From: Advisory Commitee on Transparency

Aug. 20, 2012

2 p.m.- 3:30 p.m.  2203 Rayburn House Office Building

The president’s power over regulations is vested in a little-known unit within OMB called the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. These handful of staffers review any regulation that imposes more than $100 million in annual compliance costs for affected industries, and their influence extends even more broadly. With the imminent departure of OIRA’s administrator, Cass Sunstein, the time is ripe to evaluate the Obama administration’s approach to rulemaking, its transparency, and how OIRA should fit into the rulemaking process.

We are pleased to present a panel of  the preeminent experts on federal regulations, including a former OIRA administrator under President Bush and a former associate administrator under President Obama. We will discuss the role that OIRA plays in rulemakings, its evolution, its openness, congressional oversight, and where we can go from here.

Panelists:

*Susan Dudley: Former OIRA Administrator (George W. Bush); Director, Regulatory Studies Center, George Washington University

*Michael Fitzpatrick: Former OIRA Associate Administrator (Obama); Senior Manager and Senior Counsel, Government and Regulatory Affairs, General Electric

*Curtis Copeland: Former Specialist in American National Government, Congressional Research Service

*Robert Weissman: President, Public Citizen

*Daniel Schuman: Policy Counsel at the Sunlight Foundation and Director of the Advisory Committee on Transparency

RSVP to http://snlg.ht/rsvpOIRA

The Advisory Committee on Transparency educates policymakers on transparency-related issues, problems, and solutions and shares ideas with members of the Congressional Transparency Caucus. It hosts events to discuss important and wide-ranging transparency policy issues with experts from a variety of backgrounds and develops educational publications and provides timely information to the public and members of Congress. Learn more at http://transparencycaucus.org.