Regulation without Representation

"Outsourcing, the shifting of well-paid and skilled manufacturing and service sector jobs overseas, has emerged as a defining issue," but Republicans in the House of Representatives want to change the subject, according to The Hill. In mid-May, the House leadership will begin "eight weeks of debate and votes on what they say are 'populist' measures to reduce healthcare costs, eliminate red tape, curb abusive lawsuits, simplify the tax code, improve worker-training programs, enforce trade law and reshape energy policies." The "competitiveness agenda" also includes "a long-standing proposal that Congress should vote on regulatory actions, such as examining whether to raise the corporate average fuel economy standards in cars." The Competitive Enterprise Institute's president noted approvingly: "Regulations have become a form of taxation without representation."