STEVE HORN, steve [at] desmogblog.com, @SteveAHorn

Horn is an investigative journalist and writer for DeSmogBlog.com. He just wrote the piece “GOP Congress, Trump Already Pushing Koch Industries’ Bill to Hobble Regulatory Agencies.”

He said today: “The REINS [Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny] Act passage in the House as one of the first legislative priorities for the 115th Congress, and Trump’s support of the bill, makes it clear the new dawn of a deregulatory revolution is upon us and it will be fueled by the Koch Brothers, the major backer of this legislation for over half a decade now. And that means to hell with environmental and climate protections, worker safety protections, consumer protections, etc., as embodied in REINS.

“Speaker Paul Ryan called the Republican-controlled federal government a ‘dream’ in his opening remarks to the House, but for anyone not heading up a corporation or working on Wall Street, that dream will be a nightmare.”

Horn writes: “According to lobbying disclosure forms, Koch Industries began lobbying on the REINS Act in the third quarter of 2010. Joining Koch were the likes of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Heritage Foundation’s Heritage Action for America. …

“Also in 2012, ALEC — which is funded by and which provides a corporate bill mill forum for all of these players — passed a model resolution in support of REINS.

“For more recent versions of the bill, the oil and gas industry at large have now come on board through the American Petroleum Institute and the Western Energy Alliance.”