A jovial President Trump, sitting at a portable desk set up in the White House’s Roosevelt Room, held a signing ceremony March 27 to approve multiple bills overturning Obama-era regulations including the so-called blacklisting rule, the repeal of which he claimed was “going to save a lot of jobs,” reported The Associated Press.
Using the Congressional Review Act, the president and the GOP-controlled Senate can pass a resolution of disapproval to prevent regulations set forth by the previous administration without the need for bipartisan support.
Authored by Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the resolution to repeal former President Barack Obama’s Executive Order 13673 stops federal agencies from implementing or issuing the Fair Pay rule, which would have required contractors bidding on federal contracts to report labor violations committed or alleged and determine a subcontractors’ or suppliers’ compliance with labor laws.
In a press statement applauding Trump’s signing, Johnson and Alexander said final implementation of the rule “would have made a system designed to protect workers less efficient, undermined our nation’s military readiness, and limited the ability of small businesses to compete for federal contracts.”
The Professional Services Council also issued a statement in favor of the repeal, stating that the
government technology and professional services association considered it to slow the acquisition process and impose unnecessary compliance costs and requirements.
“The Department of Labor currently has oversight capabilities and accountability mechanisms to ensure that contractors abide by federal labor laws,” PSC said in the release. “If there are problems within that process, PSC continues to believe that the government should devote the necessary resources to fix them, rather than establish a parallel and duplicative process.”
