Today, while the Senate voted to confirm fossil fuel friend Ryan Zinke as Secretary of the Interior, and the media heaped undeserved praise on Donald Trump for his speech to Congress last night, the House GOP continued its war on public interest regulations (which I’ve chronicled in past posts).

I’ll focus on the SCRUB Act here and explain the other two in a subsequent post.

The SCRUB Act would establish an unelected, nine-member commission to review existing federal rules and regulations and identify ones to be repealed. A vast array of public interest regulations exists on the federal level to guarantee public health, consumer and environmental protection, and workplace safety (among other laudable goals). And even though regulations have often been shown to produce significant economic benefits, Republicans and their funders just see them as burdens.

The unelected commission would be able to issue subpoenas “requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of any evidence relating to the duties of the commission,” which would make it even more powerful than Inspectors General. When the commission recommends a rule for repeal, Members of Congress would have to vote on the rules repeal as a package rather than debate and vote on each individually. If Congress votes to repeal a rule, agencies would then have 60 days to rescind the rule.

The SCRUB Act also mirrors one of Trump’s recent executive orders in creating a “regulatory cut-go” procedure by which any agency issuing a new regulation would have to repeal an existing regulation of greater or equal value within its jurisdiction that the commission has determined should be abolished.

In short, a group of 9 unelected, unaccountable people, who will likely all be corporate lobbyists, corporate executives, or right-wing academics, will have outsize power over public interest federal regulations in areas in which they will often, if not always, have no expertise. TLC was wise in advising “No Scrubs.”

The SCRUB Act passed 240 to 185. 11 Democrats joined the GOP in voting for it, and 5 Republicans joined the Democrats in voting against it.

Those 11 Democrats were the following: Jim Costa (CA-16), Henry Cuellar (TX-28), Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05), Stephanie Murphy (FL-07), Tom O’Halleran (AZ-01), Collin Peterson (MN-07), Jacky Rosen (NV-03), Bobby Rush (IL-01), Kurt Schrader (OR-05), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09), and Tom Suozzi (NY-03).

The 5 Republicans were Andy Biggs (AZ-05), Matt Gaetz (FL-01), Louie Gohmert (TX-01), Walter Jones (NC-03), and Tom Massie (KY-04).

Before voting for final passage, the House had roll call votes on 8 amendments. All but one failed.

The only one that passed was Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11)’s amendment to require the consideration of impacts to public health prior to repealing any federal rules under the bill. It passed 348 to 75. All 75 opponents were Republicans.

Stacey Plaskett (Virgin Islands) offered an amendment to ensure that no funding will be authorized to carry out the requirements of the bill. If Republicans are assailing the alleged costs of regulations, they wouldn’t want to burden taxpayers with the cost of repealing them, right?

Wrong. The amendment failed 181 to 243. 11 Democrats sided with the GOP. The 11 were almost identical to the 11 that voted for the bill itself, just swapping in Scott Peters (CA-52) for Bobby Rush.

Drones: Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-08) offered two amendments. The first was to ensure that the bill would not prohibit safety regulations governing drones. It failed 189 to 234. Three Democrats sided with the GOP: Jim Costa (CA-16), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), and Tom Suozzi (NY-03). Frank LoBiondo (NJ-02) voted with the Democrats.

Noise Pollution: Krishnamoorthi’s second amendment was to guarantee that the bill would not weaken the protections afforded by noise restriction policies at and around airports. It failed 192 to 230. One Democrat — Jim Costa (CA-16) — voted with the GOP, and two Republicans — Dana Rohrabacher (CA-48) and Chris Smith (NJ-04).

Student Loans: Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01) offered an amendment to exempt rules from the Department of Education aimed to protect student borrowers. It failed 191 to 235, with Jim Costa the sole Democratic defector.

Clean air: Jamie Raskin (MD-08) offered an amendment to exempt rules related to the enforcement of the Clean Air Act. It failed 189 to 231. Jim Costa (CA-16) and Collin Peterson (MN-07) voted against it with the Republicans, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (IL-27) broke ranks to vote for it with the Democrats.

Tribal rights: Gwen Moore (WI-04) offered an amendment to exempt rules affecting or impacting the special government to government relationship between the federal government and tribal communities or affecting tribal sovereignty or self-determination. It failed 197 to 229. 6 Republicans broke ranks to join Democrats in voting for it: Tom Cole (OK-04), Will Hurd (TX-23), Walter Jones (NC-03), Frank Lucas (OK-03), Markwayne Mullin (OK-02), and Don Young (AK-AL).

Whistleblower Protection: Elijah Cummings (MD-07) offered an amendment to exempt any rule relating to protections for whistleblowers or penalties for retaliation against whistleblowers. It failed 194 to 231. Four Republicans joined the Democrats in voting for it: Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-08), Walter Jones (NC-03), Frank LoBiondo (NJ-02), and David Young (IA-03).