I am writing to support Kathryn Lair’s excellent letter (Herald, March 3) regarding Rep. Tipton’s shameful vote to repeal the Fish and Wildlife Service rule prohibiting cruel and inhumane killing of animals in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, and to support her call to contact Sen. Cory Gardner at (202) 224-5941 to ask him to oppose SJR 18, the Senate version of the bill.
This regulation is one of many on the chopping block of the Congressional Review Act, which gives Congress the extraordinary power to nullify recently adopted agency rules with a simple majority vote, without judicial review.
As of March 3, 49 resolutions reversing agency rules had been introduced. Three have already been passed into law and signed by the president: HJR 38, nullifying the Stream Protection Rule; HJR 41, nullifying the SEC rule requiring energy companies to disclose payments made to foreign governments for commercial development of oil, natural gas or minerals; and HJR 40, nullifying the requirement for the Social Security Administration to provide records of severely mentally ill people receiving disability payments who are “unable to handle their own affairs” to the attorney general for inclusion in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
The Methane Gas Rule will also likely be subject to the Congressional Review Act.
Americans did not vote to be exposed to more health, safety, environmental and financial dangers.
Carol Cure
Durango
