In the hands of Congress

Congress is working hard to eliminate common-sense regulations implemented by the Obama Administration to protect public health and safety.

Their first action eliminates the prohibition to carry guns for people suffering from mental problems serious enough to be unable to manage their personal problems.

The rule had been established after the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012 as a frustrated response from the White House to the Republican-led Congress’ refusal to consider any measure on gun control. It required the Social Security Administration to inform the gun registry office when a person had a tutor because they were unable to manage themselves.

This regulation is identical to the one currently in place at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Surely, if Congress were able to repeal the law that established it, they would.

The fact that this was the first of Obama’s measures eliminated under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) reflects the amount of influence the National Rifle Association has among legislators.

The incredible part about this action is that – in the case of Sandy Hook and similar ones in which a mentally-ill individual perpetrates a massacre – gun advocates say that the problem to be dealt with is mental health.

Still, they have no problems giving a firearm to a mentally incapacitated person to protect their right to bear arms whenever they get a chance, disregarding public safety.

The CRA grants Congress 60 days to vote to strike down these regulations. That is why there is a race to annul measures that is being won by the major donors of GOP legislators.

After the NRA comes the energy industry, which has successfully eliminated a rule that forbade the mining sector from dumping their arsenic, mercury and selenium waste into streams. The mining companies say that the only way to offer employment is to pollute their surroundings.

Energy companies were also able to eliminate a financial rule that required them to reveal if they were paying/bribing foreign governments to obtain contracts.

There are a number of norms currently on the line in the areas of education, the environment, finance and others. It is tragic to see that, in the name of deregulation and economic efficiency, measures that protect the individual and the consumer are being destroyed.