Fed-up states defy Washington

Here's an interesting article
from USA Today discussing how states have begun circumventing the
federal government in order to solve their own problems. Normally I'd
never link to an article off the McPaper, but this one's actually
pretty good.

A new era of activism by state governments has arrived.
Unhappy with what's happening in Washington, governors, legislatures
and state attorneys general are leading a charge to set the national
agenda on issues from health care to pollution control to securities
regulation.
The New York attorney general has been a leader in the investigation of
Wall Street corruption. Northeastern states have sued the federal
government over acid rain caused by air pollution generated in the
South and Midwest. And many states are attacking high prescription-drug
prices.
The new initiatives are largely liberal challenges to conservative
policies adopted in Washington by the Republican-controlled Congress
and White House. The activist states, mostly in the North and West,
have the pharmaceutical industry, Wall Street and other institutions on
the defensive in a way that threatens to undermine interest groups'
political success in the nation's capital.

I don't have time today to write any commentary, but this really sums it up:

Maine has been among the most aggressive states in tackling
national issues, through legislation and lawsuits.
It joined 11 other states in suing the Bush administration in October
for interpreting an old law so that coal-fired power plants can replace
equipment without installing new pollution controls. This means that
power plants in the South and Midwest will keep producing pollution
blamed for causing acid rain in the Northeast. The EPA proposed rules
last week to reduce such pollution.
"What are we supposed to do, let our citizens get sick or die because
the EPA won't enforce the Clean Air Act?" Maine Attorney General Steve
Rowe says. "Are the American people better off because attorneys
general have acted? You bet they are. What bothers people is we're
getting results."

Posted by flow Frazao on December 9, 2003 at 09:59 AM | Permalink