House Subcommittee Steps Up Oversight on Regulatory Changes

HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE STEPS UP OVERSIGHT ON REGULATORY CHANGES
[SOURCE: OMBWatch]
A House subcommittee held a second hearing April 26 on the regulatory changes President George W. Bush issued in January. Subcommittee Chairman Brad Miller (D-NC) hoped to discover the reasons that the White House issued the changes, but the hearing turned stormy as Chairman Miller's inquiries were repeatedly rebuffed by an administration official. After tense exchanges with the official, Miller promised to seek additional documents from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and to hold additional hearings on regulatory changes "that affect the lives of millions of Americans. "The Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight of the House Science and Technology Committee held the first hearing on Executive Order 13422 and OMB's Good Guidance Practices Bulletin in February. This time, the hearing focused on the internal process OMB used in drafting the E.O. and how OMB intends to implement the changes these two documents require. Rep Miller summed up the changes in his opening remarks: "Under this order, not just major regulations, but guidance is subject to review by OIRA. And the order creates a new requirement -- 'market failure' -- for any agency to promulgate any regulation. 'Market failure' does not appear in any statute as a consideration in rule-making; in fact, Congress flatly rejected the argument that the market will solve the problem when Congress enacted the legislation granting rule-making authority."
http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/3816/