Rep. Nadler Moves to Undo Harmful Last Minute Regulatory Changes Share on Facebook Share on X Print this Page Share by Email Washington, DC, January 6, 2009 Today, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (NY-08), Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, reintroduced the Midnight Rule Act (first introduced in November 2008) to mandate that all regulatory changes made by the White House within the last three months of an Administration be approved by incoming Cabinet Secretaries.  This legislative safeguard would check the Bush Administration’s final drive to alter government regulations and weaken civil liberties, erode environmental protections and threaten women’s reproductive rights.  “As expected, the Bush Administration has, in its final moments, proposed a series of retrograde and dangerous regulatory changes,” said Rep. Nadler.  “I am reintroducing the Midnight Rule Act to reverse President Bush’s last minute attempts to weaken key legal protections within our federal agencies.  We cannot sit idly by as this Administration quietly makes last-ditch efforts to erode civil liberties, empower polluting industries, threaten the environment and weaken a woman’s right to choose.” Among the many last minute changes proposed by the Bush Administration are:  curtailing access to abortion, contraceptives and information about reproductive health options, while extending the “right to refuse” abortion provision to a larger number of health workers; new FBI guidelines allowing agents greater powers to collect information on individual Americans, with greater possibility for ethnic or religious profiling and monitoring of innocent bystanders; weakened Interior Department regulations on federal projects which might threaten endangered species, allowing the agency to bypass reviews of global warming and potential ecological impacts; and allowing mining companies to dump toxic waste without concern for environmental harm. The Midnight Rule Act would allow legitimate regulatory reform to proceed on schedule, while putting the power to review and overturn controversial new rules into the hands of the newly elected government.  The bill also includes measures to ensure that the Administration can still take actions that are necessary to protect the safety and security of the American public.