Gary Shapiro writes for the Washington Examiner about one of the Biden administration’s most important mistakes.
In middle school, we all learned about the American system of checks and balances. This system was designed by our founders to ensure that no one branch of government could become too powerful, protecting Americans from tyranny. Sadly, in its efforts to expand the powers of the Federal government, the Biden administration has seemingly decided that these guardrails of American democracy don’t apply.
Case in point: Last summer, after months of debate and negotiation, the Biden administration passed its hallmark CHIPS Act. The Act provided some $50 billion in new subsidies to semiconductor manufacturers creating products in the United States. Now, months after its passage, the Administration has revealed the catch: manufacturers who receive these subsidies must comply with a list of costly new requirements not included in the original bill.
In fact, recent reporting suggests that Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo always intended to make an end-run around Congress. When some of President Joe Biden’s policy priorities — including expanded childcare subsidies — were stripped from the bill, Secretary Raimondo told aides that “if Congress wasn’t going to do what they should have done, we’re going to do it in implementation.”
The problem is that Congress, not the administration, is the branch of government vested with the authority to make law. Both U.S. and foreign companies have already announced plans to move manufacturing to the U.S. based on the subsidies Congress authorized. Some have already broken ground on new facilities. It’s no stretch to imagine that the semiconductor plant rules will be challenged. If the complainant has standing, then there is a good chance the Supreme Court will end up hearing the case.
The Commerce Department’s regulatory surprise is just the latest in a long list of administration slights of Congress. He surprised the Senate by appointing Lina Khan as Federal Trade Commission Chair hours after the Senate’s approval of her commissioner nomination. He used the Department of Labor to impose union requirements that Congress never passed. And there’s more.
