Bureaucratic overreach Quotes

Gone will be the days when students and their colleges picked the lender that best fit their needs; instead, a federal bureaucrat will make that choice for every student in America based on still-unclear guidelines.

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Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) published this anti-SAFRA op-ed in The Washington Post.

Finally, the government should disclose that getting your student loan will become about as enjoyable as going to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

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Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) published this anti-SAFRA op-ed in The Washington Post.

[Obama’s budget] will move us even further down the path to universal health care. We are treading dangerously close to bureaucratic intervention in the exam room and I will not support any measure that leads to socialized medicine.

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Rep. John Fleming (R-LA)
285902/26/2010 | Full Details | Law(s): Affordable Care Act

One such troubling provision is a tax increase to pay for the $635 billion included in the budget for health care 'reserve funds.' Health care reform is desperately needed in America, but I'm concerned that $635 billion will be a down payment on socialized medicine, causing the impersonal rationing of health care and destroying the doctor-patient relationship.

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Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA)
286002/26/2010 | Full Details | Law(s): Affordable Care Act

Ultimately, what they are trying to create here is the Post Office of student lending — you've got no choice.

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Jack Remondi, vice chairman and CFO of Sallie Mae, Time Magazine.

The proposed rule prescribes stricter requirements than the approach on which it is based (API Recommended Practice 75, Development of a Safety and Environmental Management Program for Offshore Operations and Facilities, or SEMP), and may generate significant difficulties for operators and contractors to abide by the rule.

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ExxonMobil Production’s public comment letter to the Mineral Management Service and the Department of the Interior. The New York Times.

We also endure a Mine Safety and Health Administration that seeks power over coal miners versus improving their safety and their health. As someone who has overseen the mining of more coal than anyone else in the history of central Appalachia, I know that the safety and health of coal miners is my most important job. I don’t need Washington politicians to tell me that, and neither do you. But I also know — I also know Washington and state politicians have no idea how to improve miner safety. The very idea that they care more about coal miner safety than we do is as silly as global warming.

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Massey CEO Don Blankenship’s speech at his anti-union Labor Day rally.
313009/07/2009 | Full Details | Law(s): General: Mine Safety

Eventually, Americans would be stuck with government-run health care whether they like it or not. That's when the worst scenario would take shape, with Americans subjected to bureaucratic hassles, hours spent on hold waiting for a government service rep to take a call, restrictions on care, and, yes, lifesaving treatment and lifesaving surgeries denied or delayed.

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
286306/04/2009 | Full Details | Law(s): Affordable Care Act

CBA also disputed administration claims that eliminating the FFEL program would not result in poorer customer service to students and parents. More than 30,000 people are currently involved in helping students via the FFEL program. These experts understand students' loan obligations and how to get students the help they need when facing difficultly in repaying their loans. Firing them and hiring some untrained replacements, as the President proposes, would be a huge setback for educational opportunity.

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The Consumer Bankers Association’s Director of Government Relations, Marcia Z. Sullivan. Consumer Bankers Association’s press release.

One cannot say with any certainty whether the more important cause of the current housing crisis was affordable-housing mandates or the actions of investment banks and ratings agencies. There can be no doubt, however, that both contributed. With that in mind, the best way to make sure that we don’t repeat our mistakes is to examine — and change — both… If the Community Reinvestment Act must stay in force, then regulators should take loan performance, not just the number of loans made, into account. We have seen the dangers of too much money chasing risky borrowers.

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Howard Husock, New York Times.

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