george bush the lesser, killing you slowly

Cindy Skrzycki. The Washington Post. 2005/09/27. Page D1.
The Bush administration, which advocates broad reforms of the legal system, has proposed federal regulations that would prohibit some types of lawsuits. The White House has been using the regulatory system at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Food and Drug Administration, and banking agencies to preempt lawsuits that it sees as violating federal standards. Glenn Lammi, chief counsel of the Washington Legal Foundation, which represents business interests, says that the Bush administration has been working on these smaller issues since it has not been able to gather enough support to get far-reaching tort reforms enacted. For example, on August 19 the NHTSA issued a long-sought proposal to increase the strength of vehicle roofs, which sometimes collapse in rollover accidents. Auto safety groups not only criticized the proposal for not going far enough to save lives in rollovers, but also strongly objected to a provision that would make it more difficult for consumers to file lawsuits related to roof defects against auto makers.