Speaker 1: they're overloaded with um you know, like you said, twenty

228
00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:44,960
Speaker 1: six thousand pages, but they're not given any extra staff

229
00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:48,360
Speaker 1: or anything. And I think I read UH one stat

230
00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:51,640
Speaker 1: on one of these environmental laws that the Bush is

231
00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:54,840
Speaker 1: working with the e p A for UM. They did

232
00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:58,200
Speaker 1: the average time and it was nine seconds for the

233
00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:00,520
Speaker 1: amount of employees that he had in the amount of comments.

234
00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:03,760
Speaker 1: Nine seconds to read one of these comments and respond

235
00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:06,440
Speaker 1: to it. Yeah, they went to two hundred thousand public

236
00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:09,400
Speaker 1: comments on one new piece of regulation in four days.

237
00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:12,040
Speaker 1: So that kind of answers your question why it's easy

238
00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:14,080
Speaker 1: to get these things through. Yeah, because don't forget the

239
00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:16,000
Speaker 1: o I r A is part of the Office of

240
00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:18,880
Speaker 1: Management and Budget, which is a White House office. The

241
00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:22,280
Speaker 1: federal agencies are directed by the president. UM, the the

242
00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:26,040
Speaker 1: the group in charge of reviewing these proposals are directed

243
00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:28,720
Speaker 1: by the President. It's basically the executive branch running the

244
00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:32,560
Speaker 1: show on this new regulation. And you know that it

245
00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:34,720
Speaker 1: is it's very easy to get pushed through, and like

246
00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:37,480
Speaker 1: I said, it's very cynical use of power. And president

247
00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:40,760
Speaker 1: is no longer accountable. Another proposal for any midnight regulation

248
00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:43,680
Speaker 1: is not to allow the president to propose any more

249
00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:47,120
Speaker 1: regulation during the midnight period, Like you can't make new

250
00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:50,240
Speaker 1: laws anymore. Sorry, you've been you know, you've either served

251
00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:52,960
Speaker 1: both your terms and somebody else has been selected, or

252
00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:56,000
Speaker 1: you've been ousted because someone else has been selected. Either way,

253
00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:59,680
Speaker 1: your presidency technically ended in November five. Yeah, I think

254
00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:02,600
Speaker 1: that would be more effective because basically what you would

255
00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:05,240
Speaker 1: do there is you would have a president who I

256
00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:07,680
Speaker 1: think a lot of times administrations kind of hold these

257
00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:10,480
Speaker 1: in their back pocket because they know why trying to

258
00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:13,960
Speaker 1: introduce its law when it can be debated and when

259
00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:16,040
Speaker 1: I can be impeached. Yeah, when I can be impeached,

260
00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:17,840
Speaker 1: when I'll just kind of hang onto this and tell

261
00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:19,640
Speaker 1: him on my way out and then just kind of

262
00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:22,840
Speaker 1: sneak it through the back door busch. Actually, um, I

263
00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:29,040
Speaker 1: heard it called the an eleven o'clock regulation flurry. Yeah,

264
00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:33,120
Speaker 1: because he his chief of staff, Joshua Bolton, apparently sent

265
00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:35,680
Speaker 1: a memo out to all agencies saying, if you want

266
00:15:35,720 --> 00:15:39,640
Speaker 1: new stuff, uh, in prepared by June one, so we

267
00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:43,080
Speaker 1: can have it passed by November one, which is well

268
00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:46,960
Speaker 1: before the deadline. Well, I think they did that because UM,

269
00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:51,240
Speaker 1: President Clinton famously did not get his through within the

270
00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:54,000
Speaker 1: sixty day period. He waffled until the end, and he

271
00:15:54,040 --> 00:15:56,840
Speaker 1: did well. He was busy with defending himself a lot

272
00:15:56,920 --> 00:15:59,520
Speaker 1: of that time. That is not making excuses, but there

273
00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:01,880
Speaker 1: was a lot going on in his final years. Let's

274
00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:04,920
Speaker 1: just say that. Yeah, yeah, that's absolutely true. So yeah,

275
00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:06,680
Speaker 1: he didn't get his end on time, and so President

276
00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:08,800
Speaker 1: Bush is able to come in and get a lot

277
00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:11,880
Speaker 1: of those turned back. Well he he Bush, like Clinton

278
00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:16,440
Speaker 1: and Reagan, UH issued an executive order that says just

279
00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:19,680
Speaker 1: anything that's under review right now that hasn't been published

280
00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:23,960
Speaker 1: in the Federal Register, it's suspended. But you can't you

281
00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:26,040
Speaker 1: can't just see that. You have to. You're fighting a

282
00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:29,000
Speaker 1: political fight a lot of times. When Busch came in,

283
00:16:29,080 --> 00:16:30,880
Speaker 1: one of the things that Clinton had left for him

284
00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:35,320
Speaker 1: was UM a new regulation on acceptable arsenic levels in

285
00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:40,600
Speaker 1: the water supply and UM just one that was just

286
00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:43,480
Speaker 1: one of them. Yeah yeah, yeah, UM. But you know

287
00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:47,120
Speaker 1: they would have an impact on business, and UM, as

288
00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:49,080
Speaker 1: we all know, Bush is so pro business. You could

289
00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:53,400
Speaker 1: also make an argument that he's anti consumer UM and

290
00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:57,880
Speaker 1: he's just always kind of been on the side of business, right. Uh,

291
00:16:57,920 --> 00:17:01,520
Speaker 1: he didn't like how it impacted things like mining, the

292
00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:06,040
Speaker 1: mining industry, water. Um, the water boards who would have

293
00:17:06,119 --> 00:17:10,320
Speaker 1: to you know, step up their their water purification, not waterboarding.

294
00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:15,760
Speaker 1: Don't get confused that later. Um. So uh, he basically

295
00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:18,240
Speaker 1: said this one in particular suspended, and I'm going to

296
00:17:18,320 --> 00:17:20,640
Speaker 1: fight it to the death. And he spent a lot

297
00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:23,760
Speaker 1: of political capital after he came in fighting this regulation

298
00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:27,920
Speaker 1: that he ultimately had to bite and you know, except

299
00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:31,280
Speaker 1: and he ended up eating eight percent of them. And

300
00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:34,000
Speaker 1: I think he was on record saying that he that

301
00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:36,240
Speaker 1: was a big mistake on his part, correct, because he

302
00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:40,560
Speaker 1: became painted as a basically an anti environmentalist from the

303
00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:44,719
Speaker 1: get go. But that's not necessarily to say that. Um,

304
00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:48,160
Speaker 1: that wasn't a deserved reputation from what he's doing right now.

305
00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:51,160
Speaker 1: Right most of and if you go to this pro

306
00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:54,840
Speaker 1: public A site, most of the midnight regulations he's trying

307
00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:56,760
Speaker 1: to get through have the letters E. P. A at

308
00:17:56,760 --> 00:18:00,240
Speaker 1: the front of him. So, um, regardless of what side

309
00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:04,560
Speaker 1: you're on, they are environmental issues, yes, yes, trying to

310
00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:06,960
Speaker 1: stay fair and balanced here, I could read a few

311
00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:08,439
Speaker 1: of them to you just by title. We won't get

312
00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:10,640
Speaker 1: into the because it would take too long. But UM

313
00:18:10,760 --> 00:18:15,199
Speaker 1: power plants be exempted from installing pollution controls. Uh. The

314
00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:17,520
Speaker 1: e p A may ease restrictions for power plants near

315
00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:21,280
Speaker 1: national parks. UM e p A may allow certain hazardous

316
00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:24,399
Speaker 1: waste to be used as fuel. I read another one

317
00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:28,560
Speaker 1: about rocket fuel being allowed in drinking water. Uh. Fisheries

318
00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:31,000
Speaker 1: have been doing a lot of research on fisheries right

319
00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:34,960
Speaker 1: now because I'm writing about fishing quotas and UM, there's

320
00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:37,639
Speaker 1: a lot of work being done to basically allow to

321
00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:40,680
Speaker 1: push the science out of it. As far as studying

322
00:18:41,119 --> 00:18:45,240
Speaker 1: fish populations. Yeah, there won't be any independent scientific review

323
00:18:45,359 --> 00:18:48,000
Speaker 1: right right. It's basically saying, deciding whether it has an

324
00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:50,919
Speaker 1: environmental impact, Well, the fisheries are going to be deciding that.

325
00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:53,359
Speaker 1: And I think we all know the fisheries are probably

326
00:18:53,359 --> 00:18:56,520
Speaker 1: gonna say, hey, let's keep fishing. Well let's I read

327
00:18:57,080 --> 00:19:01,280
Speaker 1: somebody who's part of a special interest fishing fishery group

328
00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:04,480
Speaker 1: who's saying, no, no, that's not true. Well, we'll self regulate.

329
00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:06,440
Speaker 1: But I think it's one of those things that's yet

330
00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:08,240
Speaker 1: to be seen. Yeah, I'm a bit of a cynic

331
00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:11,920
Speaker 1: when it comes to things like companies self regulating themselves. Yeah,

332
00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:13,879
Speaker 1: there's not a lot of proof over the years to

333
00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:16,480
Speaker 1: kind of you know, back that up. I got another

334
00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:19,600
Speaker 1: one for you. Financial planners will no longer have to

335
00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:23,000
Speaker 1: disclose any conflict of interest in the advice they give

336
00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:26,280
Speaker 1: to anybody. It sounds like a good idea. Yeah, that's

337
00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:29,480
Speaker 1: a good one. Um. And there's one called the right

338
00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:34,679
Speaker 1: to conscience uh rule. Basically, it says that if you

339
00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:38,879
Speaker 1: are a healthcare provider, you you can't not hire somebody

340
00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:43,840
Speaker 1: if they would refuse to provide birth control, which basically

341
00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:48,440
Speaker 1: then you know you have you have protection. It's the

342
00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:53,000
Speaker 1: right to conscience is based on abortion, and a doctor

343
00:19:53,119 --> 00:19:56,680
Speaker 1: can refuse to you can't force somebody to perform an abortion.

344
00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:00,439
Speaker 1: In other words, they have a right to conscience. This

345
00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:04,960
Speaker 1: so basically this extends that to contraception, which now kind

346
00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:08,919
Speaker 1: of equates contraception with abortion, which has a lot of

347
00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:12,000
Speaker 1: people a little nervous, right, And I think this I

348
00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:13,760
Speaker 1: don't think it's the same one, but it's another one

349
00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:17,199
Speaker 1: has to do with abortion. It's federally funded institutions can

350
00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:20,199
Speaker 1: turn people down for an abortion, um, for moral and

351
00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:22,520
Speaker 1: religious reasons. Yeah, I think that's part of the same

352
00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:26,320
Speaker 1: one as pretty expansive. Yeah, yeah, so, um, there's a

353
00:20:26,359 --> 00:20:28,080
Speaker 1: lot of stuff. We have a lot of a lot

354
00:20:28,119 --> 00:20:30,560
Speaker 1: of big changes to look forward to. I also heard

355
00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:33,320
Speaker 1: there's some oil drilling going on now in a polar

356
00:20:33,359 --> 00:20:37,280
Speaker 1: bear habitat um. But uh, yeah, we'll look to see

357
00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:39,159
Speaker 1: what Obama can do because you know, a lot of

358
00:20:39,200 --> 00:20:43,120
Speaker 1: these things very much fly contrary to things he's publicly

359
00:20:43,119 --> 00:20:46,679
Speaker 1: said he opposes. They they fly in the face of

360
00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:50,200
Speaker 1: his views, but he may have a hard time doing

361
00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:53,240
Speaker 1: it because Bush did it write it sounds like, yeah,

362
00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:55,920
Speaker 1: I think regardless of what political spectrum, what side of

363
00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:58,720
Speaker 1: the spectrum you fall on, it's just fascinating to look

364
00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:02,000
Speaker 1: at the push in the poll of the transition, you know,

365
00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:05,560
Speaker 1: between administrations. It's fascinating. It absolutely is. And also, if

366
00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:07,640
Speaker 1: you think about it, what Bush did with the right

367
00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:11,399
Speaker 1: to conscience thing, he basically just set Obama up for

368
00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:15,440
Speaker 1: a a national fight about abortion right out of the gate.

369
00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:17,960
Speaker 1: So it's gonna be really interesting to see how it's handled.

370
00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:21,680
Speaker 1: Because he didn't have enough to worry about. Here's this too. Yeah,

371
00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:26,240
Speaker 1: so midnight regulations there you have it. Yeah, and you

372
00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:28,720
Speaker 1: know what time it is, right, it is time Josh

373
00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:34,080
Speaker 1: for listener mail. Alright, so what do we have. I've

374
00:21:34,119 --> 00:21:35,920
Speaker 1: got a few quick ones today. I've got a couple

375
00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:39,560
Speaker 1: of corrections because we get stuff wrong people. You might

376
00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:43,000
Speaker 1: not realize that this is largely unscripted. So we'll bring

377
00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:44,520
Speaker 1: up something we didn't even know we were going to

378
00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:46,920
Speaker 1: bring up, and sometimes we don't have the exact fact

379
00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:49,200
Speaker 1: on that, so we count on the listener to point

380
00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:52,919
Speaker 1: us in the right direction. Sometimes. Yeah, that's exactly what

381
00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:56,959
Speaker 1: happens in this case. Darryl Kowowski of Denver send us

382
00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:00,520
Speaker 1: a message about the O c D podcast, and he

383
00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:02,600
Speaker 1: says he wants to make a correction on something about

384
00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:07,080
Speaker 1: when I mentioned Chris Jackson the basketball player uh changed

385
00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:11,520
Speaker 1: his name to uh Mammad Abdulla rauf In, and he

386
00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:14,960
Speaker 1: actually had Taurette syndrome, not O c D. There's kind

387
00:22:14,960 --> 00:22:18,160
Speaker 1: of a big difference. Uh, actually there's not really. Yeah,

388
00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:20,960
Speaker 1: so I will school you like a school darrel in

389
00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:23,560
Speaker 1: my email reply, or like Chris Jackson at school, both

390
00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:26,720
Speaker 1: of us in basketball. Yeah, but actually I'm not bad. Alright,

391
00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:29,639
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure Chris Jackson could. Yeah, well, if he's

392
00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:31,919
Speaker 1: done tying his shoes, which was part of the problem.

393
00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:35,080
Speaker 1: Tourette's and o c D actually are often misdiagnosed as

394
00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:37,359
Speaker 1: one to the other because they have a lot of

395
00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:40,119
Speaker 1: the same symptoms. So one of his deals was he

396
00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:42,760
Speaker 1: spent so much time trying his shoes or to hit

397
00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:44,920
Speaker 1: the perfect shot be where he left the court. So

398
00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:47,480
Speaker 1: that was actually Turette's at work. But they're very similar

399
00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:49,800
Speaker 1: in some minds. Hey, brief aside, have you ever seen

400
00:22:49,800 --> 00:22:53,840
Speaker 1: the documentary Twitch and Shout. No, It's about Turette's and

401
00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:56,480
Speaker 1: it is one of the best documentaries I've ever seen

402
00:22:56,520 --> 00:22:59,399
Speaker 1: in my life. Add that to my cue. Yeah, I

403
00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:02,280
Speaker 1: have another one. Um on guerrilla gardening. Someone wrote in

404
00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:07,280
Speaker 1: from the Netherlands, our friends in Holland. Dave Inn says

405
00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:11,320
Speaker 1: that Josh's comment on Bowery being a Dutch farm is wrong.

406
00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:14,359
Speaker 1: Uh that was true in the old days, but that

407
00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:18,359
Speaker 1: word is long gone basically in the Netherlands, and now

408
00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:21,679
Speaker 1: the word for farm is uh pronounced. Gave me an

409
00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:26,440
Speaker 1: English pronunciation. I think it is borderie, border eye or borderie,

410
00:23:27,080 --> 00:23:29,200
Speaker 1: and that's what a farm is now in the Netherlands.

411
00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:30,879
Speaker 1: I need to brush up on my Dutch. So we

412
00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:32,760
Speaker 1: were wrong. Now I could I could really make my

413
00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:36,480
Speaker 1: way in like, you know, sixteenth century, never the Netherlands.

414
00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:38,479
Speaker 1: You well, apparently now they'd be like, what the hell

415
00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:40,760
Speaker 1: are you talking about? Right, And I've got a final

416
00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:43,720
Speaker 1: quick one from our fan, Devin Wallace wrote in Basically

417
00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:45,800
Speaker 1: he was one of these guys that right, Simon says, hey,

418
00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:48,640
Speaker 1: you say my name on the air, and I wrote

419
00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:50,560
Speaker 1: him back and said, no, no, Devon, that's not how

420
00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:52,719
Speaker 1: it works. You need to give me something. So I

421
00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:55,399
Speaker 1: requested that Devon, right, a hi ku And if you

422
00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:59,760
Speaker 1: did that, then we mentioned so here's the hiku mountains

423
00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:03,800
Speaker 1: and verse. Red squirrels hiding in trees, huge rocks in

424
00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:08,000
Speaker 1: the park. Beautiful And depending on whether you think squirrel

425
00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:13,480
Speaker 1: is two syllables or one, I'm debating his well, I

426
00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:15,959
Speaker 1: say one syllable, in which cases is not a hiku.

427
00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:19,880
Speaker 1: Oh just roll would make it a hi k? Yeah,

428
00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:22,359
Speaker 1: hi Q. We'll go with that. We'll go with that, right,

429
00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:25,800
Speaker 1: So thanks Devin for the hiku. Now, well done, squirre roll,

430
00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:28,480
Speaker 1: squirre roll. Well, if you want to learn more about

431
00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:33,520
Speaker 1: squirrel rolls, um midnight regulations of course, and actually we

432
00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:37,919
Speaker 1: have a great video on turettes on the site. You

433
00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:44,600
Speaker 1: can find all that stuff at how stuff works dot com.

434
00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:47,080
Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics. Is

435
00:24:47,119 --> 00:24:52,000
Speaker 1: it how stuff works dot Com brought to you by

436
00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:55,480
Speaker 1: the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. It's ready, Are you