Deregulation has been a cornerstone of the Republican brand for decades. And the Trump Administration vows to cut government red tape wherever it finds it. Yet, House Republicans would use their just-passed budget bill to create reams of paperwork explicitly intended to block low- and moderate income households or immigrants from government assistance to which they are legally entitled. Just as progressives have used environmental regulation to halt development they don’t like, President Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill are creating new bureaucratic hurdles to prevent families from tapping government benefits. And they are doing it just when Democrats…

China’s tightening grip on rare earth mineral exports, critical components in electric vehicles, could ignite another major disruption in the global automotive industry, according to a report from consultants BMI. But Western manufacturers will take some comfort from the knowledge that China’s huge auto overcapacity means it will be anxious for exports to continue without too much interruption. “Global automotive production lines are at risk of coming to a standstill and experiencing delays due to a new licensing system introduced by Mainland China which is slowing deliveries of rare earth exports and causing significant delays in magnet deliveries,” said BMI,…