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The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) was happy to support the proposed changes to Tennessee’s Certificate of Need (CON) laws recommended in a recently released report by the state’s Certificate of Need Reform Working Group. Repealing the state’s anticompetitive CON regulations for critical services and facilities will help ensure Tennessee residents can continue to access the healthcare services they rely on and enable Tennessee’s healthcare system to meet increased demand in growing communities across the state. TPA applauded the CON Reform Working Group’s report as it represents significant progress toward that end. Thanks to the Center for Individual Freedom and the Beacon Center of Tennessee who have been leading this CON reform that will help consumers and taxpayers. TPA now urges Governor Lee and the General Assembly to pass legislation this session reflecting the recommendations in the Working Group’s report to increase access to healthcare services for Tennessee patients.
Profile in Courage: Virginia Sen. L. Louise Lucas (D)
It’s easy for lawmakers to take other people’s money and use it to enrich cronies and fund pet projects. Thanks to a stadium subsidy scheme being pushed by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), Virginian taxpayers are set to be on the receiving end of this pernicious politicking. Fortunately, some policymakers are brave enough to stand up for Old Dominion taxpayers. State Sen. L. Louise Lucas (D) has used her clout on the Senate Appropriations Committee to block a bill that would bilk taxpayers for more than $1 billion to fund a new Wizards and Capitals sports arena in Alexandria, Virginia for the NBA’s Washington Wizards and NHL’s Washington Capitals (both owned by the firm Monumental Sports). The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) may not ordinarily see eye-to-eye with Sen. Lucas on many policy specifics, but she has taken a courageous stand to protect taxpayers and curb cronyism. For doing the right thing even against powerful opposition, Sen. Lucas is absolutely a Profile in Courage. Some (well, many) politicians start out as lawyers, while others are scions of political dynasties. Sen. Lucas was neither. The passionate politico began her career as shipfitter, becoming the first woman to graduate from the apprentice program at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Her ambition led her to take on more responsibilities, including serving as Engineering Draftsman and Naval Architect Technician. Lucas rose the ranks and became the Command Federal Women’s Program Manager at the Commander in Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet (CINCLANTFLT) and Equal Employment Manager at the Supervisor of Shipbuilding Conversion and Repair (SUPSHIP).
Lucas was elected to represent southeastern Virginia’s 18th District in the Senate of Virginia in 1991. In 2019, Lucas became the first Black woman elected its president pro tempore. In her storied, three-decade career in the Virginia Senate, Sen. Lucas has pushed for many policies that, while well-intended, TPA would not support. However, her current battle against stadium subsidies speaks volumes about her principles and resolve. Throughout 2023, Gov. Youngkin and Virginia politicos quietly convinced billionaire Wizards/Capitals owner Ted Leonsis to move his basketball and hockey teams across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. to Alexandria, Virginia. This move would not come cheaply for taxpayers. According to a deal reached in December, Virginia taxpayers would have to shell out $1.3 billion for an “industry-leading arena” featuring a media art studio and practice and e-sports facilities. Sen. Lucas quickly spoke out against this blatant cash grab, stating that any proposal to bilk taxpayers for a Wizards/Capitals stadium would be “dead on arrival” at her desk. She rightly noted, “Virginia’s hard-working taxpayers deserve to have that money utilized in such a way that it benefits them, and not billionaires that want to enrich themselves further on the backs of hard-working people.” With Sen. Lucas at the helm of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, any state budget language funding the project will “absolutely” be scrapped.
Lucas has also taken the opportunity to limit funding for the deeply-dysfunctional Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), which she argues, “has not done a good job of managing their resources.” She’s certainly not wrong about a system plagued by long wait times, derailments, and rampant crime. Sen. Lucas is up against Gov. Youngkin and powerful political backers of both the arena proposal and Metro funding, and it remains to be seen whether her fiscal fight will be successful. Regardless, she is a Profile in Courage for standing up for taxpayers.
The Wrath of (Lina) Khan!
The Federal Trade Commission recently announced a new investigation of Google, Amazon, and Microsoft’s respective partnerships with artificial intelligence developers. “As companies race to develop and monetize AI, we must guard against tactics that foreclose this [economic and competitive] opportunity,” said FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan said in a statement. Under Khan, the FTC has proved itself a poor judge of which business practices foreclose competition. To facilitate its categorical bias against big business and mergers, the agency has often deployed junk economic analysis to bring cases whose theories clearly contravene established antitrust precedent. Moreover, it has skirted inconvenient procedural and evidentiary barriers. It remains unclear whether the FTC’s AI inquiry will morph into more serious legal action. But the agency, which has received embarrassing judicial rebukes each time it brought a case to trial, has managed to shape industry’s decision-making in another way. It has created a climate of fear, relying on hyper-progressive probes and inquiries over evidence and due process. It has also put forward heightened regulatory-compliance burdens and propagated vague new guidance that provides little certainty as to what conduct the commission might consider illegal.
The agency’s message to the tech companies and their AI partners is clear: The Eye of Sauron is on you — tread carefully. The metaphor is not entirely apt. Sauron would never, presumably, have failed so spectacularly to win his court cases. In a November 2022 policy statement, the FTC declared it would act against “abusive,” “exploitative,” and “collusive” conduct. To attract scrutiny, conduct need not even qualify as “facially unfair,” the agency said. Khan has admitted her willingness to pursue cases she likely cannot win. As the New York Times reports, Khan stated that if "there’s a law violation" and agencies "think that current law might make it difficult to reach, there’s huge benefit to still trying." Khan means she will bring lawsuits against mergers that she believes should be illegal, regardless of what the law says. This sort of regulation by raised eyebrow rather than due process has cowed many litigation-averse firms into compliance. Bullying works. “Companies have changed their behavior, structuring deals to avoid accusations that they break antitrust law,” Reuters reported in October 2022.
Khan has also argued for acting against business practices that current law does not prohibit as a means to lobby Congress. Because, she says, “even if you lose, that then creates the message for Congress to know … they [antitrust agencies] recognize there’s a problem here, the current law is not adequate for them to reach it, and so let’s change the law.” This statement’s profound injustice is startling. To influence lawmakers, Khan is willing to use her powers — powers predicated on the state’s monopoly on violence — to bully American firms. Even though, by her own admission, the firms have not violated existing law. All government officials require constitutional restraints on their exercise of power. The FTC hopes to erode all constraints on its operations — be they statutory, constitutional, political, or economic. Constitutional balance and the rule of law must be restored.
BLOGS:
Monday: Government Watchdog Slams FTC’s Lawsuit Against Kroger-Albertsons Merger
Tuesday: How the Neo-Brandeisians Are Undermining Themselves
Wednesday: TPA Submits Comments in Utah Opposing Mandatory Online Age Verification
Thursday: Bill of the Month: The FDA Modernization Act 3.0 and State Bill of the Month: Utah HB 239
Friday: Profile in Courage: Virginia Sen. L. Louise Lucas (D)
Media:
February 24, 2024: The Manila Standard (Philippines) mentioned TPA oil their story, “PH gets praise for collaborative approach, defense of national interests in WHO tobacco meet.”
February 24, 2024: The Manila Standard (Philippines) mentioned TPA oil their story, “WHO chair hails PH's 'collaborative spirit' at COP10.”
February 24, 2024: The Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N.M.) ran TPA;s op-ed, “Postal Service should focus on traditional mail routes, not niche products no one wants.”
February 25, 2024: The Grand Forks Herald (Grand Forks, ND) ran TPA’s op-ed, “Postal Service focuses on expensive products that nobody wants
February 26, 2024: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about an audit if federal relief funds.
February 26, 2024: The Daily Caller ran TPA's op-ed, “States Should Stop Wasting Time And Money On Blatantly Unconstitutional Social Media Regulations.”
February 26, 2024: The Washington Free Beacon quoted TPA in their article, “Bob Casey Illegally Used Taxpayer Money for Campaign Flights, Records Show.”
February 28, 2024: I appeared on KNBS-FM Newstalk STL (St. Louis, Mo.) to talk about tax reform and a potential government shutdown.
February 28, 2024: I appeared on KFAB 1110AM (Omaha, Nebraska.) to talk about tax reform and a potential government shutdown.
February 28, 2024: Real Clear Markets ran TPA’s op-ed, “The Biden Administration's Embrace of Julie Su Is a Confusing Mess.”
February 28, 2024: The Epoch Times quoted TPA in their story, “Moving Trump’s Tax Cuts, Conservative Court Appointees Are at Heart of McConnell Legacy.”
February 28, 2024: Florida Daily ran TPA’s op-ed, “Strange Times at the Postal Service.”
February 28, 2024: The Epoch Times Español (Argentina) quoted TPA in their article, “ Legado de McConnell: apoyar los recortes fiscales de Trump y nominar jueces conservadores.”
February 29, 2024: I appeared on WBOB 600 AM (Jacksonville, Fla.) to talk about Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
February 29, 2024: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about a new proposal to raise alcohol and tobacco taxes.
February 29, 2024: An op-ed titled, “Pass Violet’s Law to cut government waste and animal cruelty,” in The Hill mentioned TPA.
February 29, 2024: Townhall.com ran TPA’s op-ed, “What It Means to Be a Political Conservative in America.”
February 29, 2024: The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Md.) ran TPA’s op-ed, “Maryland superintendent salaries: another reason to embrace vouchers.”
February 29, 2024: David McGarry appeared on KNRS AM (Salt Lake City, Utah) to discuss his recent op-ed opposing social media overregulation.
Have a great weekend!
Best,
David Williams
President
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
1101 14th Street, NW
Suite 1120
Washington, D.C. xxxxxx
www.protectingtaxpayers.org
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