CEI Files OMB Comments on How to Better Track Costs and Benefits of Regulations
CEI Files OMB Comments on How to Better Track Costs and Benefits of Regulations
Calls on President Obama to Use Pen-and-Phone Strategy to Reduce Federal Regulatory Burden
WASHINGTON, August 27 – The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) submitted public comments this week on the growing federal regulatory burden to the White House Office of Management and Budget, in response to OMB’s 2014 Draft Report to Congress on the Benefits and Costs of Federal Regulation.
“Federal regulations cost the U.S. economy hundreds of billions of dollars, while also costing American families thousands of dollars annually, and yet we only know the cost and benefit for a mere seven regulations in the government’s report,” said CEI vice president Clyde Wayne Crews Jr., author of Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State.
“In an era where dozens of agencies issue more than 3,500 rules and regulations annually, OMB’s report, while vital, still tells us too little about the cost and effectiveness of the majority,” said Crews. “For example, independent agencies, like those implementing the Dodd-Frank financial law, don’t have to report any of these numbers, and then there are non-rules which have regulatory effects like ‘guidance documents’, bulletins and notices. These types of regulations escape scrutiny altogether.”
“The president could use his pen and phone to shrink government, instead of growing it,” said Crews. “He could make the burden of regulations more transparent and accountable” by taking such action as:
- Implementing a moratorium to review where and how we can reduce the regulatory burden
- Strengthening enforcement of existing Executive Orders that govern excess regulation while scheduling ongoing reviews of rules
- Compiling an annual regulatory transparency ‘report card’
Public comments on the OMB’s 2014 edition of the Draft Report to Congress on the Benefits and Costs of Federal Regulation are due September 2.
> View the CEI comment to the OMB : The Federal Office of No: Enhancing the Executive Branch Role in Challenging Federal Regulation
> View Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State