Just two days before Christmas, the White House announced its intention to renominate to the federal bench 20 radical right-wing and corporate-friendly extremists whose nominations had been thwarted in the 108th Congress. The White House will be supported in this effort by both social conservatives, who see Bush nominees as friendly to conservative positions on controversial social issues like abortion, and the corporate sector, which is dedicating millions of dollars in an unprecedented lobbying effort on behalf of the Bush judicial picks. Safeguards at Stake

The OIRA report to Congress includes a list of what the White House touts as its “Regulatory Reform Accomplishments.” Far from being accomplishments, many of the actions on this list actually represent the gutting of important public safeguards or the release of watered-down protections.

OIRA claims that we need the anti-regulatory hit list in order to reverse the decline in manufacturing jobs. OIRA has manufactured an excuse that does not hold up. Manufacturers do not need this extraordinary rejection of the government’s duty to serve the public interest.

<p>Click here to download the final version of the 2004 annual report on regulatory costs and benefits, in which OIRA released the industry hit list, the White House hit list, and the White House fast-track list.