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Obama Overrules the Overruling of State Laws
Bush policy protected business interests in the states
By Gabriel Winant
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Posted May 22, 09 8:03 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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President Obama is rewriting another set of rules inherited from his predecessor. This time, the Washington Post reports, it’s President Bush’s policy of overriding state laws with federal regulations, known as “preemption.” Says an activist, “It's environmental law, it's drug law, it's mortgage law, it's a whole host of areas where the Bush administration was really aggressive about using regulatory action to clear state and local laws that businesses and corporations didn't like.”
The Chamber of Commerce argues that the preemption—recently called into question by the Supreme Court—made it easier to do business. “Removing federal preemption forces employers to navigate a confusing, often contradictory patchwork quilt of 50 sets of laws and regulations,” says an official.