On his first day, President Obama announced new limits on lobbyists. The Executive Order on Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel details that every appointee in every executive agency appointed on or after Jan. 20, 2009, must sign the pledge described in the executive order.

On Jan. 20, 2009, just hours after President Barack H. Obama was sworn in, new White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel issued a memo setting out the Obama administration's policy for dealing with some regulations left by the administration of President George W. Bush. The Emanuel memo puts a freeze on all regulations still in the pipeline and gives agencies leeway to deal with those Bush-era regulations already finalized but not yet being implemented. However, just as significant, the Emanuel memo does not address many controversial regulations finalized and in effect which are already wreaking havoc on the American people.

The Food and Drug Administration has made a controversial policy change that will allow pharmaceutical companies to market unapproved, or "off-label," uses of drugs. The policy, coming in the form of a guidance document, will allow industry representatives to use journal studies to persuade doctors to prescribe FDA-approved drugs for unapproved uses. More from Reuters:

Wednesday, Reg•Watch blogged about President Bush's decision to appoint Susan Dudley as the acting administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs — the White House office in charge of clearing federal regulations. Dudley has been the administrator since 2007, but her recess appointment expired, forcing Bush to give her "acting" status.