Executive Branch

April 15, 2024

Ananya Kalahasti Fatou Ndiaye

Interview 2024 ElectionCongressional OversightExecutive BranchGovernment Capacity

Unpacking The Federal Executive Branch, A Conversation With Vanderbilt University Professor David Lewis

Coverage of presidential elections typically hones in on contestants’ competing legislative visions, which in truth, tend to morph considerably when hit by the reality of an intransigent Congress. This prompts an important question: are presidential elections overrated? Well, before drawing that conclusion, consider one of the underrated consequences of a federal election: the potential for a new administration to alter the management of the federal workforce and the operations of individual departments within the executive branch. Although journalists eschew reporting of these consequences in favor of (legislatively focused) policy platforms and rallies, there is a wide body of academic research which investigates the impact of presidential administrations on the federal executive branch’s ability and capacity to fulfill its roles and responsibilities. 

February 29, 2024

Hannah Story Brown

Press Release ClimateExecutive BranchRevolving DoorTreasury Department

RELEASE: Treasury Must Continue To Stand Firm Against Industry Fearmongering and Regulatory Capture in Finalizing Clean Hydrogen Guidance

In response to Thursday’s reporting from E&E News on the Energy Department pushing the Treasury Department to align its clean hydrogen tax credit guidance with industrial polluters’ wishlist, the Revolving Door Project released the following statement: 

February 28, 2024

Emma Marsano

Newsletter Corporate CrackdownExecutive Branch

Government Shutdown Threats Allow GOP to Signal to Corporate Cronies It’s Open Season on Consumers

We’re staring down a familiar deadline this week: On Friday, if Congress doesn’t pass a spending bill, we’ll enter a partial government shutdown. And if they pass a short term continuing resolution… we’ll have just kicked the can a few weeks down the increasingly potholed (due to inadequate maintenance) road.

February 06, 2024

Timi Iwayemi

Public Comment

Department of CommerceExecutive BranchHealthPharma

Civil Society Comment on the Draft Interagency Guidance Framework for Considering the Exercise of March-In Rights

Unfortunately, despite numerous petitions presented over the 40-plus year history of the Bayh-Dole Act, not once has a federal agency exercised its right to march-in and license competition to remedy price gouging (which constitutes a failure of the owner of a subject invention to make that invention available to the public on reasonable terms), or otherwise.

January 31, 2024 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter

KJ Boyle

Newsletter Anti-MonopolyExecutive BranchIndependent AgenciesLaborRevolving Door

More Revolvers Join The Fight Against The Regulatory State

The regulatory authority of the executive branch is under attack, and BigLaw firms stacked with revolvers are on the front lines leading the assault. I’ve previously written about former FTC Commissioner Christine Varney challenging the legitimacy of her former employer on behalf of pharma company Illumina. Lawyers at Latham & Watkins, a firm stacked with revolvers from executive branch agencies, are before the Supreme Court challenging the Chevron Doctrine, which defers to executive agencies’ interpretations when legislative statutes are unclear. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s ability to hold administrative proceedings hangs in the balance as we await the Supreme Court’s decision in SEC v. Jarkesy, where the Fifth Circuit’s ruling decimated the agency’s authority. In a new attack, revolvers on the labor/management relations team at Morgan Lewis & Bockius have their sights set on the plutocrats’ latest target: the National Labor Relations Board.

January 16, 2024

Hannah Story Brown

Letter

ClimateExecutive Branch

147 Groups Call On EPA To Use Clean Air Act Powers to Refer PNW Pipeline Approval to CEQ For Review

On January 16, Bloomberg covered a letter from 147 groups that the Revolving Door Project co-organized with the Center for Biological Diversity and Columbia Riverkeeper, calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to utilize its Clean Air Act Section 309 powers to refer the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of the GTN Xpress pipeline expansion to the White House Council on Environmental Quality for review. FERC’s approval of the pipeline disregarded both the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and legally-binding state-level decarbonization commitments in Washington and Oregon.

December 20, 2023

Hannah Story Brown

Blog Post

ClimateExecutive BranchRevolving Door

Rahm Emanuel, LNG Ambassador To Japan

The pressure on the Biden administration to stop the rapid ongoing expansion of liquified natural gas (LNG) export infrastructure in the United States is intensifying. Over 300 organizations released a letter at COP28 demanding that the administration halt the planned build-out of LNG facilities. 60 Democrats in Congress wrote a letter demanding that the Energy Department reassess whether new LNG terminals were in the national interest. The Hill reported that the Biden administration’s continued support for LNG exports was causing a “revolt” within the Democratic party.