At this year’s National Conference in Washington D.C., Neomi Rao received NeW’s Empowered Woman of the Year Award. This award is presented to a woman that empowers other women through leadership and service. Neomi works to cut regulations to allow women to work and flourish in the workplace under the Trump administration.
In her acceptance speech, Neomi spoke about how great it is that NeW has grown to involve dozens of college campuses and that it is so great to see so many young conservative women getting involved. She spoke of how important it is to have constructive dialogue to maintain a civil society and how pivotal it is for individuals to share their viewpoints in the public sphere, even when it proves challenging. Discussion helps to improve not only ourselves but our democracy. But, it is an issue that today’s climate for discussion is now less respectful.
Neomi went on to describe her career and her work in “the most important office that you’ve never heard of,” the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Neomi and her office have helped to cut regulations that are burdensome and, as a result, have helped to save our country over 8 billion dollars in regulatory costs. In return, this has slowed the imposition of new regulations and has allowed our federal government to shift away from the inertia that people expect when expanding the regulatory state. In short, this means all good things for the American people and American business owners. Neomi’s work on reform is important because it promotes job creation, economic growth, and spurs innovation.
Aside from the work in reform, Neomi and her agency work to provide a kind of check and accountability within the federal government. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs is also focused on promoting the rule of law and making the administrative state more accountable when serving people. She spoke of the responsibility she and her office have to review all the significant regulations in the executive branch and how, in turn, this returns more freedom to the American people without unnecessary government interference.
It is very clear with all the Neomi has accomplished under this administration and in her career path as a whole, that she is more than deserving of NeW’s Empowered Woman of the Year Award. Not only has Neomi served in all three branches of federal government, but she has served as a role model to many young conservative women, including myself. Accomplishing something is as powerful as bringing more personal liberties to the American people and fighting to make our government more constitutional is truly heroic in my eyes.
With all of her past accomplishments and current successes, it is clear that Neomi sets a high bar, not only for herself but for our federal government as well. Meeting Neomi and hearing about all she has accomplished left me feeling inspired and motivated to make a change. Granted my change won’t involve cutting regulations or serving as a watchdog to the federal government (yet), but my change will be fostering debate and discussion on my campus. I want to set a high bar for myself and other conservative women because I know that we can make changes on our college campuses and in our nation. One day, I hope to receive NeW’s Empowered Women of the Year Award, just like Neomi.
