WASHINGTON – President Trump and his top aide, Steve Bannon, are charging ahead with their plans to “deconstruct the administrative state,” by threatening vital protections that safeguard food, drinking water, air and public health, said Scott Faber, EWG’s senior vice president for government affairs.
Trump signed an executive order today requiring every agency to produce a list of rules, within 90 days, to be rescinded or replaced. During his speech before the Conservative Political Action Committee conference today, Trump said: "We're going to put the regulation industry out of work and out of business. And by the way, I want regulation. I want to protect our environment. I want regulations for safety."
“If there was ever an administration that has repeatedly proven it cannot be trusted to tell the truth to the American people, it’s the Trump administration,” said Faber. “Nobody with a grain of common sense believes he’s going to be a pillar of environmental protection – quite the opposite. President Trump is engineering the most hostile assault on public health, and mark my words, his administration’s planned destruction of many rules will put the health of millions of hard-working Americans and their families in jeopardy.”
The following is the rest of Faber’s statement:
Yesterday, Steve Bannon declared war on our government’s ability to protect public health from polluters, calling for the “deconstruction of the administrative state." Today, Bannon and President Trump fired the first shot, issuing an executive order that would create an endless loop designed to block government safeguards that keep food safe, ban toxic chemicals, protect workers, and cut air and water pollution.
The impacts of the “analysis paralysis” proposed today will not be felt in Trump Tower. They’ll be felt in thousands of small towns and rural communities across the country, where people drink dirty water, breathe dirty air and eat filthy food. No one who voted for Trump voted for dirty air and water, but that’s exactly what they’re going to get.
What will a world without common-sense safeguards for everything from drinking water, food and air, to consumer products and workplace safety look like? We could all find out soon.
