CONFIRMED: Biden ‘Collusion’ Scheme Cost Taxpayers Millions

(Congress Report) – President Joe Biden, our clueless leader, has, according to a new report by RealClearInvestigations, already spent over $7 million on “sue-and-settle” lawyer fees during his administration, which is more than twice what was spent by former President Donald Trump during the entirety of his administration. That means you and I, the American taxpayer, have spent over $7 million, as that’s where the funds for these lawyers are coming from. That’s mighty nice of us, right? If only we had a choice in how our tax dollars were allocated, maybe we wouldn’t see so many politicians, especially presidents, spend our country into oblivion?

For those unfamiliar with “sue-and-settle” terminology, the phrase refers to “instances where a private party sues a government agency, but a settlement is reached outside of court.”

“Critics say the technique allows the Environmental Protection Agency to create policy through these settlements without Congressional approval, and wastes taxpayer money on litigation. The government often covers costs for environmental nonprofits suing the EPA, using taxpayer money. In extreme instances, the government spends almost $500,000 on a single case,” RCI reports.

It also enables the EPA to make decisions concerning how a specific regulation should be enforced without having to first ask Congress, which Scott Pruitt, a former EPA Administrator, said was “collusion.” Auditors working for OpenTheBooks.com discovered that over the course of two years, the Biden administration spent more on “sue-and-settle” than any other president in recent history.

“Biden’s administration paid out $3.3 million in litigation fees during its first year. That’s six times more than Trump’s administration spent in its first year, and nearly as much as the $3.6 million spent during Trump’s entire term,” RCI says. “Rather than curb litigation spending, EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan issued a memorandum in March 2022 that eliminated many Trump-era EPA policies designed to reduce ‘sue-and-settle.’ The government went on to spend $3.6 million in attorney fees in 2022.”

Former President Barack Obama used “sue-and-settle” a total of 77 times during his second term in the Oval Office. When George W. Bush was president, he only used it 28 times in his second term. The 77 times of the Obama administration wracked up a cost of $5.8 million. Biden, in two years time, surpassed that. It has also paved the way for the EPA to create 100 new regulations without first gaining the consent of Congress.

“Reps. Pat Fallon (R-TX) and James Comer (R-KY) sent a letter to Regan on Nov. 14, 2023, requesting documents for an investigation into potential abuses of the policy,” the article noted.

“On March 28, 2022, [Regan] revoked a policy designed to protect the American taxpayer from … sue-and-settle consent decrees and settlement agreements,” Fallon and Comer stated in the correspondence. “Because of your action, sue-and-settle abuses appear to have proliferated at the Biden Administration EPA. Sue-and-settle litigation has plagued the federal regulatory system for decades, allowing special interest groups to dictate federal policy through lawsuits without adherence to normal regulatory processes.”

The piece concluded by saying, “Biden’s first term as president is ending, but ‘sue-and-settle’ techniques could continue being employed in his potential second term. It remains to be seen whether oversight such as Fallon and Comer’s will force the EPA to change its policies.”