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President Obama has used his pen to improve the lot of individual federal contract workers and shape the balance between contractors and government employees.
Those same executive orders and presidential memorandums could be wiped out by the stroke of another pen, Donald Trump’s.
In a 100-day action plan in his “Contract with the American Voter,” Trump promised to “cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama.”
The 100-day clock starts Friday with Trump’s inauguration. We don’t know what’s on the chopping block, but trade associations are willing to show him what to ax.
An August 2015 letter from four government contracting associations to White House Chief of Staff Denis R. McDonough and Senior Adviser Valerie B. Jarrett said Obama had issued 12 government contracting executive orders resulting in 16 new regulations. It was sent by the Aerospace Industries Association, National Defense Industrial Association, Professional Services Council (PSC) and Information Technology Industry Council.
“[T]he net effect has been to significantly increase the costs of doing business with the government …” the letter said. “Therefore, on behalf of the thousands of companies our organizations represent and their hundreds of thousands of employees, we respectfully request that no further presidential directives primarily focused on government contractors be issued for the foreseeable future.”
The future starts this weekend. Don’t expect low-wage workers to celebrate.
The list of orders has grown slightly since the organizations sent their letter, “which was not formally responded to,” according to Alan L. Chvotkin, PSC’s executive vice president. PSC has asked the Trump transition team to evaluate certain executive orders “for near term action.”
Although the associations claimed to speak on behalf of the companies’ employees, those workers benefit from many of the regulations the companies oppose. Other business organizations challenged Obama’s “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces” directive that allowed agencies to bar contracts to firms with workplace violations.
A federal-district court judge in Beaumont, Tex., agreed with the corporate groups and largely blocked implementation of the order the day before it would have taken effect in October. This is an easy one for Trump to nix. He doesn’t have to do anything but let the judge’s order stand.
Read more: Obama’s orders protecting federal contract workers face reversal by Trump
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