When Republicans hijacked the president’s slogan/hashtag “WeCantWait,” they were pushing a slogan of their own: The Forgotten 15. It was a little like one of those press releases from some sad PR shop that suggests to reporters: “If you’re writing about Transformers 3, you might be interested in an interview with one of our robotics experts!”
So what are the Forgotten 15? Here they are, on Eric Cantor’s JobTracker page, which runs down everything the GOP has passed that relates in some way to jobs. Have you heard of the Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act? Among other things, it “shortens the period in which the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service must submit comments with respect to a general dredge and fill permit application.” There’s the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act, which will “facilitate the recovery of coal ash by creating a state-based permit program.” There’s the Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Act, which deregulates that industry. I’m not even getting into the six bills that the GOP describes as necessary to “maximize domestic energy production,” but that’s basically it – most of the GOP’s stalled ideas are deregulation of industries that the Whie House retains the power to regulate. They are not, as the WH’s bill is (was, really), CBO-scored stimulus ideas.
