Just last week a federal judge, ironically appointed by Obama, struck down blatantly illegal rules crafted by the Department of Labor to change the classification of many workers from managers to overtime-eligible employees. My colleague Jay Caruso posted on the story.
It looked like this job killing madness had been stopped. After all it was plain that Trump was the next president and the proper thing to do would have been to let the incoming Secretary of Labor decide if an appeal was warranted. But propriety is not something any Obama appointee or supporter has ever been noted for. Rather, being dedicated little progressive fascist that they are, the Department of Labor has appealed the judge’s decision.
Trey Kovacs, a labor policy expert at the pro-free market Competitive Enterprise Institute, said that the appeal represents a last ditch effort from the Obama administration to preserve one of its most influential labor policies.
“The overzealous regulators at the DOL have not gotten the message sent by the courts. It is time for the Obama administration to pass the torch and to cease forcing burdensome red tape on job creators,” Kovacs said in a statement. “Hopefully, the 5th Circuit will take the same view as the judge that imposed a nationwide injunction on the rule, which is that DOL regulators overreached the authority granted to the agency by Congress in raising the salary threshold so high.”
One suspects this bullsh** power grab by a lame duck administration is the direct result of rumors that Carl’s Jr. CEO Charles Puzder will be the new Secretary of Labor.
The people making the decision on this are obviously the political scum appointees still hanging onto the only well paying job they’ve ever had or are likely to have. But the did so with the willing cooperation of the professional staff. During the fading hours of the Clinton administration the Labor Department forced through a rule setting Draconian ergonomic standards that actually had the distinction of being one of the very first federal rules ever revoked by Congress. Yes, appointees pulled the trigger but it was civil service people who loaded and aimed the gun and gave the command to fire.
Throughout the federal government Trump appointees are going to be confronted by an outright revolt as civil servants, pampered and rewarded and praised like U-8 AYSO soccer players by Obama, refuse to cooperate in carrying out his agenda. It isn’t enough that Trump appoint strong leaders, every federal agency should be outfitted with its own hatchetmen whose sole job is to keep book on recalcitrant staff and fire them.
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