Trump gives his OK to Big Oil bribing foreign governments

The president gave a Valentine’s Day gift to the fossil fuel industry by signing a law that repeals a federal regulation aimed at reducing corruption. The repeal comes courtesy of the Congressional Review Act (CRA), a shockingly blunt congressional tool that only allows for a rule to be repealed in its entirety and also prevents an agency from enacting a regulation that is “substantially the same” ever again. Since it was established in 1996, the CRA has been invoked only once—to repeal a Clinton-era workplace ergonomics standard. The target today was the Disclosure of Payments by Resource Extraction Issuers Rule, which required oil, gas, and mineral companies to disclose payments made to foreign governments. The intent of the rule was to reduce the bribery of foreign officials by multinational energy corporations, particularly in resource-rich developing countries. This rule was not unique—30 other nations have similar disclosure requirements. Now, thanks to Republicans in Congress and President Trump, this important anti-corruption measure has been wiped from the books for the benefit of dirty energy companies.