President-elect Donald Trump’s lineup for agency heads is comprised of people who have deeply opposed the policies of President Obama on social programs, public lands, the environment, labor issues, and veterans affairs, says The New York Times.
Several news outlets have reported that Trump will soon select Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, a climate change-denier and friend of the oil and gas industry, to head the EPA. (See more on that story here.)
Additionally, Trump appears to be seriously considering Oklahoma Republican Gov. Mary Fallin for Interior Secretary, “which would presage a shift away from the department’s current approach toward energy and public lands,” says the Times. Fallin has consistently opposed Obama’s efforts to decrease fossil-fuel production and encourage renewable sources of energy. She was the first governor to publicly say she would oppose Obama’s rules to clean up power plant emissions, says the Times.
Also no fan of Obama’s work, Andrew F. Puzder, a wealthy California donor to Trump’s campaign whose company, CKE Restaurants, manages Hardee’s and other franchises, is rumored to be the leading choice for labor secretary. “Mr. Puzder has been extremely critical of the Obama administration’s labor policies, including its push for a higher minimum wage and for new overtime rules for workers,” says the Times.
In a recent blog post, “Overregulation has hurt the restaurant industry, jobs & the economy but Trump’s win will reverse that narrative,” Puzder rejected Obama’s attempts to raise the minimum wage and establish new overtime rules for workers, saying that the current policies had caused a “government-mandated restaurant recession.”