Has Trump’s Regs Czar Neomi Rao Received Koch Brothers Funding?
July 10, 2017
Has Trump’s Regs Czar Neomi Rao Received Koch Brothers Funding?
Statement of Robert Weissman, President, Public Citizen
Note: On Sunday, The New York Times reported that Neomi Rao, President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the U.S. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), benefited from $10 million in funding from the right-wing billionaire Koch brothers, including to “advance the mission” of the Center for the Study of the Administrative State at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, where she served as founding director. This evening, the U.S. Senate will vote on her nomination.
Have the Koch brothers managed to place one of their own as Trump’s anti-regulation czar? It now appears that Koch brothers funding for George Mason Law School helped support Rao’s regulatory center. If she is confirmed, questions will persist about whether her approval of a broad range of deregulatory measures might directly benefit the business interests of the Koch brothers. It turns out that Trump’s anti-regulatory czar may be just another swamp monster.
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