Free Republic

The Trump administration is applying new regulations to protect endangered species, rolling back some requirements [in order] to ground the policy in scientific and economic factors, the Interior Department announced Monday. The regulations, based on the 1973 Endangered Species Act, will “increase transparency and effectiveness and bring the administration of the Act into the 21st century,” the agency said. The rules won’t extend the same protections to threatened species as are applied to those already on the endangered list. Nor will they look as far into the future to project what species face extinction. The changes likely will draw litigation...

The Trump administration proposes to reform and reorganize government by streamlining food regulation, merging two Cabinet departments, and consolidating housing programs.Combining the Education and Labor departments is among 32 proposals in a plan released Thursday by the Office of Management and Budget in response to a charge President Donald Trump issued 14 months ago.“We wanted to change the dialogue in Washington, to say it’s not acceptable to have things that just don’t make sense,” Margaret Weichert, OMB’s deputy director for management, told The Daily Signal.Weichert did not provide an estimate of savings, but said it would be clear in the...

Democratic Party dismay has been mounting since Kerry ____ (fill in the blank with your favorite of any of a dozen things). Stoked by a constant barrage of well documented inconvenient facts coming out about Kerry's background and the ever-increasing popularity of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, the heated arguments between the Kerry campaign and the DNC leadership increase. Add in, too, the rousing success of the GOP convention and it appears we can stick a fork in the Democratic Party now because that goose is just about fully cooked. Another good barometer, of course, is the mania displayed...

A report recommending hundreds of ways to streamline state government is ready, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will keep it under wraps until lawmakers pass a budget, so as not to derail an agreement, an administration official said Monday. "Essentially, it's complete," communications director Rob Stutzman said of the California Performance Review report due Wednesday. "We don't want people playing politics with it, is what it boils down to. "It deserves more than that, and God knows we'll get out of here a lot quicker this week if we don't give legislators something to play with." The governor did, however, release...