Accountable.US launches “Damage Control” campaign to highlight specific actions the Biden administration should take to protect Americans from the Trump administration’s corruption, starting with rules benefitting predatory lenders and big oil companies

WASHINGTON, D.C. — After an historic victory over Donald Trump, President-elect Joe Biden has a mandate to enact his agenda while protecting Americans from the damaging actions taken by the Trump administration. 

In response, Accountable.US is launching a new project called “Damage Control” to highlight specific and immediate actions the Biden-Harris administration should take to safeguard Americans from the corrupt policies special interests influenced the Trump administration to create.


“President-elect Joe Biden was elected by nearly 80 million Americans to restore the soul of our nation, and we are confident that he will govern for all Americans and protect our most vulnerable populations from the damaging policies of the Trump administration,” said Chris Saeger, spokesman for Accountable.US. 

“For the past four years, the Trump administration has sold access to the highest bidder, taking in millions from special interests, then loosening regulations that were keeping millions of Americans safe. We are calling on the Biden administration to reverse the chaos created by the Trump administration and reinstate critical protections for consumers and for the environment from his time as Vice President.” 

The organization will research how conflicts of interest, campaign cash, and other forms of corruption have influenced Trump administration policies that hurt Americans’ health care, jobs, and the environment, and recommend ways for the Biden administration to correct them.  Regular updates will be posted on an ongoing basis to https://www.accountable.us/damage-control/. 

Accountable.US today released the following reports on Trump administration policies the Biden administration should overturn:   

Protect Americans from predatory lenders by reintroducing the protections revoked by the Trump administration that benefited the payday loan industry.

  • The Trump administration’s actions benefiting predatory lenders was a priority for the payday loan industry, which spent nearly $6.5 million lobbying the federal government since Trump took office, and gave over $2.2 million to Trump’s inaugural and political committees.

Protect Americans from harassment from debt collectors by directing the CFPB to prohibit collectors from sending an unlimited number of texts and emails to consumers, which the Trump administration allowed.

  • The Trump administration’s rule allowing this harassment was a priority for debt collection industry trade groups, which have spent over $2.1 million on federal lobbying since Donald Trump took office and donated over $400,000 in political contributions.

Protect Americans from arsenic, lead, mercury, and other cancer-causing contaminants linked to coal ash ponds, directing the EPA to reintroduce coal ash regulations that were undone by Trump’s EPA.

  • Trump’s EPA Administrator, Andrew Wheeler, previously lobbied for Xcel Energy, a member of an industry group pushed for the rollback of unlined coal ash pond regulations. 

Protect Americans from methane emissions after the Trump administration released proposals that would stop direct regulation of methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. According to NASA, “after carbon dioxide, methane was responsible for about 23% of climate change in the 20th century.”

  • The Trump administration’s proposals were a priority for big oil company Enbridge, which has spent nearly $3 million lobbying the federal government on “issues related to methane emissions” since 2019.

Protect Americans by holding big oil and gas companies accountable for abandoning polluted sites, directing the EPA to issue a rule counteracting the Trump administration’s rule that would strip away financial responsibility requirements for the chemical manufacturing industry.

  • This EPA rule was a priority for the American Chemistry Council, which spent more than $34 million lobbying the federal government during the Trump administration.

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