Missions Accomplished? Lowlights of the Bush Administration

JANUARY 2001
Jan. 20-On the day of George W. Bush’s inauguration, Chief of Staff Andrew Card issues a sixty-day moratorium halting all new health, safety, and environmental regulations issued in the final days of the Clinton administration.
Jan. 23-On the twenty-eighth anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, Bush reinstates the “global gag rule” barring U.S. funding for abortion counseling abroad.

FEBRUARY 2001
Feb. 5-Bush suspends Clinton’s “roadless rule” protecting nearly sixty million acres of forests from logging and road-building.
Feb. 17-Bush signs four anti-union executive orders, including measures to prohibit “project labor agreements” at federal construction sites and to remove job protections for union employees whose companies lose federal contracts.
Feb. 26-Senate Republicans introduce a bill to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration.

MARCH 2001
March 7-At the urging of President Bush, Congress repeals ergonomic regulations designed to protect workers from repetitive-strain injuries.
March 9-Bush issues an executive order to prevent mechanics at Northwest Airlines from going on strike.
March 14-Bush abandons his campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
March 20-Bush administration moves to overturn a Clinton regulation reducing the allowable level of arsenic in drinking water.
March 28-Bush backs out of Kyoto treaty on global warming.

APRIL 2001
April 4-United States Department of Agriculture proposes lifting a requirement that all beef used in federal school lunch programs must be tested for salmonella; the proposal is dropped two days later.
April 9-Department of Interior proposes a limit on lawsuits seeking protection of endangered species.

MAY 2001
May 11-Bush administration abandons international effort to crack down on offshore tax havens.
May 16-Vice President Dick Cheney’s task force releases its “National Energy Policy” report, calling for weaker environmental regulations and massive subsidies for the oil and...