This is a huge problem across the board; industry and congress have been steadily stripping federal agencies of staff/budget, authority, etc. Congress long fig

This is a huge problem across the board; industry and congress have been steadily stripping federal agencies of staff/budget, authority, etc. Congress long figured out how to kill off regulation that is publicly popular: strangle the agency budget-wise, not appoint new department leaders, etc. Adding ever-increasing paperwork is also popular. OSHA has the lowest number of inspectors in ~45 years. The agency is about 50 years old. https://www.nelp.org/news-releases/number-federal-workplace-safety-inspectors-falls-45-year-low/ https://www.nelp.org/news-releases/number-federal-workplace-... It has one inspector for every 77,000 workers and its budget amounts to $4/worker: https://www.afge.org/article/aflcio-osha-budget-amounts-to-399-to-protect-each-worker/ https://www.afge.org/article/aflcio-osha-budget-amounts-to-3... The EPA's inspections have fallen to half the number of ten years ago https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/02/08/under-trump-epa-inspections-fall-year-low/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/02/0... The number of ATF inspections has been falling for decades and the ATF apparently is allowing gun shops even with multiple violations to go unpunished https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2021/05/26/gun-dealers-let-off-hook-when-atf-inspections-find-violations/7210266002/ https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2021/0... The poultry industry pushed and got greater self-regulation around 2013 to increase line speeds: https://awionline.org/awi-quarterly/2013-fall/usda-refuses-drop-controversial-changes-inspection-program https://awionline.org/awi-quarterly/2013-fall/usda-refuses-d... The Trump administration passed widespread overhauls of the meat packing industry letting them self-regulate to increase production https://www.govexec.com/management/2020/03/federal-pork-inspectors-are-sounding-alarm-over-usdas-plan-give-industry-more-control/163527/ https://www.govexec.com/management/2020/03/federal-pork-insp... In ten years the number of food inspections the FDA conducts have fallen to one fifth the rate in 2010: https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2022/05/fda-food-safety-inspections-plummet-despite-congressional-mandate https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2022/05/fda-food-safe... Foreign drug manufacturing site inspections plummeted with the pandemic and have yet to recover, too. The IRS budget has been slashed, mostly for auditing - despite audits of the 0.1% wealthiest resulting in an average of $90,000 per audit recovered: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interactive/2023/irs-enforcement-costs-congress-funding/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interactive/2023/irs... The de minimis for shipments into the US was raised from $200 to $800 in 2016 which has allowed for a massive increase in goods to be imported that are not subject to any inspection or taxes https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/de-minimis-value-increases-800 https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/de-minim...