December, 10 2018, 11:00pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Monday December, 10 2018, 11:00pm EDT
Contact:
Bob Keener, 617-610-6766, bkeener@asbcouncil.org
Business Leaders Criticize Admin's Proposed Clean Water Rule
In response to the Trump Administration's announced proposal to replace the Clean Water Rule, the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC), which with its member organizations represents more than 250,000 businesses, released the following statement. It may be attributed to CEO Hammad Atassi.
WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON - In response to the Trump Administration's announced proposal to replace the Clean Water Rule, the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC), which with its member organizations represents more than 250,000 businesses, released the following statement. It may be attributed to CEO Hammad Atassi.
"Clean water is as essential to a healthy economy as it is to a healthy environment. Business depends on clean water. We don't get clean water by gutting protections for streams and wetlands. We can't support and grow businesses by putting the natural water infrastructure they rely on at risk of destruction. The Trump Administration's proposal to replace the Clean Water Rule puts polluters ahead of the rest of the business community."
Business members of ASBC also criticized the proposal. "Clean water is mission critical for my business and many others," said Ashley Rossi, Founder and CEO of Tiny Human Food, an organic baby food company in Naperville, IL. "Up and down the Mississippi River Basin and across the country, even businesses that don't depend deeply on clean water for their core business, need clean water for their employees at work and at home. I don't understand how reducing protections for clean water helps any responsible business."
If allowed to be implemented, the existing Clean Water Rule would have generated more than $400 million annually in economic benefits. A scientific survey found that more than 80 percent of small business owners support implementation of the existing rule.
ASBC supported the Obama Administration's update to the Clean Water Rule and sided against challenges in court. Business leaders who want to show their support of strong protections of clean water may sign on to the "Clean Water is Good for Business" principles here.
The American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC) advocates for policy change and informs business owners, policymakers and the public about the need and opportunities for building a vibrant, broadly prosperous, sustainable economy. Founded in 2009, its membership represents over 250,000 businesses in a wide range of industries.
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"A vote for Trump's Social Security Commissioner is a vote to destroy Social Security," warned one advocacy group.
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The U.S. Senate on Tuesday is set to hold a confirmation vote for President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Social Security Administration—an ultra-rich former Wall Street executive who has aligned himself with the Elon Musk-led slash-and-burn effort at agencies across the federal government.
"I am fundamentally a DOGE person," Frank Bisignano told CNBC in March, amplifying concerns that he would take his experience in the financial technology industry—where he was notorious for inflicting mass layoffs while raking in a huge compensation package—to SSA, which is already facing large-scale staffing cuts that threaten the delivery of benefits for millions of Americans.
In an email on Saturday, the progressive advocacy group Social Security Works warned that Bisignano "is not the cure to the DOGE-manufactured chaos at the Social Security Administration."
"In fact, he is part of it, and, if confirmed, would make it even worse," the group added. "We're not going down without a fight. Republicans may have a majority in the Senate, but we're going to rally to send a message: A vote for Trump's Social Security Commissioner is a vote to destroy Social Security!"
"If Mr. Bisignano can get away with lying before he's even in place as commissioner, who knows what else he'll be able to get away with once he's in office."
Bisignano, the CEO of payment processing giant Fiserv, has been accused during his confirmation process of lying under oath about his ties to DOGE, which has worked to seize control of Social Security data as part of a purported effort to root out "fraud" that advocates say is virtually nonexistent.
As The Washington Post reported in March, Bisignano testified to the Senate Finance Committee that "he has had no contact" with DOGE.
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Wyden pointed again to the former SSA official's statement in a floor speech Thursday in opposition to Bisignano, saying that "according to the whistleblower, Mr. Bisignano personally appointed his Wall Street buddy, Michael Russo, to be the leader of DOGE's team at Social Security."
The Oregon Democrat said Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee refused his request for a bipartisan meeting with the whistleblower to evaluate their accusations unless "we agreed to hand over any information received from the whistleblower directly to the nominee and the Trump administration."
"All Americans should be concerned that a nominee for a position of public trust like commissioner of Social Security is accused of lying about his actions at the agency and that efforts to bring this important information to light are being thwarted," Wyden said Thursday. "If Mr. Bisignano can get away with lying before he's even in place as commissioner, who knows what else he'll be able to get away with once he's in office."
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The groups—including All Voting Is Local and the ACLU of Wisconsin—said in a joint statement that Evers' guidance to state officials on how to handle being confronted by federal agents was "a prudent measure aimed at ensuring compliance with state and federal laws while protecting the rights of state employees."
The suggestion by Tom Homan, a leader of President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign, that Evers could be arrested for issuing such guidance undermines "the foundational principles of our democracy, including the separation of powers, the rule of law, and the right of state governments to operate without undue federal interference," the groups said Saturday.
"To threaten our governor over his legal directive is gross overreach by our federal government, and it is not occurring in a vacuum," they continued, warning that the administration's rhetoric and actions represent a "chilling attempt to normalize fascism."
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The threats against Gov. Evers in Wisconsin undermine the foundational principles of our democracy: the separation of powers, the rule of law, and the right of state governments to operate without undue federal interference. We must reject this overreach. allvotingislocal.org/statements/w...
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— All Voting is Local (@allvotingislocal.bsky.social) May 3, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Trump administration officials and the president himself have repeatedly threatened state and local officials as the White House rushes ahead with its lawless mass deportation campaign, which has ensnared tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants and at least over a dozen U.S. citizens—including children.
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A letter that a group of 20 far-right House Republicans released earlier this week as part of a campaign in support of slashing Medicaid appears to have been authored by the head of a research institute with ties to the Koch network.
Politicoreported Friday that "digital metadata embedded in a PDF copy" of the letter that was circulated inside the House of Representatives "lists the author as Brian Blase, president of Paragon Health Institute."
InfluenceWatch notes that in 2021, Paragon received a nearly $2 million donation from Stand Together, "a right-libertarian funding organization that acts as the umbrella organization for the political network that is largely funded by right-leaning businessman and political donor Charles Koch."
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