 The Relief Report ® A newsletter covering regulatory reform efforts in Washington and across America, published by The National Center for Public Policy Research, 501 Capitol Court, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002, 202/543-4110, Fax 202/543-5975, E-mail ReliefReport@nationalcenter.org Web http://www.nationalcenter.org |
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott's apparent desire to bring the flawed Chemical Weapons Treaty to the Senate floor for a vote on ratification is bad news for business. Should the treaty be ratified over 8,000 American businesses - many in non-chemical industries - are expected to be forced to comply with intrusive new paperwork reporting requirements and, even worse, to open their businesses to international inspectors who may represent their foreign competitors. Judge Robert Bork has written that, should the treaty be ratified, "A foreign state will have the right to challenge inspection of a U.S. facility without the grounds that are essential for a search warrant. The U.S. is required by the CWC to enforce inspection by an international team, even over opposition from the owner. On-site personnel can be compelled to answer questions, provide data, and permit searches of anything within the premises - including records, files, papers, processes, controls, structures and vehicles." Contact Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy at 202/466-0515 or info@security-policy.org or for more information visit http://www.security-policy.org or http://www.nationalcenter.org for.
Through his new Hope, Growth and Opportunity "message tank," Steve Forbes is warning American businesses that "the Treasury Department is about to slip through a nasty little increase on America's partnerships - architects, consultants, engineers, actuaries, accountants, lawyers, etc." The tax, rejected by Congress in 1994, is being imposed by the Administration's regulatory apparatus. Says Forbes: "Here's how the stealth income tax works: Limited partners will have to pay what is in effect the 2.9% Medicare payroll tax not only on the incomes they receive, but also on the earnings that the partnership retains." Particularly annoying to Forbes, and, we understand, to House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Ways and Means Chairman Bill Archer, who learned of the tax increase April 3 and are now moving to thwart it, is the fact that the Administration is using its regulatory power to sneak the tax past Congress. Experts predict that if this tax-increasing regulation goes into effect it will soon also be applied to S corporations. In seeking to impose this new tax by regulation the Administration has not complied with several applicable rules, including Congressional Review provisions, the Small Business record-keeping provisions of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, and the President's Executive Order 12886. Contact Joel Rosenberg at 703/925-9281 or ahgova@erols.com, or visit http://www.AHGO.org for more details.
A battle over blue crab regulations affecting commercial watermen
of the Chesapeake has the makings of a modern day battle of the
Alamo, complete with a family named Crockett. Two years ago, fluctuating
blue crab populations in the Chesapeake caught the attention of
environmentalists. Armed with a survey from the Chesapeake Bay
Commission and a report from the College of William and Mary,
they argued that the Chesapeake's blue crab stocks would collapse
without severe harvest restrictions. As a result, new regulations
were imposed to protect the crabs. The most costly of these was
a shortened crab season imposed in 1995. Due to the severity of
the 1995/96 winter, an estimated 55% of the crab population died
in the frigid muds of the Chesapeake -- crabs that could have
been sold for up to $50 a bushel had regulations not prevented
it. To add insult to injury, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration study found that the environmentalists were wrong
in the first place and that the crab populations were robust.
One of the watermen fighting against unreasonable regulations
is a song-writing, ballad-singing boat captain by the name of
Davey Crockett. Hopefully, his battle will be more successful
than the other Davey Crockett's. For more information, contact
David Ridenour of The National Center for Public Policy Research
at 202/543-4110 or eptf@nationalcenter.org
(http://www.nationalcenter.org).
For all those who viewed the Union of Concerned Scientists'
(UCS) recent foray into "sound science" as akin to Dr.
Kevorkian opening a suicide prevention hotline comes this bit
of confirmation: The Tucson, Arizona-based Doctors for Disaster
Preparedness has obtained a tape of a media training teleconference
for scientists hosted by the UCS that exposes the group's "Sound
Science Initiative" as merely a tactical device to promote
the global warming scare. According to Doctors for Disaster
Preparedness Newsletter, the scientists were told, among other
things: "Don't confuse [journalists] with doubt. In other
words, don't talk like a scientist, with caveats and error bars.
Emphasize the word 'consensus.'" The very nature of "sound
science," however, dictates that there will caveats, qualifiers
and uncertainties. For more information, contact Doctors for Disaster
Preparedness at 520/323-3110.
All editorial correspondence to The Relief Report
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Copyright 1998, The National Center for Public Policy Research.
Coverage of meetings, activities or statements in the Relief Report
does not imply endorsement by The National Center for Public Policy
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