House Oversight Subcommittees to Examine the Way the Administration’s Rules and Regulations are Reviewed

The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) is charged with reviewing rules and regulations created by the Administration. Deficiencies in OIRA’s review process suggest that there may be political interference by the White House. Tomorrow’s Oversight hearing, held by the Subcommittees on Government Operations and Health Care, Benefits, and Administrative Rules, will examine the status of the Administration’s historic number of new rules and regulations and will highlight  deficiencies including the length of time taken by OIRA to conduct its reviews.

Executive Order #12,866 states that OIRA shall complete its review within 90 calendar days. While the length of review at OIRA has generally improved in the past few years, many reviews exceed this deadline.  As of February 24, 2015, over one-third of the rules at OIRA have been sitting well beyond the 90 days – 16 of these rules have been under review for longer than six months, including one from as early as 2011 and another from 2012.

The cost and number of federal regulations has grown to unprecedented levels under the Obama Administration. According to a study commissioned by the National Association of Manufacturers, the total cost of federal regulations in 2012 was $2.028 trillion.

HEARING DETAILS 

WITNESSES:

The Hon. Howard Shelanski

Administrator

Office of Information and Reg. Affairs

Office of Management and Budget

The meeting is open to the public and a live video stream will be broadcast here.