Political Interference | Center for Effective Government

Graham Grilled on Possible Regulatory Roll Backs

Rep. John Tierney (D-MA) grilled John Graham, administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), on whether he is seeking to roll back regulation at the request of affected industry at a March 12 hearing in the House Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs.

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Thompson/Levin Regulatory 'Reform' Bill Reported to Floor

The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee voted to send comprehensive regulatory "reform" legislation (S. 746), sponsored by Sens. Fred Thompson (R-TN) and Carl Levin (D-MI), to the floor over the objections of most committee Democrats. The committee did not, however, have time to take up the regulatory accounting bill (S. 59) -- which requires OMB to conduct a cumulative cost-benefit analysis -- as scheduled and will do so at a later date. Besides Levin, Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA) was the only Democrat to vote to report the bill.

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Congressional Quarterly Special Report on White House Regulatory Review

Subscribers to the OMB Watcher can now download a FREE copy of this week's CQ Weekly special report on John Graham and the regulatory review agenda of OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which has the power to reject or alter agency efforts to protect public health, safety and the environment. The package of stories and sidebars contains an overview on OIRA, plus a comprehensive analysis of the 18 "return letters" that OIRA has issued to various agencies since John Graham was confirmed as administrator, and an explanatory box on the regulatory tools Graham uses.

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John Graham Advises EPA to Improve Information Policies

John Graham, administrator of OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, today released a “prompt letter” to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) urging the agency to take three steps to improve public access to its information. Graham’s top priority is to have EPA establish an identification number for each facility reporting information to the agency.

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Graham Pushes Regulatory Priorities in President's Budget

As administrator of the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) -- which has authority to review and possibly reject or amend agency regulatory proposals -- John Graham is pressing agencies to adopt particular analytical methods to assess regulatory costs and benefits that would rig the result and undoubtedly lead to less protective health, safety, and environmental standards.

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Bill Text H.R. 3521

Congressional Accountability for Regulatory Information Act of 2000 (Introduced in the House January 24, 2000) 106th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 3521 To amend chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, to provide for a report by the General Accounting Office to Congress on agency regulatory actions, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 24, 2000 Mr. MCINTOSH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the

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Bill Creates GAO Office to Analyze Agency Rules

On Jan. 24, Rep. David McIntosh (R-IN) introduced the "Congressional Accountability for Regulatory Information Act" (H.R. 3521), which seeks to establish an office within GAO to review agency rulemakings at the request of Congress. A Senate version (S. 1198) has already been reported out of the Governmental Affairs Committee, and is awaiting floor action. Bill Summary

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Comments on OMB's Draft Report on Regulatory Accounting

Mr. John Morrall III Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs NEOB, Room 10235 1725 17th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20503 Dear Mr. Morrall: On behalf of Citizens for Sensible Safeguards, a broad-based coalition of consumer, labor, environmental, and other public interest groups, I am writing to provide comments on OMB's draft report to Congress on the costs and benefits of federal regulations. As you know, we strongly oppose the idea of regulatory accounting.

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Take 2: Another Bill Creating GAO Office to Analyze Rules

On Feb. 16, Rep. Sue Kelly (R-NY) introduced the "Congressional Accountability for Regulatory Information Act" (H.R. 3669), which seeks to establish an office within GAO to review agency rulemakings at the request of Congress.

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Bill Requiring GAO Cost-Benefit Analysis Sent to Floor

The House Government Reform Committee reported legislation (H.R. 4744) to the floor today that would require the General Accounting Office (GAO) to conduct cost-benefit analysis of agency rules. H.R. 4744 was introduced only three days prior to the markup as a compromise between Reps. Sue Kelly (R-NY) and David McIntosh (R-IN) -- who had introduced separate versions of the legislation (H.R. 3669) & (H.R. 3521) earlier in the year.

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