Cause of Action in the News:
Franchise Action Network – DEPARTMENT OF LABOR TAKES AIM AT FRANCHISE SMALL BUSINESS
Earlier this month, Cause of Action argued on behalf of entrepreneur Rhea Lana in Rhea Lana v. U.S. Department of Labor before the D.C. Circuit. The Franchise Action Network wrote “Rhea Lana is faced with a Hobson’s choice; either continue running her businesses and face significant potential monetary penalties or cease operating as she has for years even though she has done nothing wrong.” Cause of Action will continue to fight for people like Rhea Lana and continue to call for government transparency.
In Other News:
Forbes – Amazingly, IRS Says You Can’t Rely On IRS Instructions
If you thought following IRS instructions to complete your taxes was a safe bet, think again. As it turns out, the agency can penalize good-intentioned taxpayers who follow those instructions as courts have held them to be non-authoritative. There have been many instances of regular Americans losing to the IRS although they tried to do everything right. This kind of behavior would never be tolerated in the private sector and demonstrates an egregious double standard for federal agencies.
Fox News – FBI expands probe of Clinton emails, launches independent classification
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails are under heightened IRS scrutiny as investigators seek to find evidence of False Claims Act violations. You may recall, Martha Stewart famously graced West Virginia’s Alderson Federal Prison Camp in 2004 after conviction under the same statute. Former FBI intelligence officer Timothy Gill said “[t]his is a broad, brush statute that punishes individuals who are not direct and fulsome in their answers.”
Fox News – Study claims EPA’s Clean Power Plan may hike electricity prices in 47 states
Boston-based firm NERA Economic Consulting has concluded the EPA’s Clean Power Plan will cost around $292 billion, leading to increased electricity bills in 47 states. Laura Sheehan, Senior Vice President of Communications at the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, noted “[S]tates should be braced to pay higher costs,” and “[c]onsumers only lose in the Clean Power Plan.” The EPA rejects these results, while curiously maintaining the agency has not even reviewed the report.
AllGov – Most U.S. Agencies Fail to Conduct Required Reviews of Federal Regulations
In 2011, President Obama required federal agencies to review the regulations they created by issuing executive orders to clean up rules “that may be outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome, and to modify, streamline, expand, or repeal them in accordance with what has been learned.” However, a recent study reports that of the 2,400 to 4,500 new regulations promulgated annually, very few are ever reviewed. The Regulatory Studies Center at George Washington University examined 22 rules that “had an effect of $100 million or more on productivity, jobs, competition, the environment, public health and safety or local governments,” and concluded the government has no plans in place to review them, arguably violating executive directives.
Washington Times – Punishing the Obama way (The president’s enforcers are treating ordinary Americans like enemies)
The Department of Justice has let Lois Lerner off the hook, concluding there was no evidence of Tea Party targeting. James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, abandoned his inspector general and opined that Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server for government business was above-board. These are just a few examples of why it is imperative to fight for a transparent government that demands the same compliance from its officials as it does from the American public.
