History shows that some revolutions begin with a midnight ride, while others start with the crunching sound of a plastic straw working its way to the bottom of a cold soda. [emphasis, links added]
This is winning: July 21, 2025, is the date that the Biden administration’s paper straw mandate was officially scrapped.
President Donald Trump’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced the rule ending federal agencies’ ability to purchase and promote those lovely, flimsy, soggy substitutes that we’ve all come to hate.
Yes, this only applies to federal institutions for now, but hopefully, all other agencies will follow suit.
This wasn’t a simple regulatory rollback; it was a major one! President Trump made a declaration that the American people are once again allowed to make everyday choices.
Yes, this may sound petty, but its implications stretch far beyond your cup; it’s about WHO decides the details of YOUR life? You, or some bureaucrat in D.C. who’s never had to sip through soggy pulp.
Trump’s move was a small but very potent act of liberation. It’s precisely these small wins that mark the path out of soft tyranny.
The Straw Heard ‘Round the Cafeteria
In 2021, President Joe Biden, or whoever was in charge of the government at the time, announced that one of his environmental legacy items would be to phase out single-use plastics across all federal agencies by 2035.
What this directive meant was that we wouldn’t be encumbered with plastic forks, cling wrap, Styrofoam coffee cups, and certainly straws. At least the ones that worked.
Replacing them were paper straws, replacing the old, reliable ones. The alternative straws disintegrated halfway through a drink or even arrived at your table already soggy.
Worse than being a functional failure, they were forced into our lives whether we wanted them or not. We didn’t vote for or ask for them.
Someone at the EPA, however, located in the bowels of Washington, decided they knew better than we did.
As it often has, many federal decisions were presented as moral. And, as it often has been, the science was off.
In 2023, Food Additives & Contaminants published a peer-reviewed study that found 90 percent of paper straws contained the so-called “forever chemicals,” PFAS, which are linked to various health issues, including hormone disruption and cancer.
In case you missed it, in the name of protecting the environment, our government handed out health hazards.
President Trump finally scrapped these rules.
Top photo by Jason D on Unsplash
Read rest at PJ Media
