10 Ways Trump And Republicans Are Selling Out Working Americans

1. On Thursday, House Republicans passed a budget to fast-track a tax plan that puts corporations ahead of the middle class. Trump and Republicans have repeatedly sided with big corporations over hardworking Americans.

2. Trump’s Treasury Department moved to loosen regulations put on large insurance companies after the financial crisis.

The Hill: “The Treasury Department on Thursday called for fundamental changes to the way federal agencies regulate insurance companies under the Dodd-Frank Act financial rules. In a report released Thursday night, Treasury said regulators should move away from regulating insurance companies based on size, and instead focus on risky activities conducted by such firms. The move could require Congress to amend Dodd-Frank, which created strict rules meant to limit dangerous activity in banks and financial firms.”

3. Republicans made it easier for large financial institutions to rip off consumers.

Politico: “Senate Republicans on Tuesday night leaned on a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence to kill a landmark financial regulation that restricts banks and credit card companies from imposing mandatory arbitration on their customers as a means to resolve disputes.”

Washington Post: “Treasury Department sides with Wall Street, against federal consumer watchdog agency on arbitration rule”

4. Trump’s administration looked to eliminate the task force charged with unearthing fraud after the financial crisis.

Reuters: “The U.S. Justice Department is weighing whether a financial enforcement task force created during the Obama administration in the wake of the housing crisis is still relevant, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said Wednesday… The group was tasked with unearthing fraud following the 2007–2009 financial crisis, including fraud related to toxic mortgage securities that were sold to investors and soured as homeowners defaulted on their mortgages.”

5. Trump’s administration rescinded a rule that would have made it easier for farmers to bring lawsuits against big food companies.

The Hill: “The Trump administration is rescinding an Obama-era rule that would have made it easier for independent farmers to bring lawsuits against big food companies they raise chicken and other livestock for.”

6. Trump’s administration delayed rules that would have simplified and expedited student borrowers’ claims who were defrauded by colleges.

Washington Post: “Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is proposing another delay of an Obama-era overhaul of rules to erase the federal student debt of borrowers defrauded by colleges. In a Federal Register notice published Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Education invited public comment on a plan that would give the agency until July 1, 2019, to implement updates to a regulation known as borrower defense to repayment. The rule, which dates to the 1990s, wipes away federal loans for students whose colleges used illegal or deceptive tactics to get them to borrow money to attend.”

7. Trump’s administration changed a rule to allow broadcasting conglomerates to move more resources away from communities they serve.

Bloomberg: “Regulators eliminated a nearly 80-year-old requirement for TV and radio stations to maintain a main studio in or near the communities they serve, a step that broadcasters welcomed as trimming unneeded rules and critics called a step toward homogenized programming. The rule is no longer needed to keep stations in touch with their communities, since email and social media have replaced visits to a studio, supporters of the change say.”

8. Trump’s EPA, led by a chemical industry insider, made it harder to track the health consequences of a toxic chemical.

New York Times: “For years, the Environmental Protection Agency has struggled to prevent an ingredient once used in stain-resistant carpet and nonstick pans from contaminating drinking water. The chemical, perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, has been linked to kidney cancer, birth defects, immune system disorders and other serious health problems. So scientists and administrators in the E.P.A.’s Office of Water were alarmed in late May when a top Trump administration appointee insisted upon the rewriting of a rule to make it harder to track the health consequences of the chemical, and therefore regulate it. The revision was among more than a dozen demanded by the appointee, Nancy B. Beck, after she joined the E.P.A.’s toxic chemical unit in May as a top deputy. For the previous five years, she had been an executive at the American Chemistry Council, the chemical industry’s main trade association.”

9. Trump’s administration planned to repeal emissions standards that would primarily benefit a manufacturer that met with Scott Pruitt.

Washington Post: “The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to repeal tighter emissions standards for truck components, a rule adopted in the final months of the Obama administration aimed at controlling traditional air pollutants as well as greenhouse-gas emissions linked to climate change. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who privately met in May with the manufacturer that stands to benefit most from the rule’s repeal, suggested in August that he would reexamine the rule ‘in light of the significant issues raised’ and see whether it is consistent with the agency’s authority under the Clean Air Act.”

Washington Post: “EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who privately met in May with the manufacturer that stands to benefit most from the rule’s repeal, suggested in August that he would reexamine the rule ‘in light of the significant issues raised’ and see whether it is consistent with the agency’s authority under the Clean Air Act.”

10. Trump’s nominee to head the Federal Housing Administration previously helped lenders fight agency penalties.

Bloomberg: “Trump’s pick to run mortgage agency has helped lenders fight it”

Bloomberg: “For the past eight years, Brian Montgomery has helped mortgage lenders fight penalties sought by the Federal Housing Administration. Now he’s President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the agency. Montgomery, who is seeking a second stint as head of the FHA, would play a key role in mortgage-insurance decisions that could mean billions of dollars for clients of The Collingwood Group, the Washington consulting firm that he co-founded and currently serves as vice chairman.”