With inauguration day a few weeks away, President #Obama is squeezing out enough regulations and executive actions to hamstring the GOP and President-elect #Donald Trump‘s aggressive 100-day agenda. The president’s most provocative rule was blocking new oil and gas leases in the Atlantic Ocean and Arctic using a little-known law from the 1950s at the behest of anti-fossil fuel activists. And according to analysts, more like that are coming.
Obama is also preparing to transfer at least 22 Guantanamo Bay detainees to other countries, unable to keep his campaign promise of closing the prison for good. And to the chagrin of Republicans and Democrats, the U.S. abstained from voting on a U.N. resolution condemning Israel’s settlement activity on contested land. Media outlets are reporting the resolution was spearheaded by Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry.
More to come
And Obama isn’t done yet. Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said all the recent executive actions were already in the works before Hillary Clinton lost the election. He noted that none were done in haste, though critics believe if the election outcome had been different, the onslaught of last-minute rules would be doubtful.
Politico is reporting at least 98 regulations will be classified as “economically significant,” because the cost of compliance and consumer impact would total $100 million or more. The conservative American Action Forum (AAF) used the Federal Register and estimated the “midnight regulations,” or those passed in the two months preceding the inauguration, would cost $44.1 billion.
