President's Order on Regulatory Review Does Not Apply to FCC, FTC

Cass Sunstein, the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the Office of Management and Budget, testified before the House Commerce Committee's Oversight Subcommittee on Jan 26. He said President Barack Obama's new executive order calling for government agency regulatory review does not apply to independent agencies including the Federal Communications and the Federal Trade Commission.

Sunstein said President Obama was following the lead of Republican President Ronald Reagan, who he said began the practice of not applying executive orders to independent regulatory agencies out of concern for overreaching executive branch authority. Sunstein said that practice had been followed by subsequent presidents. He conceded that OIRA did oversee information gathering, including from those independent agencies, per the Paperwork Reduction Act. Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), chair of the House Commerce Committee, suggested the issue needed to be studied and perhaps some action taken. "No agencies should be exempt," he said. Committee Republicans talked about the explosion of regulations under the Obama administration, while Sunstein countered that the number of regulations was about the same as the last two years of the Bush administration. Ranking Committee Member Henry Waxman (D-CA) said it looked like the Republicans were repeating their 1995 "all-out assault" on regulations. He warned against painting the issue with too broad a brush. He said he believed in eliminating unnecessary regulations, but that regulations also grow the economy and preserve the environment. He called myths the suggestion that regulations destroy jobs and stymie the economy.