In a statement of administrative policy (SAP) released yesterday, the White House threatened to veto the Obey Amendment, which would preserve the increase in the minimum salary below which overtime is guaranteed, while protecting many of those who now receive overtime from losing their privilege under the new overtime law.

Congress has an opportunity to undo the administration's rollback of overtime protections. A final rule from the Department of Labor would disqualify over 6 million workers from overtime protections. An amendment to the Labor appropriations bill, called the Obey amendment, would restore overtime rights while preserving an inflation adjustment to the minimum salary that determines automatic overtime eligibility.

Proponents of cost-benefit analysis in regulatory policy claim it is simply a neutral tool (that only coincidentally favors industry). Suppose CBA had been applied back in the 70s, when agencies issued many protections of the public interest that we know have been overwhelmingly successful. It could have changed history for the worse: The first wave of modern environmental protection, beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, cleaned up the air and water, protected fragile ecosystems, and achieved great gains in public health — without reliance on cost-benefit analysis, and clearly without