This afternoon, President Bush announced amendments to Executive Order 12866 on Regulatory Planning and Review. EO 12866, originally issued by President Clinton, places the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) squarely in the middle of agencies' rulemaking process. President Bush's amendments go even further in allowing the White House to force its own agenda on agencies. The most notable of the new amendments:

• Impose a market failure criterion where agencies had previously been able to regulate based upon identification of threats to public welfare.
• Force agencies to install presidential appointees as their intra-agency regulatory heads.
• Force agency "guidance documents" (recommendations that clarify provisions in regulations) to go through the same OMB-micromanaged process as regulations do.

Ultimately, these amendments establish President Bush's anti-regulatory agenda, and make it more difficult for agencies to fulfill their role as protectors of the public.