The OIRA Module: Published Research

Editor’s Note: CRE brought violations of the Congressional Review Act to the attention of the House and Senate back in January 2010. See our letter here.

From: The Washington Post

By Juliet Eilperin

Over the past two years, the Obama administration has published hundreds and hundreds of rules — on how wheelchairs should be stowed aboard U.S. aircraft, how foreign trade zones should be regulated, how voting assistance should be provided for U.S. citizens overseas, and so on.

There’s a problem, however: Technically speaking, these and some 1,800 other regulations shouldn’t be in effect because they weren’t reported to Congress as required. Yet there is little that lawmakers or the courts can do about it.

From: Regulatory Studies Center/George Washington University

By Sofie E. Miller, Senior Policy Analyst

The George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center strives to improve regulatory policy through research, education, and outreach. As part of its mission, the Center conducts careful and independent analyses to assess rulemaking proposals from the perspective of the public interest. This response to the Department of Energy’s request for information on reducing regulatory burdens does not represent the views of any particular affected party or special interest, but is designed to enhance and reinforce DOE’s retrospective review efforts.

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From: Regulatory Studies Center/George Washington University

By Mark Bigley, Summer Fellow

The George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center strives to improve regulatory policy through research, education, and outreach. As part of its mission, the Center conducts careful and independent analyses to assess rulemaking proposals from the perspective of the public interest. This comment on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC” or “Commission”) proposed rule establishing recordkeeping and reporting requirements for security-based swap dealers (“SBSDs”), major security-based swap participants (“MSBSPs”), and broker-dealers does not represent the views of any particular affected party or special interest, but is designed to evaluate whether Commission’s proposal incorporates plans for retrospective review, pursuant to Executive Orders 13563 and 13579.

From: Competitive Enterprise Institiute

Over the weekend the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the 2014 Draft Report to Congress on the Benefits and Costs of Federal Regulations.

If it draws attention to it at all, the administration will say it’s fiscal year 2013 rules had benefits of up to $81.4 billion annually, while costing just $2.5 billion annually. The problem is only seven rules out of thousands had benefit and cost analysis.