FDA’s skim milk rule demonstrates why Congress should pass the Write the Laws Act Retweet
Career bureaucrats in agencies like the FDA benefit from statesploitation. They keep their jobs no matter who’s in the Oval Office. And they get to impose their own values and preferences by making rules YOU must obey, without YOUR consent, without YOUR representation.
For instance…
The FDA imposed a rule requiring skim milk producers to add synthetic vitamins if they wanted to label their pure skim as “skim milk.”
According to the FDA, “skim” means “includes additives.” Why?
Industrial competition benefits from statist exercises at rewriting the dictionary.
But here’s the kind of thing they didn’t tell you in public school or on Schoolhouse Rock…
- Congress never passed this absurd law.
- The President never signed-off on it.
- Neither did the Senate-appointed FDA Commissioner.
Instead, a career FDA employee issued the rule.
The FDA’s skim milk rule raised significant First Amendment and personal liberties issues. Fortunately, in this specific, narrow case, those issues were resolved in court. However, this kind of “regulatory capture” is far too easy.
We need something that would block such absurd, anti-Constitutional power in the first place.
If Downsize DC’s WTLA (Write the Laws Act) was the law of the land, the FDA would’ve been effectively prevented from enforcing this arbitrary rule.
The WTLA requires that every rule imposed on you must be passed by Congress — instead of imposed by unelected bureaucrats.
WTLA has been sponsored in both the House and the Senate in the past. However, it has not yet been sponsored in this Congress. We’re seeking new sponsors for the WTLA in the House and the Senate. Please tell your reps to be among them!
Jim Babka, President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.