Obama's Regulatory Review Gets Mixed Response
First Posted: 01/18/11 09:05 PM Updated: 01/18/11 10:31 PM
Marcus Baram
Marcus@huffingtonpost.com | HuffPost Reporting
President Obama's government-wide review of federal regulations, announced in an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal and with an executive order issued this morning, was immediately pounced on as a political move to curry favor with business interests by both health and safety advocates and conservative critics of the administration.
And the true impact of the new agenda remains hard to assess, with the White House disclosing few details, such as which rules will be targeted and how the order will be implemented. Part of the new agenda involves taking a fresh look at old regulations that may be outdated and ineffective due to changes in technology and human behavior, according to an OMB spokesperson.
The full impact of the review, which, according to a source close to the discussions, was developed by the administration's regulatory czar Cass Sunstein and White House officials over the last two years, will only become clear when the Office of Management and Budget issues its guidance, which will be issued to federal agencies within the next few months. Such a document describes how agencies should actually implement the order. The review will exempt some federal agencies independent of the White House and will not impact health care reform and financial regulatory reform, the administration's two biggest achievements.
Obama's review requires agencies, within 120 days, to determine how they will periodically assess current regulations to figure out which ones to modify, streamline, expand or repeal. Though the focus on burdensome regulations made headlines, it is clear that some rules could be strengthened and toughened, which encouraged some watchdog groups.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/18/obamas-regulations-review-experts-respond_n_810731.html