This week marks the 184th anniversary of the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Unfortunately, although it remains an event of massive importance to my home state, the events that transpired at Washington-on-the-Brazos during the Convention of 1836 have largely gone ignored by the rest of the country. This is unfortunate, for there are many important lessons about governance and liberty that can be learned from the Texas Revolution.

FreedomWorks is proud to announce that our bill of the month for August 2019 is the anti-socialism resolution, S.Res. 289, introduced by Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), which expresses “the sense of the Senate that socialism poses a significant threat to freedom, liberty, and economic prosperity.”

Liberty Kitty has learned the hard way that overcriminalization and excessive regulation ruins lives and hurts the economy. She was prevented from grooming neighborhood kittens because she did not have the time or money it would take to become licensed, and she was incarcerated for 7 cat years under a mandatory minimum sentencing law for a non-violent crime.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced revisions to the proposed rules interpreting the Fair Labor Standard Act’s regulations on the overtime compensation pay of white-collar, salaried workers. Currently, salaried employees making more than $23,660 annually are exempt from the DOL requirement that employers pay time-and-a-half for each hour over 40 hours weekly. The final rule, with several key changes to the proposed rule, will extend overtime pay protections to over 40 million American workers.

As the "drop dead date" for Obama administration regulations draws near, we are expecting a flood of "midnight regulations." Regulatory agencies, in an eleventh-hour attempt to pass new rules before the start of the next administration, will make a huge push in ushering in new proposals. In preparation for this regulatory outburst, we have provided a brief guide explaining how proposed rules become regulations.

The "drop dead date" for federal regulations is fast approaching and we are expecting more overreaching proposals. This is the last date that proposed rules can be finalized by the Obama administration, without fear that the next President will overturn them under the Congressional Review Act. Regulatory agencies are expected to release a flood of regulations before this date. This regulatory outburst, first noted in the final days of the Carter Administration, is known as "midnight regulations."

Financial regulators released a 279-page proposal that would set parameters around how and when Wall Street Executives make their money. The proposal, mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act, is a five-year project spanning across six regulatory agencies.

“Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists.. it is real... it is possible... it's yours.” -- Ayn Rand