The Lima News

Column by Mike DeWine

Sometimes, the best thing that government can do for folks is to stay out of the way. That’s especially true when it comes to our agricultural economy. Farmers work hard every day, and the last thing they need is more layers of regulation imposed on them by bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, for eight long years under President Obama, that is exactly what they got. And the agency that seemed hungriest to regulate the lives of farmers was the Obama Environmental Protection Agency.

Epitomizing the problem was the Obama EPA’s 2015 Waters of the United States Rule — a power grab that was also a water and land grab. It assumed that a federal regulatory agency, and not Congress or our Constitution, ought to be able to determine without limit what it should regulate. It so broadly expanded the jurisdiction of the federal government that it had to explicitly say that it didn’t mean to cover swimming pools!

Some of the WOTUS Rule was somewhat technical, so I will simplify it. The Obama EPA essentially asked: Is there or has there ever been any water on your land? If the answer was yes — even a puddle — then the federal government pretty much claimed the right to regulate it.

It has been an honor to help lead the fight to resist this power seizure. On the same day that the final WOTUS rule was published, I filed a Complaint alongside the Attorneys General from Michigan, and we promptly were joined by Tennessee. Overall, some 31 States sued to challenge the Rule. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, based right here in Ohio, saw the Rule for what it was and issued a nationwide injunction against its enforcement.

Another place where the EPA is showing newfound common sense under their new leadership is in the area of pesticides. The Obama EPA attempted to ban the most commonly used pesticide in the world. After they were thwarted by their own Science Advisory Panel, who said that their rationale for the proposed ban didn’t meet their scientific threshold, they took a second run at a ban in the waning days of the Obama Administration. The Pruitt EPA has rightly said that before we ban a product that we know to be effective in pest management, we ought to be certain that it is hazardous to human health if used as directed.

These issues are deeply personal to me. My family owned a seed company in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and Fran and I still own farmland today. Growing up I worked alongside my parents and grandparents. I worked in the fields and loaded bags onto boxcars. It taught me the values of hard work, personal responsibility, and of honoring my word. Our agricultural economy is benefitting from a return to regulatory sanity. God knows farming is hard enough without the added burden of having to worry if someone from the government is going to come knocking on the door.

The National Safety Council has pegged the states which they consider the leaders in implementing policies to help combat the deadly opioid epidemic. 

According to a release, the National Safety Council assigned its highest mark of “Improving” to Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Washington, D.C., Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, Virginia and West Virginia.

The specification indicates that the states have implemented comprehensive, proven actions to eliminate opioid overdoses. 

“While we see some states improving, we still have too many that need to wake up to this crisis,” said NSC President and CEO Deborah A.P. Hersman. “For the last five years, the Council has released Prescription Nation reports to provide a roadmap for saving lives across the country. We hope states adopt the recommended actions laid out here so we can eliminate preventable opioid deaths and stop an everyday killer.”

According to the release, eight states receiving a “Failing” mark – Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, and Wyoming  – are taking just one or two of the six key actions identified in the report as critical and life-saving.

Those actions include: 

• Mandating prescriber education (34 states and D.C.)
• Implementing opioid prescribing guidelines (33 states and D.C.)
• Integrating Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs into clinical settings (39 states and D.C.)
• Improving data collection and sharing (seven states)
• Treating opioid overdose (37 states and D.C.)
• Increasing availability of opioid use disorder treatment (36 states and D.C.)

The National Safety Council says those six programs and actions that could have immediate and sustained impact addressing the opioid epidemic.

In Ohio, only one of the six actions hasn’t been met- implementing a data sharing database which would allow prescribers, law enforcement, and more to share information about crimes associated with opioid misuse and more. 

Pennsylvania, meanwhile, is one of 29 states with a rating of “lagging”. The Keystone state has implemented four of the six- also having yet to implement a data sharing database, as well as official standard prescription guidelines. 

Pennsylvania is one of 16 states which have not adopted the Centers for Disease Control guidelines. 

The National Safety Council reported that employers are taking the biggest toll in the crisis- losing eligible workers to addiction, reporting that “certain industries like construction and manufacturing, report increasing difficulties in filling open positions”.

In the release, the NSC said nearly half of businesses surveyed in 2017 (48 percent) identified a negative business impact—lower productivity, missed work, an increase in near-miss or close-call events, and an increase in workplace injuries.

WLIO Lima

Senator Rob Portman is on his tax reform tour and on Monday he made his way through Lima to see how the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has affected the area. One stop Portman made was at the Lima Pallet Company to tour the facility and hold a roundtable discussion.

“I’ve been to now ten different companies around Ohio talking about this,” Portman said. “Some big, some small, some medium sized like this one and it’s the same story everywhere. This is really helping to hire more workers, invest more in the company to increase wages. Some companies are also putting more into retirement, health care, so it’s exciting, it’s happening.”

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was passed in late December. The bill reduced tax rates to individuals and businesses. Lima business owner Tracie Sanchez said the tax cut has helped her business. Now she’s adding 15-20 jobs and finishing a half a million dollar expansion project. 

“Within probably the first week, we ended up giving all of our employees a raise, which has been much needed,” said Sanchez, president, and owner of Lima Pallet Company. “We haven’t been able to do that for several years in a row. We also invested in some equipment. We hope to have that hooked up here within the next 30 days.”

Portman said growth can already be seen and more is expected.

“I think what you’re going to see is economic growth pick up a little bit,” said Portman. “Already in the last two quarters, it’s been up. If that happens then you’ll see the real benefits of the tax reform because you’ll see more revenue coming in but through economic growth. That’s what you want. That helps to get the deficit down, but also grows the economy, which is the right combination.”

Other stops Portman made in Lima were to the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center and the Rotary Club, where he announced he will be heading to Germany to see a product, he helped bring to JSMC, in action. He’ll also be spending Easter Sunday with the troops. 

Click here to read online.

On fixing Dodd-Frank, the House shouldn’t be a potted plant.
The Wall Street Journal – The Editorial Board 

After passing a bipartisan banking bill 67-31 that would remedy some of the Dodd-Frank Act’s flaws, many Senators want to call it a wrap. But Congress is a bicameral legislature, and the House deserves an opportunity to improve on the Senate’s work.

The crux of Banking Chairman Mike Crapo’s bill would raise the asset threshold for banks that must comply with “enhanced prudential standards”—jargon for stringent stress tests and liquidity requirements—to $250 billion from $50 billion. The bill also eases myriad regulatory requirements on small banks.

Elizabeth Warren has berated her Democratic colleagues for shining shoes on Wall Street, but the biggest banks for the most part wouldn’t benefit from this reprieve. The regional and community banks that would be helped don’t present a systemic risk. Most maintain much bigger capital cushions than the global giants since they don’t have a federal backstop.

Yet small banks have had to divert human and financial capital to regulatory compliance. The Bank of Commerce in Idaho Falls had to stop offering consumer mortgages due to the cost of hiring new compliance staff. When regional banks get squeezed, the giants sweep up more business, which concentrates more risk in the banking system.

As Democrat Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota put it, “Dodd-Frank was supposed to have stopped too big to fail, but the net result has been too small to succeed. The big banks have gotten bigger since the passage of Dodd-Frank, and the small banks have disappeared.”

The 16 Democrats who voted for the bill’s common-sense reforms are getting flogged by Ms. Warren and ranking Banking Committee Democrat Sherrod Brown, who is aggrieved that he was excluded from negotiations. He excluded himself. Senate Republicans now worry these Democrats will get cold feet if they have to vote again, so they want the House to pass the bill straight up.

But the impetus for Dodd-Frank reform originated in the House, and Members there deserve to shape the final product. Last year the House passed the Choice Act that traded fewer regulatory rules for higher capital standards. While that was too bold for most Senate Democrats, Finance Chairman Jeb Hensarling has broken the bill into dozens of bite-size pieces that have passed with huge majorities.

Consider the Halos Act, which the House passed by a 344-73 vote and would allow startups to informally pitch angel investors at “demo days” without violating securities laws. Another bill (426-0) would exempt merger and acquisition brokers involved in the sale of small, private firms from federal registration.

The Financial Institution Living Will Improvement Act (414-0) would require the Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to disclose publicly how they assess “living wills.” Democrats also backed a bill (395-2) to prevent regulators from choking off politically disfavored businesses from the banking system as the Obama Administration did with payday lenders and gun dealers.

The Senate incorporated some House bills but left out these and two dozen others with broad bipartisan backing. House Republicans should be able to attach several of these without endangering Democratic support in the Senate.

They also ought to strike a Senate provision that gives custody banks, which safeguard assets for pension funds and institutional investors, special treatment under the Federal Reserve’s capital standards. This would let them increase their leverage. Citibank and J.P. Morgan may also qualify for the exception since they provide custodial services, which could result in a slow erosion of the banking system’s capital firewall. Big banks need more capital to withstand a major financial panic.

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has given Democrats latitude to vote for the Senate bill because they want a bipartisan achievement to run on. But House Republicans also need accomplishments to trumpet beyond tax reform. Senate Republicans should be as willing to accommodate their GOP colleagues as they are Democrats.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-art-of-a-banking-compromise-1521243276

Dayton Daily News

By Jamie Dupree

The U.S. economy showed more signs of strength last month, as a new federal report showed 313,000 jobs were added in the month of February, the largest monthly increase during the Trump Administration, and the best month of job growth since July of 2016, as the nation’s unemployment rate remained at 4.1 percent.

The Department of Labor also revised job growth numbers upward in both December and January, adding another 64,000 jobs.

The news left Republicans even more optimistic about economic progress under President Trump.

“This report shows continued momentum in our economy,” said Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX). “And with the help of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, our economy is finally starting to fire on all cylinders.”

“Strongest job growth in a year and a half shows tax cuts and regulatory rollback are working,” said Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN).

“The American economy continues to grow!” added Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-AL).

The areas where jobs increased included construction, retail, manufacturing, and health care. You can read the full labor report at this link.

Job gains have averaged 242,000 over the last three months; economists have long said that the average needs to be over 300,000 to spur even greater growth, and to help those who have struggled in the aftermath of the 2008 Wall Street collapse.

For months, President Trump has said that his economic plans will give a new shot of confidence to both businesses and consumers, and create a new surge in economic growth.

“Consumer confidence is at an 18-year high. Business confidence is through the roof, with a record number of small business owners saying that now is a good time to expand,” the President said earlier this week.

After an increase of seven cents per hour in January, the Department of Labor reported that average hourly earnings in February rose by four cents to $26.75.

One of the more interesting pieces of data from the February report was that the size of the labor force grew by 806,000, indicating many more people were now looking for work – that is the largest jump since January of 2003.

As for the jobless rate of black Americans – a statistic that President Trump has referred to often in recent months – after a sharp increase in January, that rate took a big step in the right direction in February, just off the all-time low set in December.

Click here to read online.