Kadoka High School

Kadoka, South Dakota

Teacher:  Teresa Shuck

Government As Regulator

By:  Tyler Peterson

11^th grade

The government regulation in the United States is not up to par.  Government in the United States of America could be introduced into new areas, and be made stronger in the areas that do exist. Government regulation is needed to keep businesses in business, and make sure that monopolies don’t exist.  Government regulation also keeps America healthy by making sanitation laws, medication laws and regulating the food that we eat.  It is also responsible for saving extinct animals such as the spotted owl and bald eagle.  Government regulation is needed to keep the businesses from making their prices go through the roof.

Some forms of legitimate regulation include regulating the amount of toxic waste that can be dumped.  If government did not step in and regulate toxic waste dumping, many companies would be saving a lot of money by not paying and dumping waste into bodies of water.  The companies would be saving money, but also they would be ruining many valuable gallons of water.  Also the wildlife in the water habitat would be severely damaged and many of them even killed off.  Another form of lawful regulation would be Airline security, especially after the September 11 tragedy, this could really save many lives by being taken to extreme measures. The airline security in the United States cannot harm anyone if it is taken to immense security. 

One example would be the fifteen-year-old girl that needed a cosmetology license to braid hair in Kansas.  The young girl was establishing work ethic and also putting a little money in her pocket.  She was making a mere $100 a month when the government shut her down.  It would be necessary to shut down operations, without a license, that were talking away all of the business from licensed stores.  That was not the case in this situation; the young girl was mostly getting all of her business from friends and family members.  Despite getting shut down by the government she received an honor as being one of the five Outstanding High School Entrepreneurs.

The government also regulates the age at which you can consume alcohol.  The government should put an age on the consumption of alcohol but not as old as 21.  We are considered adults when we reach the age of 18, we can vote, go into military service and even smoke cigarettes.  It is the age of 18 that the world considers us responsible for ourselves and also agreeable to contracts.  So why does the government say that we are not responsible enough to consume alcohol. 

An additional form of government regulation on bungee jumping is not necessary.  If people want to jump off a cliff or mountain with a bungee cord strapped to their body, they should be able to do that if they want to.  The government should regulate if a person is putting himself or herself in complete danger. The people that run the bungee jumping establishment make sure that all of their customers are well prepared to make the jump.  They would not let a person under the influence of alcohol or drugs bungee jump.  These are some reasons that bungee jumping should not have as much government regulation that exists today. 

The government also makes money off of fining people for not complying with their regulations.  People have to work around the regulations that the government applies to them.  For example, if a building does not meet the requirements of the government safety policy, then the company owning the building has to spend money to meet the requirements.  A company can spend millions of dollars making an establishment meet the enforcement of the government.

Congress has the power to override or veto a bill that is an example of over regulation.  This process is known as the Congressional Review Act.  The White House can also indirectly reverse a government regulation through the system of the courts. The president and his advisors should also have the power to veto a bill that is over regulated.  Most of the time an over regulated bill does not pass the house or senate, therefore no one has to worry about overriding the proposal.  The White House also has the power to reopen a rule. The 1946 Administrative Procedures Act to reopen a bill through soliciting new public comments.  The president also has the power to enforce and limit the funds available to agencies to enforce regulation.

The government in the United States of America is doing well enough to be the most powerful nation in the World.  It has some areas that many people argue that could be improved.  Although we can voice our opinion we do not have the final say in what the government of our country regulates.

Tyler’s Questions

Q1.    What is the only way to prevent hijackers from gaining control of an airplane according to the unknown author?

Answer:  The only way to prevent hijackers from gaining control of an airplane according to the unknown author is to harden to the cockpit.

Q2       What are the arguments given by lobbyists for the Bells in favor of HR 1542 (Tauzin-Dingell Bill) and arguments given by their opponents against this legislation?
CQ May 5 p 1012

Answer:  The arguments given by the lobbyists for the Bells in favor of HR 1542 (Tauzin –Dingell Bill) for the legislation are that some high-tech interests have questioned whether giving the Bills are kind of breaks that Tauzin and Dingell are proposing would chill investment in their smaller competitors, which have struggled to compete.  Also supporters of the bill are convinced that it would speed deployment of broadband services and help jump-start the information technology sector.  The

Q3       Why do small-business groups like HR 1831? From the small amount of information presented in your required reading, do you think the legislation is a good idea? Why?
CQ May 19 p. 1161

Answer:  Small-business groups approve of HR 1831 because the bill would protect businesses that discard less than 110 gallons of liquid waste or less than 200 pounds of solid, non-hazardous waste at a superfund site, as well as small businesses that dump ordinary garbage in a landfill rather that later is designated a superfund site. 

Q4       Give an argument in favor of government regulating activities such as roller blading and bungee jumping.
Governing, March 1993 p 23

Answer:  An argument in favor of the government regulating activities such as roller-blading and bungee jumping is that it’s just like regulating restaurants to assure that the public is safe.  The government’s general role is making sure that fly-by-night businesses don’t jump into activities where safety is a paramount of concern.

Q5       Define a “burden hour.”
CQ ‘April 28 p. 896

Answer:  A “burden hour” is to measure the time it takes to collect data and fill out federal forms, surveys, and reports. 

Q6       Why was Connecticut Senator, Joseph Lieberman, concerned enough to vote against the nomination of Professor John Graham as administrator of the office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the current Bush administration?
CQ May 26 p 1229

Answer:  Connecticut Senator, Joseph Lieberman, was concerned enough to vote against the nomination of Professor John D. Graham as administrator of the office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the current Bush administration.  Lieberman cited Graham’s past criticisms of clean-air and clean-water statutes and questioned whether he would weaken federal health, environmental and safety hazards.  because he, along with many others, felt that Graham was someone who would use a patina of science to block government rules needed to protect Americans from health, safety, and environmental hazards.  Also, every major government regulation overturned or created by the Buss administration would go through Graham’s agency, which is part of the Office of Management and Budget. Instead of estimating the number of lives that would be saved by a regulation, Graham tries to determine how many years of life would be saved.  That means, say other critics, which he dismisses problems that might not arise for decades and solutions that might add a few high-quality years to an individual’s life. 

Q6a     Graham is a proponent of “risk analysis.”  How is risk analysis defined on page 992 of the May 5, 2001 issue of Congressional Quarterly Weekly?

Answer:  On page 922 of the May 5, 2001 issue of Congressional Quarterly Weekly, “risk analysis” is defined as the calculation of the likelihood of a hazard against the costs and benefits of preventing it.

Q6b     Who was the first president to order federal agencies to weigh potential costs and benefits when writing a rule?
CQ May5 2001 p 993

Answer:  President Jimmy Carter was the first president to order federal agencies to weigh potential costs and benefits when writing a rule.

Q6       How much would compliance with OSHA’s regulations to limit injuries or disabilities from performing repetitive tasks cost according to an estimate by business groups as reported in the 2000 CQ Almanac?   What was the response of OSHA and Labor Department officials? 
CQ Almanac p 2-111

Answer:  Compliance with OSHA’s regulations to limit injuries or disabilities from performing repetitive tasks would cost an estimated $14 billion to $80 billion a year.  OSHA and Labor Department officials, however, say the rule is intended to be flexible and would not require most companies to act.  They say that while costing employers $4.2 billion annually, the rule would also save them $9 billion a year in lost productivity.

Q7       What was the makeup of the “iron triangle” during the Reagan years and what do environmentalists and consumer activists foresee as its composition in the current Bush administration?
CQ May 5 p 990

Answer:  The “iron triangle” during the Reagan years was an unbreakable alliance among Democratic committee chairmen, agency officials and interest groups that worked in concert to achieve common goals, whether it was funding for special projects or protecting specific constituencies. It appears the old iron triangle has turned on its head, environmentalists and consumer activists foresee the formation of a new triad composed of industry officials, the White House and GOP committee chairmen, that leaves them out of the picture. 

Q8       Name 5 actions of the Bush administration that have drawn criticism from Environmentalists.
CQ May 5, 2001 p. 994 and 995

Answer:  Five actions of the Bush administration that draw criticism from environmentalists are:

1.)        Bush signed legislation to kill a Clinton ergonomics rule opposed by many major business groups, who argued that it would cost too much to implement. 

2.)        He also signaled his intention to reverse or revise Clinton regulations, including one to toughen cleanup standards for hard rock mining operations.

3.)        Bush went back on a campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide.

4.)        He rejected the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. 

5.)        Bush also stirred up great public criticism by reversing a Clinton rule to reduce the levels of arsenic in drinking water.  The rule, which was issued in December, would have lowered the amount of arsenic permitted in drinking water to 10 parts per billion from 50 parts per billion.

Q9       What did the executive order issued by Ronald Reagan in 1981 and still in effect today, requires agencies to prove before new regulations were enacted? How did the Democratic House counter in 1986?
CQ May 5, 2001 p. 995

Answer:  The executive order issued by Ronald Reagan in 1981 requires agencies to prove that a regulation’s benefits would “outweigh” its costs, before new regulations were enacted.  In 1986, the Democratic House countered by forcing a showdown and deleting funds for OMB’s regulatory division from the fiscal 1987 budget. 

Q10     On the average, how long does it take to build an airport?  A highway?
CQ May 19, 2001 p 1163

Answer:  The House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Don Young said “ the average time for a highway is 12 years and airport is 15 years.

Q11     Discuss the pros and cons of licensing requirements.
Wall Street Journal June 18, 1993

Answer:  Arguments against proper licensing are that they impose right and unreasonable barriers to newcomers who want to enter a business.  People also say that the regulations can end up hurting more people than they protect.  On the other side they argue that 500 occupations, covering 10% of the nations work force were overhauled. So a valuable program such as NFTE has enough trouble turning at risk youth around without having to battle petty bureaucrats at the same time.

Q12.    Discuss the pros and cons of master plans and planning departments.
Taking A Stand On Regulation pp 80-82

Answer:  Many people have different opinions about master plans and planning departments.  People for the plan say that it allows for the development of newer and better facilities.  It upgrades our buildings to cope with the everyday world around us instead of an old-outdated building that isn't good enough for people to get complete success out of.  By making plans the planning departments can make money and we can get better facilities out of the deal.  It's a win-win situation they think.  However, those people against the master plans and planning departments say that it makes a mess with old buildings and the construction of the new buildings.  This is an inconvenience for all people that are in and around the area.  The process of building pollutes the world and all of the noise disturbs the public.  These people don't like the tearing up of the ground just to replace a building with a newer, bigger, better one. 

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