thebigp

June 21, 2022
Biden Admin Quietly Nukes Trump-Era ‘T***sparency’ Initiative-F20,B20,S32
Nancy Jackson-American briefing

President Biden has quietly rolled back another key Trump-era order.
Background: In 2018, President Trump signed a “t***sparency and accountability” order creating a public litigation website so people can track details pertaining to lawsuits from outside interest groups that Republicans argue cost taxpayers unwieldy sums.
Trump’s DOI order was designed to limit so-called “sue and settle” cases, in which a group legally challenges a federal department it knows to agree on a specific issue, followed by the department voluntarily ending a dispute and enacting policy that perhaps would not pass through legislative or other means. (per The Daily Caller)
Details: The DOI entered into 460 settlement agreements and consent decrees between January 2012 and mid-January 2017, costing taxpayers over $4.4 billion, according to the Trump administration’s 2018 order.
What Happened: On Friday, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland revoked Trump’s 2018 order.
What Biden Says: “Taken together, these limitations are burdensome, duplicative, and hinder the effective resolution of complex litigation matters,” the Biden administration said in its order revocation. “T***sparency and accountability are paramount values for the Department.”
Why It Matters: Karen Budd-Falen, a Trump-era official who served as deputy solicitor for the DOI’s parks and wildlife division says that Haaland’s revocation “is a problem” because the public is not able to track “rulemaking” in real time.
“I think the public ought to know, right?” said Budd-Falen, who added that “digging” for information on litigation now could be “very expensive and difficult” for those interested.